英语哲理小故事

The Old Cat

　　e79fa5e98193e4b893e5b19e365An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old. One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.

　　Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old. Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."

狗和影子(The Dog and the Shadow)It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now, on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath. Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that also. So he made a snap at the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more.
一只狗嘴里衔着一块肉，走过一条河上面的桥，看见他自己在e69da5e887aae799bee5baa6e79fa5e98193337水里的影子，以为是另一只狗，那时狗衔着的肉，比他自己的还要大一倍。因此他仍掉自己的那一块，狠狠地扑向那只狗，想夺到那一块较大的肉。结果两头都落了空，因为他想要抓取在水中的那一块，只不过是一个影子，而原来的那一块，也被水冲走了。
Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
谨记，切莫因追逐幻影而丢失已有的东西。
上帝的咖啡

一群事业有成的同学回去看望他们的大学老师，很快他们开始抱怨生活和工作中的压力。

老师去厨房为客人们准备咖啡，回来e799bee5baa6e79fa5e98193e4b893e5b19e366时端着一大壶咖啡和各式各样的杯子，这些杯子有陶瓷的、塑料的、玻璃的、水晶的，有的普通，有的昂贵，有的精致，老师让大家随意享用。

等每个人都端起一杯咖啡，老师说话了：你们注意到吗：所有好看昂贵的杯子都被用了，剩下那些朴素便宜的杯子。你们都只想要最好的，这很正常，这恰恰是你们的问题和压力所在。杯子不会让咖啡的质量变得更好，很多时候，只是让它变得更贵一些，甚至，有时候，让人忽略了到底我们在喝什么。你们真正想要的其实是咖啡，不是杯子，但你们有意识地去拿那些最好的杯子，随后开始打量其他人手上的杯子。想想吧：生活好比咖啡，工作、金钱和社会地位都只是杯子，只是生活的容器，而我们拥有的杯子既无法定义、也无法改变我们生活的质量。有时，由于我们只关心杯子，我们甚至不能够好好品尝上帝赐予我们的咖啡。

上帝冲泡了咖啡，不是杯子。······享受你们的咖啡吧。

最快乐的人们并不是因为他们拥有最好的一切，他们只是把一切当成最好。

简单地活着。仁慈地爱着。深深地关心着。友善地说话。

其他的，就留给上帝吧。

God's Coffee
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation
soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen
and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking,
some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,
leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your
problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In
most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you
consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing
each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define,
nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just
make the best of everything."
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

1、The Lion, The Bear And The Fox（狮子、熊与狐狸）Long ago a lion and a bear saw a kid. They sprang upon it at the same time. The lion said to the bear, “I caught this kid first, and so this is mine.”
"No, no," said the bear.“I found it earlier than you, so this is mine.” And they fought long and fiercely. At last both of them got very tired and could no longer fight.
A fox who hid himself behind a tree not far away and was watching the fight between the lion and the bear, came out and walked in between them, and ran off with the kid.
The lion and the bear both saw the fox, but they could not even catch the fox.
The lion said to the bear, “We have fought for nothing. That sly fox has got the kid away.”
从前，一只狮子和一只熊看见一个孩子，它们同时向他扑去。 狮子对熊说，“我首先捉住的这个孩子， 因此这个孩子是我的。”
“不，不!”熊说，“我比你早发现的，因此他是我的。”它们激烈地争论了很久。最后7a64e78988e69d83331它们两个感到非常疲乏，再也不能打斗了。
不远处，一只狐狸正掩藏在树后，观看着狮子和熊之间的战斗，这时它走了出来，站在它们之间，叼走了这个孩子。 狮子和熊看到这个情形，但它们却不能捉住狐狸。 狮子对熊说：“我们争斗了那么久却什么也没得到，而这只狡猾的狐狸却把孩子叼走了。”
2、The Boys And The Frogs（男孩与青蛙）One spring day some naughty boys were playing near a pond. They began to throw stones into the water. In the pond lived many frogs were much afraid of the boys, for the stones hurt some of the frogs.
At last an old frog lifted his head out of the water and said, “Boys, please don’t throw stones at us.”
The boys said, “We are only playing.” “I know that, but please stop throwing stones, my boys. What is play to you is death to us,” said the old frog.
So the boys stopped throwing stones and went away.
春天里的一天，一些顽皮的男孩在一个水塘边玩耍。他们开始往水里扔石块。许多生活在水塘里的青蛙非常害怕这些男孩，因为石头曾弄伤了他们中的一些。最后一只老青蛙把他的脑袋探出水面，他说：“孩子们，请别向我们扔石头。”
男孩说：“我们只是在玩耍。”“我知道，但请别扔石头，孩子们。对你们而言的玩耍对我们可意味着死亡。”老青蛙说。
因此男孩们不再扔石头并且离开了。
3、Ye Gong was well-known for his fondness for dragons: In the house where he lived, dragons were painted on the walls and carved on the pillars and the four walls of his bedroom.
There were dragons everywhere, up and down, front and back, with each dragon baring its teeth and brandishing1 its claws.
In the heavens there was a real dragon. It was very happy to hear that Ye Gong was so fond of dragons.
One day, the sky suddenly darkened, and then came wind, thunder and rain. The real dragon flew to Ye Gong's home. It poked2 its head into the window in the south and coiled its tail to the window in the north, rocking and rattling3 the whole house.
At the sight of this real dragon, Ye Gong was frightened out of his wits. He trembled all over and hurriedly hid himself.
So it turned out that what Ye Gong liked was painted and carved fake dragons but not real ones.
叶公好龙
叶公喜欢龙，已经出了名了。他住的屋子里，墙上画着龙，柱子上雕着龙，卧室四面的墙壁上也刻着龙，上上下下，前前后后，到处都是龙，一条条张牙舞爪。
天上有一条真的龙，听说叶公这样喜欢龙，高兴极了。
有一天，天空突然暗了下来，又是刮风，又是打雷，又是下雨，真龙飞到了叶公的家里。它把头伸进了南面的窗口，把尾巴绕到了北面的窗口，把整个屋子摇得格格直响。
叶公看到这条真龙，一下子吓得魂飞魄散，浑身发抖，急忙躲了起来。
原来，叶公喜欢的只是那些画着、雕着的假龙，而不是真龙！
4、多言何益
Zi qin once asked Mohist, "Teacher, it is true that the more you say the more attention you will get from people?"
Mohist answered, "The grog and hop1 toad2 never stop shouting from day to night, but they get little from people. The rooster only sings only for a few minutes in the morning and wakes up all the people. So, it is not necessarily advisable to speak a lot."
It doesn't matte how much you say, what matters is whether you can hit the nail on the head.
子禽问墨子：“老师，话说得多是否就会引起人们的重视？”墨子回答说：“青蛙和癞蛤蟆的叫声从早到晚没有停过，但是，却几乎没有引起人们的注意。公鸡仅仅只在黎明时分叫上几声，便能将天下的人都唤醒.”因此，话多不一定有好处。话不在多，只要说到点子上就行了。
5、An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old.
One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.
Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old.
Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."
老猫
一位老妇有只猫，这只猫很老，它跑不快了，也咬不了东西，因为它年纪太大了。一天，老猫发现一只老鼠，它跳过去抓这只老鼠，然而，它咬不住这只老鼠。因此，老鼠从它的嘴边溜掉了，因为老猫咬不了它。
于是，老妇很生气，因为老猫没有把老鼠咬死。她开始打这只猫，猫说：“不要打你的老仆人，我已经为你服务了很多年，而且还愿意为你效劳，但是，我实在太老了，对年纪大的不要这么无情，要记住老年人在年青时所做过的有益的事情。”