英语演讲小故事(双语版)

The hidden gold

隐藏的金子

There was once a farmer who had a fine olive（橄榄树）orchard（果园）. He was very hardworking, and the farm always prospered under his care. But he knew that his three sons despised（轻视，看不起）the farm work, and were eager to make wealth, trough adventure. 从前有一个农民，他有一座漂亮的橄榄园。他非常勤劳，而且农场在他的照管下蒸蒸日上。可他知道自己的三个儿子瞧不起农活，都迫不及待的想通过冒险发家致富。

When the farmer was old, and felt that his time had come to die, he called the three sons to him and said, "My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

这个农民上了年岁，感到死期快要来临时，将三个儿子叫到身边说：“儿子们，橄榄园里藏有一罐金子。你们想要，就去挖吧。”

The sons tried to get him to tell them in what part of the orchard the gold was hidden; but he would tell them nothing more.

儿子们想让父亲告诉他们金子藏在果园的那一块地方，可他什么也没再给他们说。

After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold; since they did not know where the hiding-place was, they agreed to begin in a line, at one end of the orchard, and to dig until one of them should find the money. They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, round the tree-roots and between them. But no pot of gold was to be found. It seemed as if someone must have stolen it, or as if the farmer had been wandering（漫游，闲逛）in his wits. The three sons were bitterly disappointed to have all their work for nothing.

那个农民死后，三个儿子就开始挖地，想找到那罐金子；因为他们不知道金子藏在什么地方，所以他们一致同意排成一行从果园的一头开始挖起，知道其中一人挖到金子为止.

The next olive season, the olive trees in the orchard bore more fruit than they had ever given; when it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of gold.

到了第二年的橄榄季节，果园里的橄榄树接出的果子比以往的都多；卖完果子后，三个儿子赚了整整一罐金子。

And when they saw how much money had come from the orchard, they suddenly understood what the wise father had meant when he said, "There is gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it.

他们从果园里得到这么多钱后，突然明白了聪明的父亲所说的“果园里藏有金子，想要就去挖吧”这句话的含义.

The Gold and the Fur Coat

金子与皮大衣

A young man and an old man were waiting for a bus at a station. They sat next to each other.

“Good morning, sir.” said the young man.

“Good morning.” said the old man.

“Where are you going, sir?” asked the young man.

“I want to go to the bank.” answered the old man. “Is there a bank near here?”

“Yes, you can take the No.2bus.Then get off the next bus stop, it is near here.” answered the young man

“Thank you.” said the old man.

“What's that in your bag? It is so big.” asked the young man, pointing to a big bag beside the old man.

“Gold, nothing but gold,” answered the old man.

The young man could hardly believe his own ears,” What?” he said to himself in surprise.” So much gold? My God! How I wish to be able to get so much gold!” Then he began to think about how to get the gold.

The old man looked tired and sleepy and it seemed that he could hardly keep his eyes open.” Are you sleepy, sir?” asked the young man.” Then you'd better lie down on the chair and have a good rest. Don't worry about the bus. I'll wake you up in time.”

“All right. It's very kind of you, young man.” The old man lay down and before long he fell asleep.

The young man took the big bag gently. But when he was about to run away, he found a corner of his fur coat was under the old man's body. Several times he tried to pull it out, but he couldn't. At last he took off his coat and went away with the bag.

The young man ran out of the station as quickly as his legs could carry him. When he reached a place where he thought the old man couldn't find him, he stopped and quickly opened the bag. To his surprise, there was nothing but a lot of small stones in it. He hurried to the station at once. But when he got there, he found the old man was gone.

一个美国人乘英国火车

A young American entered a railway compartment on a British train, to discover that all seats were occupied, Including one on which was seated a small dog. To its owner, a middle-aged lady wearing a large hat, he said politely,“Excuse me, ma'am, but may I sit down?”

She said nothing, but merely sniffed and turned over the pages of her newspaper.

Again he said,“Excuse me, ma'am, but may I have this seat, please? And again she ignored him.

For a third time the young American said,“Ma'am, would you please remove your dog so that I may sit down?”

And for the third time the snooty matron totally ignored him, so he opened a window, picked up the dog, threw it out, and then sat on the empty seat.

There was a stunned silence, and then an Englishman sitting opposite said,“You know, you Yanks are the strangest people. You drive on the wrong side of the road. You eat with the fork in the wrong hand, you name the floors in the wrong numbers, and now you've just thrown the wrong bitch out of the window!”

成功的秘诀

The Secret To Success

A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked(vt.将??猛按入水) him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled his

head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp(vi.喘息) and take a deep breath of air. Socrates asked, “What did you want the most when you were there?”The boy replied, “Air.”Socrates said, “That is the secret to success. When you want succeas badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it.There is no other secret.”

一个年轻人向苏格拉底询问成功的秘诀，苏格拉底让年轻人第二天早晨到河边见他。他们见面后，苏格拉底叫年轻人和他一起走向河里，当河水淹至他们的脖子时，苏格拉底出其不意地抓住年轻人并把其压入水中，那人想要挣出水面，而强壮有力的苏格拉底将他摁在水中直到他变得无力抗争，脸色发青。苏格拉底将他的头拖出水面，这个年轻人所做的第一件事就是大口喘息后，深吸一口气。苏格拉底问：“当你闷在水里的时候你最想要的是什么?”年轻人回答说：“空气。”苏格拉底说：“那就是成功的秘诀。当你像渴望空气一样渴望成功，你就能够获得它!没有其他的秘密了。

The old man and the starfish

老人与海星

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?" The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. " But there must be thousands of beached and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?" The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it into the safety of the sea, he said, "I made a difference to this one."

有一个男人沿着茺凉的海滩欣赏日落时，望见远远的海岸边有一个老人。当那男人靠近时，他才知道那老人是把海水冲刷上岸的海星，一

次一个的逐一丢回水中。那男人感到十分疑惑，于是走到那个老人身边问他：「你好!请问你在做什么呢?」那老人回答：「我把这些海星丢回海里。你看，现在已经退潮了。如果我不把它们丢回海里，它们就会缺氧而死在这里。」那男人当然能了解这种情形，但是他仍旧感到疑问：「但是海滩上有成千上万的海星，而你不可能把它们全丢回海里啊!它们有如天上繁星，更何况在这么长的海岸线，这样的情形很多，你这样做并不能改变什么的。」那老人，仍是弯下腰再度拾起另一只海星。当他把海星丢进海中的时候，说：「这只海星的命运改变了」。有时候我们会觉得一己之力实在太小了，在整个大环境里或许是没有改变，但或许这个小改变却改变了小环境的整个生命。

The Miser

守财奴

A MISER sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and to make loud lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said, "Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold

was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it."

有个守财奴变卖了他所有的家产，换回了金块，并秘密地埋在一个地方。他每天走去看看他的宝藏。有个在附近放羊的牧人留心观察，知道了真情，趁他走后，挖出金块拿走了。守财奴再来时，发现洞中的金块没有了，便捶胸痛哭。有个人见他如此悲痛，问明原因后，说道：“喂，朋友，别再难过了，那块金子虽是你买来的，但并不是你真正拥有的。去拿一块石头来，代替金块放在洞里，只要你心里想着那是块金子，你就会很高兴。这样与你拥有真正的金块效果没什么不同。依我之见，你拥有那金块时，也从没用过。”这故事说明，一切财物如不使用等于没有。