倒霉的恶魔

The Poor Demon¹




Long long ago, there lived a farmer in the village. He had a cow. In spring, the farmer took his cow to the pasture² and fed his cow there.

He always prayed to God, “Dear God, thank you for keeping us safe always. I pray that you feed this cow with plenty of grasses here.”
A demon listening to him in the bush³ was offended⁴ at his words. “Now, thanks God while things are going well. But if things turn bad, he will always lay the blame on me. You shall soon see.”

A few days later, the farmer’s cow fell into the pond. The farmer saw his cow struggling in the water and got angry. He cried, “I’m sure a demon has put her in the pond. How cruel this demon is!”


The demon heard this behind the bush and said, “That is what I expected.” The farmer ran to the village for help.


After a while, the demon came out of the bush and pulled the cow from the water. The demon smiled and said, “Now this time, I think the farmer will thank me”. Soon the farmer came back from the villagers. When he found his cow safe on the bank, he said, “Dear God, thank you very much for pulling my cow from the pond.”

1 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

2 pasture   

n.牧场，牲畜饲养

参考例句：

• This is the place where they used to pasture.这就是他们过去经常放牧的地方。
• The boy got up very early every morning to pasture cattle.这男孩每天起得很早去放牛。

3 bush   

n.灌木，灌木丛，矮树

参考例句：

• This bush has grown up a lot in the last few months.这矮树丛几个月来已向上长高了很多。
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.一鸟在手，胜于二鸟在林。

4 offended   

v.触怒( offend的过去式和过去分词 )；得罪；冒犯；使反感令人不适

参考例句：

• They'll be offended if you don't go to their wedding. 你若不参加他们的婚礼，他们会生气的。
• She was offended by the vulgarity of their jokes. 他们那些粗俗的笑话使她大为不快。