英文幽默故事：The Golden Swan

Long time ago, there lived a King. He was lazy and liked all the comforts of life. He never carried out his duties as a King. “Our King does not take care of our needs. He also ignores the affairs of his kingdom." The people complained. 

 

One day, the King went into the forest to hunt. After having wandered for quite sometime, he became thirsty. To his relief, he spotted¹ a lake. As he was drinking water, he suddenly saw a golden swan come out of the lake and perch² on a stone. “Oh! A golden swan. I must capture it," thought the King. 

 

But as soon as he held his bow up, the swan disappeared. And the King heard a voice, “I am the Golden Swan. If you want to capture me, you must come to heaven." 

 

Surprised, the King said, “Please show me the way to heaven." “Do good deeds, serve your people and the messenger from heaven would come to fetch you to heaven," replied the voice. 

 

The selfish King, eager to capture the Swan, tried doing some good deeds in his Kingdom. “Now, I suppose a messenger will come to take me to heaven," he thought. But, no messenger came. 

 

The King then disguised³ himself and went out into the street. There he tried helping⁴ an old man. But the old man became angry and said, “You need not try to help. I am in this miserable⁵ state because of out selfish King. He has done nothing for his people." 

 

Suddenly, the King heard the golden swan’s voice, “Do good deeds and you will come to heaven." It dawned on the King that by doing selfish acts, he will not go to heaven. 

 

He realized that his people needed him and carrying out his duties was the only way to heaven. After that day he became a responsible King.  

1 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

2 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

3 disguised   

v.假扮( disguise的过去式和过去分词 )；化装；伪装；掩盖

参考例句：

• The hijackers were heavily disguised. 劫持者伪装得严严实实。
• The chieftain of that country is disguised as a benefactor this time. 那个国家的首领这一次伪装出一副施恩者的姿态。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。