英文幽默故事：The Judge Monkey

Once upon a time, two cats were passing through a street. Suddenly they spotted¹ a loaf of bread lying beneath a tree. Both pounced² upon it and caught the loaf at the same time. “It is mine. I saw it first," claimed one cat. While the other said, “I pounced upon it first and so it belongs to me." After having fought for a while, one cat said, “Let us divide it into two and take one piece each." “Indeed, a good idea," said the other cat. “But how do we divide it now?" 

 

A monkey sitting on the branch of the tree had watched all that happened between the two cats. “That loaf of bread looks good. I could do with it myself," he thought. Slowly he came down from the tree and walked up to the confused³ cats. 

 

“Yes, my dear friends! Can I help you?" asked the monkey. The cats told the monkey what the problem was and said, “Why do not you be the judge between us?" When the monkey nodded, the cats said, “Please divide this loaf for us." 

 

The clever monkey smilingly broke the bread into two pieces. But one piece was a little bigger that the other. “OH no! I will take a little bite of this bigger piece to make both equal," said the monkey, slyly⁴. He took a bite from the bigger piece. But, he had taken a big bite. “Uh oh! Now it has become smaller than the other piece. I will just have to take a little bite from this piece now," said the clever monkey. 

 

The Judge Monkey took another bite. The two cats sat in front of the monkey, seeing the loaf of bread they had found getting smaller and smaller. When the whole loaf was eaten by the monkey, the monkey said, “I am sorry. I was really difficult to divide that loaf. I must be going now." And the monkey jumped onto the tree and was gone. “If only we had not quarreled among ourselves, we would have remained united⁵ and we need not have to go to the monkey and to become hungry now," said the two cats.  

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 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 confused   

adj.困惑的，烦恼的

参考例句：

• They asked so many questions that they confused me.他们问了许多问题，都把我弄糊涂了。
• A wise man is never confused.智者不惑。

4 slyly   

adv.狡猾地；偷偷地；俏皮地；会意地

参考例句：

• She glanced slyly at Madeleine. 她诡秘地向马德琳瞥了一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was lurking slyly in the background. 他狡猾地躲在背后活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。