英语故事:The Swallow’s Words 燕子的忠告

 It happened that a country man was sowing some hemp¹ seeds in a field where a Swallow and some other Birds were hopping² about picking up their food.

“Be ware³ of that man,”said the Swallow.

“Why, what is he doing?” said the others.

“Those are hemp seeds he is sowing; be careful to pickup⁴ everyone of the seeds, or else you will repent⁵ it.”

The Birds paid no heed⁶ to the Swallow’s words.

By and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord, and of the cords nets were made, and many a Bird that had despised the Swallow’s advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp.

一个庄稼人正在地里播种大麻的种子。一只燕子和一些其他的鸟儿正在那里寻找食物。

“小心那个男人。”燕子说。

“为什么？他在干什么？”其他鸟问。

“他正在播种大麻的种子，一定要仔细地把每一粒都拣出来，否则你们会后悔的。”

鸟儿们都没在意燕子的话。

大麻渐渐长大了，后来被搓成了绳子，绳子又被结成了网。许多对燕子的劝告满不在乎的鸟儿正是被这用大麻编成的网捉住的。

智慧箴言：

最有价值的建议往往不易被人重视。我们要善于接纳别人善意的劝告，不然等到灾难来临再后悔，那就为时晚矣。

1 hemp   

n.大麻；纤维

参考例句：

• The early Chinese built suspension bridges of hemp rope.古代的中国人建造过麻绳悬索桥。
• The blanket was woven from hemp and embroidered with wool.毯子是由亚麻编织，羊毛镶边的。

2 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

3 ware   

n.(常用复数)商品，货物

参考例句：

• The shop sells a great variety of porcelain ware.这家店铺出售品种繁多的瓷器。
• Good ware will never want a chapman.好货不须叫卖。

4 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

5 repent   

v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔

参考例句：

• He has nothing to repent of.他没有什么要懊悔的。
• Remission of sins is promised to those who repent.悔罪者可得到赦免。

6 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。