一个暖洋洋的春日里，一条鱼正在湖面下一英尺处游着，它看到了一只苍蝇在它刚好够不到的地方飞。

　　The fish said to itself, "If that fly comes six inches closer, I'll jump up and have myself a meal."鱼自言自语道：“如果它再飞近6英寸，我就跳起来吃了它。”

　　Just then, a bear on the shore of the lake looked up and said to itself, "If that fly gets any closer to that fish, the fish will jump up, and I'll catch the fish and have myself a meal."这时，岸上的一只熊抬起头来自言自语道：“如果那只苍蝇再飞近鱼，鱼就会跳起来吃苍蝇，我就能抓鱼吃。”

　　As luck would have it, a hunter saw what was happening. He thought to himself, "If that fly moves closer to the fish, the fish will jump, the bear will lean over to grab the fish, and I'll shoot the bear."一个幸运的猎人看到这一幕，想着：“如果那只苍蝇再飞近鱼，鱼就会跳起来吃苍蝇，熊就会俯身去抓鱼，我就能射熊。”

　　Just then, a rat was standing behind the hunter saying to itself, "If that fly moves closer to the fish, the fish will jump, the bear will lean over to grab the fish, the hunter will lean over to shoot the bear, and I'll grab the sandwich from the back pocket of the hunter."这时，一只站在猎人身后的老鼠自言自语道：“如果那只苍蝇再飞近鱼，鱼就会跳起来吃苍蝇，熊就会俯身去抓鱼，猎人就会弓身射熊，我就能从猎人的后兜里偷出三明治吃。”

　　However, unbeknownst to the rat, a cat was observing everything and thinking, "If that fly moves closer to the fish, the fish will jump, the bear wil grab the fish, the hunter will shoot the bear, the rat will grab the sandwich, and I'll snatch the rat."然而，老鼠不知道的是，一只猫看到了一切，它在想：“如果那只苍蝇再飞近鱼，鱼就会跳起来吃苍蝇，熊就会俯身去抓鱼，猎人就会弓身射熊，老鼠就会从猎人的后兜里偷三明治，我就能趁机抓住老鼠。”

　　At that very moment, the fly dropped a few inches, the fish grabbed the fly, the bear grabbed the fish, the hunter shot the bear, the rat grabbed the sandwich, the cat jumped, missed the rat and landed in the lake.

　　就在这时，苍蝇往下飞了几英寸，鱼抓到了苍蝇，熊抓到了鱼，猎人射中了熊，老鼠偷到了三明治，猫跳了起来，没有扑到老鼠，掉进了湖里。