思想的珍珠篇04：The Cookie Thief偷曲奇饼的人（在线收听）

A woman was waiting at an airport one night. With several long hours before her flight, she hunted for a book in the airport shop, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene. So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye." With each cookie she took, he took one too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought... ooh, brother! This guy has some nerve and he's also rude, why he didn't even show any gratitude! She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
这天晚上一位女士在机场候机。还有好几个小时才到登机时间，於是她到机场商店买了本书，还买了袋饼干，找了个位置坐下来。当她正专心致志读书的时候，却瞟见坐她邻座的那个秃头男人正从他们座位中间的饼干袋里取出一两块饼干。她并不想因此做出什么举动，於是自顾自的大声咀嚼饼干，不时看看表，任凭那个大胆的窃贼把那袋饼干慢慢消耗掉。时间一点点过去，她有些坐不住了，心里想：如果不是我心肠这么好的话，一定要把他眼眶打紫。可现在，她拿一块饼干，他也拿一块。当剩下最后一块饼干的时候，她在想他会怎么做。这时，只见他脸上堆出一份不自然的微笑，拿起那最后一块饼干，掰成两半。他给她一半，自己留一半。她抓过那一半，心里愤愤的：我的天！这个家伙如此胆大，如此粗鲁，他竟一点感激的意思都没有。她感觉从没有这么懊恼过，好在这时传来登机的广播声才让她感觉到解脱。她抓起自己的行李，冲向登机口，根本不想再回头看那个窃贼一眼。

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat. Then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes. If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share.
登上飞机，找到自己座位，一屁股坐下去，然后准备拿出那本快要读完的书。当她手在包里摸索的时候，突然大吃一惊。这不是一袋饼干吗，就在眼前。如果我的在这，她绝望地叹了口气，那一袋就是他的，而且他一直在和自己分享。

Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!
要道歉也太晚了，她这时候才明白，那个窃贼竟是她自己，那个粗鲁的，忘恩负意的，窃贼！

How many times have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true...was not?
有多少次，我们自信事情本该这样的，结果却发现我们坚信的事实并非如此？