牙牙学英语之:吝啬鬼

The Miser¹
吝啬鬼

A miser sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided² to watch his movements. He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and to make loud lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said, "Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it."

一个吝啬鬼把自己所有的东西都卖掉了，换来一大块金子。他把金子埋在一堵旧墙边上一个洞里面面，然后，每天都过去看一看那块金子。　后来，吝啬鬼的一个工人发现他老是跑到一个地方，于是留心观察，很快就发现了地下藏宝的秘密，于是，挖开了那个洞，把金子偷走了。　当吝啬鬼再一次去看他的金子的时候，他发现金子没了。吝啬鬼伤心得捶胸顿足。　一个邻居看到吝啬鬼伤心得快不行了，在了解了事情的原由后对吝啬鬼说，“求你别那样伤心了，去找块石头放到那洞里面吧，就把石头当成你的金子吧，这能有什么区别呢，反正金子躺在那里，对你一点用都没有，跟一块石头一样”。

1 miser   

n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly)

参考例句：

• The miser doesn't like to part with his money.守财奴舍不得花他的钱。
• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。