湖北省武汉市 朱丹 供稿

Small Frying－pan

煎锅太小了

One morning,a man was crossing a narrow bridge when he saw a fisherman was going fishing on the shady river bank.He stopped to watch him quietly.

After a few minutes，the fisherman pulled his line out.There was a big， fat fish at the end of it.The fisherman took it off the hook and threw it back into the water.Then he put his hook and line in the water again.After a few more minutes,he caught another big fish.Again he threw it back into the river.Then，the third time， he caught a small fish.He put it into his basket and got ready to go.The man on the bridge was very surprised， so he said， “Why did you throw those beautiful，big fish back into the water and keep only that small one？”

The fisherman looked up and answered，“Because the frying－pan is small.”

一天早上，一个人路过一座很窄的桥，这时他看见一个渔夫在荫凉的河岸边钓鱼，他停下脚步悄悄地观看。

几分钟过后，渔夫拉起线，线的末端有一条大而肥的鱼，渔夫从鱼钩上取下鱼并把它扔进河里，然后他把鱼钩和线又放进水里。又过了几分钟，渔夫又钓到一条大鱼，他第二次把鱼放回河里。过后，第三次，渔夫钓到一条小鱼，他把小鱼放到篮子里准备走。站在桥上的人很奇怪，所以他问渔夫：“你为什么把那些漂亮的大鱼放回水里而只留下那条小鱼呢？”

渔夫打量了一下桥上的人回答到：“因为煎锅太小了。”

I Will Take It Down

我将记下它

An elephant said to a small mouse， “No doubt that you are the smallest and the most useless thing that I have ever seen.”

“Please say it again.Let me take it down，” the mouse said， “I will tell a flea who I know.”

一头大象对一只小老鼠说：“你无疑是我见过的最小、最没用的东西。”

“请再说一遍，我将把它记下来，”老鼠说，“我要讲给我认识的一只跳蚤听”。

A Waste of Time

浪费时间

One day,a visitor from the city came to a small rural area.He was driving around the country roads.He wanted to see how the farms looked，and he also wanted to see how farmers earned their living.

The city man saw a farmer in his yard holding a pig up in his hands，and lifting it so that the pig could eat apples on an apple tree.The city man said to the farmer，“I see that your pig likes apples，but isn’t that quite a waste of time？”The farmer replied，“What is time to a pig？”

一天，有一个城里的游客来到一个小乡村。他在乡间路上开着车，想看看农庄是什么样子，也想看看农夫怎样种田过日子。

这位城里人看见一位农夫在自家院子里，手中抱着一头猪，并把它举得高高的，好让它能够吃到树上的苹果。城里人对农夫说：“我看你的猪挺喜欢吃苹果的，但是，这不是很浪费时间吗？”那位农夫回答说：“时间对猪有什么意义？”

A Good Boy

好孩子

Little Robert asked his mother for two cents.“What did you do with the money I gave you yesterday？”

“I gave it to a poor old woman，”he answered.

“You’re a good boy，”said the mother proudly.“Here are two cents more.But why are you so interested in the old woman？”

“She is the one who sells the candy.”

小罗伯特向妈妈要两分钱。

“昨天给你的钱干什么了？”

“我给了一个可怜的老太婆，”他回答说。

“你真是个好孩子，”妈妈骄傲地说。“再给你两分钱。可你为什么对那位老太太那么感兴趣呢？”

“她是个卖糖果的。”