Once there lived a rich businessman and a poor shoemaker in the same house. The busi■nessman lived the second floor， but the shoemaker lived and worked in a small room on the first floor.

从前，有一位富商和一个穷鞋匠住在同一栋房子里。商人住在二楼，而鞋匠只在一楼的一间小屋子里生活和工作。

The shoemaker was one of the happiest persons on earth. He worked from morning till night， singing happily.

鞋匠是世界上最快乐的人之一。他从早忙到晚，快乐地唱歌。

Now the businessman upstairs was so rich that he hardly knew how much wealth he had. He was always counting over his gold and silver coins far into the night. Even in bed worring about his riches kept him awake when at last he had been asleep for an hour or two， up came the song of the happy shoemaker， who got up early.

如今，楼上的商人很富有，富到连他都不清楚自己到底拥有多少财富。他经常数他的金子和银币到深夜。即使躺在床上，他的这些财富仍让他感到不安。直到早上被早起的鞋匠的歌声吵醒，最终他只睡了一两个小时。

It continued all day and was a trouble to the businessman day by day. He asked a wise friend of his how he could put an end to the shoemakers song.

这种状态持续一整天，这个问题也一天比一天令商人苦恼。他向一个聪明的朋友寻求帮助，询问怎么样才可以让小鞋匠不再唱歌。

“Well， if I were you， I would give the shoemaker a hundred pounds，” answered his friend， “You are rich enough to do that， I suppose. Ask for nothing in return. Simply give the money.” So the businessman readily followed the advice.

“好吧，如果我是你，我會给鞋匠一百英磅。”他的朋友回答，“我相信你的钱足够这么做了。只给钱，不要去要求任何回报。”于是，商人照着朋友的话去做了。

When the shoemaker opened the bag that had been sent by the merchant， he was surprised to find shining1 coins. “I must hide this from the eyes of my neighbors. If they see it， they will think that I have stolen it.” he thought. So he hid the bag of money under the floor. From then on he avoided his neighbors as much as he could.

当这位鞋匠打开商人送来的包时，他吃惊地发现了里面那些闪闪发亮的硬币。“我必须把钱藏起来，不能让邻居们看到。如果被看到，他们一定会以为是我偷来的。”他想。于是，他把装着钱的包藏到了地板之下。从那时候起，他总是尽量躲着邻居。

His mind was too much set on the money bag to attend to his work hard. He could not sing happily now. One day his wife said to him in tears， “Dear husband， what makes you so sad and uneasy？ All our neighbors say you have changed. I wish you were as good and gentle as before.” He was so sorry for her that he told her everything.

鞋匠满脑子都是那些钱，以至于他都没办法努力工作了。他再也不能快乐地唱歌了。一天，他的妻子哭着对他说：“亲爱的丈夫，发生了什么事让你这么伤心和不安呢？所有的邻居都说你变了。我多希望你能和以前一样快乐、平和。”听到她这样说，鞋匠觉得很对不起妻子，于是把一切都告诉了妻子。

“We were happy before the businessman gave us the money，” said his wife， when she heard the story， “We have good health. We have plenty of work to do. What more do we need？ Send the money back to the businessman， and the happy life that was once ours will return to us.”

“商人给我们钱之前我们都很幸福。”妻子听完整个故事后对鞋匠说：“我们有健康，有充实的工作，这样不就够了吗？把这些钱还给商人，我们就能过和从前一样幸福的生活了。”

The shoemaker agreed and went to the businessman to return the bag of money. Happy song was again heard all over the house. He was as happy as he had ever been.

鞋匠同意了妻子的话，并且把钱还给了商人。快乐的歌声再次响起。鞋匠又和从前一样快乐了。