江苏张家港市东渡实验学校 钱喆洋 编译

One summer morning, aministerwent to seeEmperorWood and told hima piece of bad news. He said that his goldcoinswere all gone and the money must have beenstolenthe night before!

一个夏天的早晨，一个大臣去见伍德皇帝，告诉了他一条坏消息。大臣说，他的金币都不见了，钱肯定是前一天晚上被偷的！

Emperor Wood wasshockedto hear this, because the minister lived in a very safe place and all his ministers lived in that place. It was the safest place in that country. Surely no one could havebroken intothe house to steal the gold coins! Emperor thought that it must have been stolen by one of his other ministers. “But who stole the money?” Emperor Wood wondered.

伍德皇帝听到这个消息很震惊，因为这个大臣住在一个非常安全的地方，他的所有大臣都住在那个地方。那是那个国家最安全的地方。肯定没人能闯进房子里去偷金币！皇帝认为，金币一定是被他的其中一个大臣偷走了。“但是，谁偷了钱呢？”伍德皇帝想。

“How tosolve the case?” thought Emperor Wood. Suddenly, the Emperor thought of Paul. Paul was not only a very famous doctor, but also a well-knowndetectivein the country. Emperor Wood sent hismanto ask Paul to come to Emperor Wood’s palace.

“怎么破案？”伍德皇帝想。突然，皇帝想到了保罗。保罗不仅是这个国家一位非常有名的医生，而且是一位有名的侦探。伍德皇帝派人去请保罗到自己的宫殿来。

“Can you find out the thief, Paul?” asked the Emperor.

“你能查出小偷吗，保罗？”皇帝问道。

“Yes, of course I can,” answered Paul.

“是的，我当然可以。”保罗回答。

“Great! When you find the thief, you will berewarded with100 gold coins,”promisedthe Emperor.

“太好了！如果你找到了小偷，你将得到100金币的奖励。”皇帝承诺道。

“Thank you very much,” said Paul.

“非常感谢。”保罗说。

Paulcalled foradonkey. Hetiedthe donkey to apoleat the place where the minister lived. Then, hepaintedthe donkey’stailwith a black coat of paint! After that, he would order all the ministers to lift the donkey’s tail and say “I did not steal the gold coins” . Then each of them must come to the palace later that day.

保罗叫了一头驴。他把驴拴在大臣们住的地方的一根柱子上。然后，他在驴的尾巴涂上了一层黑漆！之后，他命令所有大臣举起驴子的尾巴并且说“我没有偷金币”这句话。然后他们每个人都必须在当天晚些时候到皇宫来。

When the ministers were all at the palace, Paul said, “Now each of you must turn your hand up, so I can see thepalm ofyourhand.” The ministers did not know what to think of it, but they had to do so.

当众大臣都到了宫里的时候，保罗说：“现在你们每个人都要举手，以便我能看见你们的掌心。”众大臣对此莫名其妙，但是也只能照做了。

When Paul looked at the hand of each minister, he saw that each one of them had a blackpatchof paint on their palms,exceptGogh.

保罗看了看每一位大臣的手，发现他们的手掌上都有一块黑漆，只有高赫除外。

Immediately, Paul found that Gogh was the thief, asin fear, he did nottouchthe donkey’s tail.

保罗立刻发现，高赫就是那个偷金币的贼，因为他出于害怕没有摸驴尾巴。

Notes:

ministern. 大臣

emperorn. 皇帝

a piece of bad news一条坏消……