LESSON 19 THE BIRDS SET FREE 小鳥自由了

1.A man was walking one day through a large city.On a street corner he saw a boy with a number of small birds for sale, in a cage.

2.He looked with sadness upon the little prisoners fl ying about the cage, peeping through the wires, beating them with their wings, and trying to get out.

3.He stood for some time looking at the birds.At last he said to the boy, “How much do you ask for your birds? ”

4.“Fifty cents apiece, sir,” said the boy.“I do not mean how much apiece,” said the man, “but how much for all of them? I want to buy them all.”

5.The boy began to count, and found they came to fi ve dollars.“There is your money,” said the man.The boy took it, well pleased with his morning’s trade.

6.No sooner was the bargain settled than the man opened the cage door, and let all the birds fl y away.

7.The boy, in great surprise, cried, “What did you do that for, sir? You have lost all your birds.”

8.“I will tell you why I did it,” said the man.“I was shut up three years in a French prison, as a prisoner of war, and I am resolved never to see anything in prison which I can make free.”

【中文閱讀】

1.一天，一位先生在一座大城市里慢行。在大街的一個角落里，他看到一個小男孩在兜售籠子里的小鳥。

2.他傷心地看著那些囚犯似的小鳥在籠子里飛來飛去，透過絲網向外觀望，它們不停地拍打翅膀，想努力飛出來。

3.他一直站在那里看著那些小鳥。最后，他問小男孩：“這些鳥多少錢？”

4.“五十美分一只，先生。”小男孩說。“我不是問你多少錢一只，”那個男人說，“我是問你這些鳥總共多少錢。”

5.小男孩開始計算，然后說一共五美元。“給你錢。”男人說道。小男孩拿到錢，很高興能在早上做成這么一筆買賣。

6.交易剛剛完成，那個男人就打開籠子，讓所有的鳥兒傾巢而出，飛向天空。

7.那個男孩吃驚極了，大喊道：“先生，您在做什么呀？您失去了所有的鳥。”

8.那個男人說：“我告訴你我為什么要這么做。作為戰犯，我在法國的一所監獄里被囚禁了整整三年。我下定決心，只要我有能力，我絕不想看到任何東西被關進監獄。”