經(jīng)典英語小故事
The Old Cat
An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old. One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.

Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old. Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."
【譯文】

老貓

一位老婦有只貓，這只貓很老，它跑不快了，也咬不了東西，因?yàn)樗昙o(jì)太大了。一天，老貓發(fā)現(xiàn)一只老鼠，它跳過去抓這只老鼠，然而，它咬不住這只老鼠。因此，老鼠從它的嘴邊溜掉了，因?yàn)槔县堃Р涣怂?/p>

于是，老婦很生氣，因?yàn)槔县垱]有把老鼠咬死。她開始打這只貓，貓說：“不要打你的老仆人，我已經(jīng)為你服務(wù)了很多年，而且還愿意為你效勞，但是，我實(shí)在太老了，對年紀(jì)大的不要這么無情，要記住老年人在年青時(shí)所做過的有益的事情。”

A man was going to the house of some rich person. As he went along the road, he saw a box of good apples at the side of the road. He said, "I do not want to eat those apples; for the rich man will give me much food; he will give me very nice food to eat." Then he took the apples and threw them away into the dust.

He went on and came to a river. The river had become very big; so he could not go over it. He waited for some time; then he said, "I cannot go to the rich man's house today, for I cannot get over the river."

He began to go home. He had eaten no food that day. He began to want food. He came to the apples, and he was glad to take them out of the dust and eat them.

Do not throw good things away; you may be glad to have them at some other time.