正文

A beggar found a leather purse that someone had dropped in the marketplace. Opening it, he discovered that it contained 100 pieces of gold.

有人在集市丟了一個皮錢包，一個乞丐撿到了。他打開一看，裡面有100個金幣。

Then he heard a merchant shout, “A reward（懸賞）! A reward to the one who finds my leather purse!” Being an honest man, the beggar came forward and handed the purse to the merchant saying, “Here is your purse. May I have the reward now?”

這時，他聽到一個買賣人喊到：“懸賞！懸賞！誰找到我的皮錢包，我重重有賞！” 乞丐是個老實人，他走上前去把錢包交給生意人，說：“我撿到了你的錢包，現在請把賞錢給我吧。”

“Reward?” scoffed（嘲笑） the merchant, greedily counting his gold. “Why, the purse I dropped had 200 pieces of gold in it. You've already stolen more than the reward! Go away or I'll tell the police.”

“賞錢？”生意人一邊貪婪地數著金子，一邊嘲弄道。“我說，我丟錢包的時候，裡面還有200個金幣，分明是你偷了金幣，還敢問我要賞錢！快滾，不然我就報警了！”

“I'm an honest man,” said the beggar defiantly（挑戰地）, “Let us take this matter to the court.” In court the judge patiently listened to both sides of the story and said, “I believe you both. Justice is possible!

“我這人向來老實本分。”乞丐不服氣地說，“咱們上法庭評評理吧。” 法庭上，法官耐心聽完兩方的陳述，說：“你倆說的話我都信。司法是公正的！

judge（法官）

Merchant, you stated that the purse you lost contained 200 pieces of gold. Well, that's a considerable cost. But, the purse this beggar found had only 100 pieces of gold. Therefore, it couldn't be the one you lost.”

做買賣的，你說你丟的錢包裡面有200塊金幣，那可不是筆小數目啊。可這要飯的撿到的錢包裡只有100塊金幣，那說明他撿的就不是你丟的那個錢包。”

And, with that, the judge gave the purse and all the gold to the beggar.

說完，法官把錢包和所有金幣全部判給了乞丐。

生詞

scoff [skɒf] v.嘲弄

defiantly [dɪˈfaɪəntlɪ] adv.大膽對抗地

聖雄甘地(Mahatma Gandhi)認為：“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.”(地球提供給我們的物質財富足以滿足每個人的需求，但不足以滿足每個人的貪慾。)

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