50、The Young Thief and His Mother

年輕小偷和他的母親

Long ago, there were a mother and a son living in a house. She worked hard everyday, but they were always poor.

很久以前(Long ago)，有一個媽媽和她的兒子住在一座房子里。她每天十分努力地(hard)工作，但他們依然很窮(poor)。

One day, her son stole his friend's bag. 'Mom, what do you think of this bag?' His mother praised her son rather than scolding him. 'It looks great!'

有一天(One day)，兒子偷(steal)了他朋友的書包，“媽媽，你覺得這個書包怎么樣(think of)？”他的媽媽沒有責(zé)罵(scold)他，反而表揚(praise)了他，“這個書包看起來不錯！”

The next time, he stole an overcoat. She praised him again when he stole it.

第二次，兒子偷了一個外套，媽媽又一次表揚了他。

A few years later, he grew up to be a young man. He stole jewelry and brought them to his mother. 'How beautiful!' This time, she did not scold her son again.

幾年之后，兒子長大了。他偷了珠寶并把這些帶給他的媽媽。“好漂亮??！”，這一次媽媽又沒有責(zé)罵她的兒子。

Then, because he was elated by his mother, he started to steal more expensive things. One day, the police caught him. Before putting him in jail(監(jiān)獄), he begged the police to meet his mother. They took him to his mother.

后來，因為他母親的鼓勵(elated)，他開始偷更貴(expensive)的東西。直到有一天，警察逮捕了他。在被送進監(jiān)獄之前，他請求(beg)警察讓他見見他的母親，警察同意了。

As soon as he saw his mother, he bit her earlobe. 'Ouch! What's the matter with you?' She finally scolded him. Her son answered. 'If you had given me a scolding like that when I stole the first bag, I could not have become a thief.'

兒子一見到他的媽媽，就咬了他媽媽的耳垂一口?！鞍?！你到底怎么了！”媽媽終于開始責(zé)罵他。“如果我第一次偷東西的時候你就這樣責(zé)罵我，我就不會變成一個小偷(thief)了”。

She collapsed(崩潰) as she looked at her son heading to prison. 'If I only could turn back time, I would scold him severely(嚴厲地).' She regretted that she always praised him, whatever he did.

看著她的兒子走向監(jiān)獄，這個母親終于崩潰了?！叭绻麜r光能夠倒流，我一定嚴厲地管教”。她十分后悔無論兒子做了什么(whatever)，她總是表揚他。

Long ago  早已；早；很久以前，從前

hard  硬的；困難的；有力的；努力的；努力地

poor  貧窮的，貧乏的；令人憐憫的，可憐的

one day  有朝一日；有一天，總有一天

steal  偷；悄悄地做； 潛行；便宜貨

think of  想起；考慮；有…想法；對…有意見

praise  贊美；稱贊；頌揚；崇拜

rather than  與其…倒不如…

scold  責(zé)罵，斥責(zé)；責(zé)罵的；責(zé)罵，斥責(zé)

elated  興高采烈的，得意洋洋的；使興奮

expensive  昂貴的，花錢多的；豪華的

beg  請求；乞求；乞討

thief  小偷，盜賊

whatever  無論什么；什么都可以