雙語·《伊索寓言》 牧童和狼

THE SHEPHERD'S BOY AND THE WOLF

A Shepherd's Boy was tending his flock near a village, and thought it would be great fun to hoax the villagers by pretending that a Wolf was attacking the sheep: so he shouted out, “Wolf! wolf!” and when the people came running up he laughed at them for their pains. He did this more than once, and every time the villagers found they had been hoaxed, for there was no Wolf at all. At last a Wolf really did come, and the Boy cried, “Wolf! wolf!” as loud as he could: but the people were so used to hearing him call that they took no notice of his cries for help. And so the Wolf had it all his own way, and killed off sheep after sheep at his leisure.

You cannot believe a liar even when he tells the truth.

牧童和狼

有一個牧羊人的兒子，在村子附近放牧，覺得假裝狼攻擊了羊群來騙騙村民應(yīng)該挺有樂子的，所以便大叫：“狼來了！狼來了！”等人們紛紛跑來，他大肆嘲笑他們白費了一番力氣。后來他又故技重演，村民們都發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被耍了，因為根本沒有狼。后來有一天，狼真的來了，男孩大叫：“狼來了！狼來了！”他費盡力氣，叫破了喉嚨，而村民卻都已經(jīng)聽而不聞，根本沒有理會。所以狼一路橫行無阻，好整以暇地吃了一只又一只羊。

訓(xùn)誡：騙子講真話，也不會有人信。