100个儿童英语小故事: The Young Thief and His Mother 年轻的小偷和他的母亲

 

028 The Young Thief and His Mother

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

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

A few years later, he grew up to be a young man. He stole jewelry¹ and brought them to his mother. "How beautiful!" This time, she did not scold her son again.

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 jail², he begged the police to meet his mother. They took him to his mother.

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."

She collapsed³ as she looked at her son heading to prison. "If I only could turn back time, I would scold him severely⁴." She regretted that she always praised him, whatever he did.

1 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

2 jail   

n.监狱，看守所；vt.监禁，拘留

参考例句：

• The castle had been used as a jail.这城堡曾用作监狱。
• If she carries on shoplifting,she'll end up in jail.她如果还在店铺里偷东西，最终会被抓进监狱的。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。