Love and Time

 　　Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

　　Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

　　When the island had almost sunk, Love decided¹ to ask for help.

　　Richness was passing by Love in a grand² boat. Love said,

　　"Richness, can you take me with you?"

　　Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

　　Love decided to ask Vanity³ who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel⁴. "Vanity, please help me!"

　　"I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

　　Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you."

　　"Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

　　Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

　　Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed⁵ the elder,

　　Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?"

　　"It was Time," Knowledge answered.

　　"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

　　Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom⁶ and answered, "Because only Time is capable⁷ of understanding how valuable Love is."

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 grand   

adj.豪华的，宏伟的，壮丽的，主要的，重大的；n.(美俚)一千美元

参考例句：

• The pianist played several pieces of music on a grand piano.钢琴家在一架大钢琴上弹了几首乐曲。
• Come on,I'll give you the grand tour of the backyard.跟我来，我带你去后院来一次盛大的旅游。

3 vanity   

n.虚荣心，浮华，无价值的东西；adj.虚荣心的

参考例句：

• A man's vanity is actually in proportion to his ignorance.一个人的虚荣心实际上是和他的愚蠢程度成正比。
• Vanity and virtue do not go together.虚荣与美德不是共生物。

4 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

5 owed   

v.感激( owe的过去式和过去分词 )；应把…归功于；欠…债；（对位高权重者）忠诚

参考例句：

• I'd completely forgotten about the money he owed me. 我完全记不得他欠我的钱了。
• He gave me a lot of help.I owed much to him. 他给我许多帮助，我非常感激他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 wisdom   

n.智慧，明智的行为，学识，名言，贤人

参考例句：

• Experience is the mother of wisdom.经验为智慧之母。
• Ancient Greece was a fountain of wisdom and philosophy.古希腊是智慧和哲学的发源地。

7 capable   

adj.有能力的，有才能的

参考例句：

• The new woman secretary was extremely clever and capable.这位新来的女秘书很是精明强干。
• Jim is capable at sports.吉姆擅长运动。