双语美文：诚信无价

 The Importance of Being Honest 

诚信无价

In the busy city of New York, such an astonishing¹ thing that ever happened.

在繁华的纽约，曾经发生了这样一件震撼人心的事情。

On a friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the subway station, playing his violin. Though the music was great, people were quickly going home for the weekend. In this case, many of them slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.

星期五的傍晚，一个贫穷的年轻艺人仍然像往常一样站在地铁站门口，专心致志地拉着他的小提琴。琴声优美动听，虽然人们都急急忙忙地赶着回家过周末，但还是有很多人情不自禁地放慢了脚步，时不时地会有一些人在年轻艺人跟前的礼帽里放一些钱。

The next day, the young artist came to the gate of the subway station, and put his hat on the ground gracefully². Different than the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he adjusted³ the violin and began playing. It seemed more pleasant to listen to.

第二天黄昏，年轻的艺人又像往常一样准时来到地铁门口，把他的礼帽摘下来很优雅地放在地上。和以往不同的是，他还从包里拿出一张大纸，然后很认真地铺在地上，四周还用自备的小石块压上。做完这一切以后，他调试好小提琴，又开始了演奏，声音似乎比以前更动听更悠扬。

Before long, the young violinist⁴ was surrounded with people, who were all attracted by the words on that paper. It said, "Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistaken. Please come to claim it soon."

不久，年轻的小提琴手周围站满了人，人们都被铺在地上的那张大纸上的字吸引了，有的人还踮起脚尖看。上面写着：“昨天傍晚，有一位叫乔治·桑的先生错将一份很重要的东西放在我的礼帽里，请您速来认领。”

Seeing this, it caused a great excitement and people wondered what it could be. After about half an hour, a middle-aged⁵ man ran there in a hurry and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed⁶ his shoulders and said, "Yes, it's you. You did come here. I knew that you're an honest man and would certainly come here."

见此情景，人群之间引起一阵骚动，都想知道这是一份什么样的东西。过了半小时左右，一位中年男人急急忙忙跑过来，拨开人群就冲到小提琴手面前，抓住他的肩膀语无伦次的说：“啊！是您呀，您真的来了，我就知道您是个诚实的人，您一定会来的。”

The young violinist asked calmly, "Are you Mr. George Sang?"

年轻的小提琴手冷静地问：“您是乔治·桑先生吗？”

The man nodded. The violinist asked, "Did you lose something?"

那人连忙点头。小提琴手又问：“您遗落了什么东西吗？”

"Lottery⁷. It's lottery," said the man.

那位先生说：“奖票，奖票”。

The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang's name was seen. "Is it?" he asked.

小提琴手于是掏出一张奖票，上面还醒目地写着乔治·桑，小提琴手举着彩票问：“是这个吗？”

George nodded promptly⁸ and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it, then he danced with the violinist.

乔治·桑迅速地点点头，抢过奖票吻了一下，然后又抱着小提琴手在地上跳起了舞。

The story turned out to be this: George Sang is an office clerk. He bought a lottery ticket issued⁹ by a bank a few days ago. The awards opened yesterday and he won a prize of $500,000. So he felt very happy after work and felt the music was so wonderful, that he took out 50 dollars and put in the hat. However the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it, he cancelled the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.

原来事情是这样的，乔治·桑是一家公司的小职员，他前些日子买了一张一家银行发行的奖票，昨天上午开奖，他中了50万美元的奖金。昨天下班，他心情很好，觉得音乐也特别美妙，于是就从钱包里掏出50美元，放在了礼帽里，可是不小心把奖票也扔了进去。小提琴手是一名艺术学院的学生，本来打算去维也纳进修，已经定好了机票，时间就在今天上午，可是他昨天整理东西时发现了这张奖票，想到失主会来找，于是今天就退掉了机票，又准时来到这里。

Later someone asked the violinist: "At that time you were in needed to pay the tuition¹⁰ fee¹¹ and you had to play the violin in the subway station every day to make the money. Then why didn't you take the lottery ticket for yourself?"

后来，有人问小提琴手：“你当时那么需要一笔学费，为了赚够这笔学费，你不得不每天到地铁站拉提琴。那你为什么不把那50万元的奖票留下呢？”

The violinist said, "Although I don't have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty¹² I won't be happy forever."

小提琴手说：“虽然我没钱，但我活得很快乐；假如我没了诚信，我一天也不会快乐。”

Through our lives, we can gain a lot and lose so much. but being honest should always be with us. If we bear ourselves in a deceptive¹³ and dishonest way, we may succeed temporarily. however, from the long-term¹⁴ view, we will be a loser. such kind of people are just like the water on the mountain. it stands high above the masses at the beginning, but gradually¹⁵ it comes down inch by inch and loses the chance of going up.

在人的一生中，我们会得到许多，也会失去许多，但守信用却应是始终陪伴我们的。如果以虚伪、不诚实的方式为人处世，也许能获得暂时的“成功”，但从长远看，他最终是个失败者。这种人就像山上的水，刚开始的时候，是高高在上，但渐渐地它就越来越下降，再没有一个上升的机会。

1 astonishing   

adj.令人惊讶，惊人的

参考例句：

• The new houses have been built with astonishing speed.这些房子的修建速度快得惊人。
• I find it quite astonishing that none of you liked the play.我感到惊讶的是你们谁都不喜欢那个剧。

2 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

3 adjusted   

adj.调整过的v.（改变…以）适应，调整，校正( adjust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。
• The high school adjusted its teaching approach and cancelled its departmental system. 他们高中调整了教学方法，取消了“文理分科”。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 violinist   

n.小提琴演奏者，小提琴家

参考例句：

• Everyone cheered for the violinist at our school concert.在学校音乐会上，大家都为小提琴手喝彩叫好。
• She's a great violinist by any standard.不论以什么标准看，她都是伟大的小提琴家。

5 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

6 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

7 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

8 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

9 issued   

发行者( issuer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• The EU has issued a new set of directives on pollution. 欧盟发布了一系列关于污染的新指令。

10 tuition   

n.（某一学科的）教学，讲授，指导，学费

参考例句：

• Students can apply for individual tuition.学生可以申请个别指导。
• Is this money enough for the tuition fee?这些钱交学费够吗？

11 fee   

n.费（会费、学费等）；酬金，小费；所有权；vt.付费给

参考例句：

• Is this money enough for the tuition fee?这些钱交学费够吗？
• The lawyer undertook the case without a fee.这律师免费承办那个案件。

12 honesty   

n.诚实，公正，正直

参考例句：

• I would never question his honesty.我绝不会怀疑他的诚实。
• All respect him for his honesty.他为人诚实，大家都尊敬他。

13 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

14 long-term   

adj.长远的，长期的

参考例句：

• It isn't a long-term policy.这不是长久之计。
• We must calculate on a long-term basis.我们要作长期打算。

15 gradually   

adv.逐渐地

参考例句：

• The roaring sea gradually calmed down.咆哮的大海逐渐平静下来。
• Gradually he became silent.渐渐地他变得沉默寡言了。