《自恋的长笛演奏家》

　　Once upon a time, there was a famous flute player in Rome. His name was Prince. At one of the shows, while Prince was playing the flute, he slipped and tumbled down the stage. People came running to carry him away, for he had broken his leg. His listeners missed him, as he took many months to recover.

　　从前，罗马有一位著名的长笛演奏家，名叫王子。在一次表演中，王子吹着长笛时脚下不慎一滑，从舞台上跌落下来。人们急忙赶过来把他抬走，因为弄断了自己的一条腿。他的观众们都十分想念他，因为他得花好几个月康复。

　　One day, an important man from Rome was organizing a show. He invited Prince to make an appearance. On the day of the show, when the curtains parted, a chorus was being played. Prince had not heard this before, as he had been away from the theatre for a long time.

　　一日，罗马的一位重要人士组织了一场表演。他邀请了王子前来出席。表演那天，大幕拉开，现场演奏起了一段合唱。王子没有听过这段，因为他已经远离剧院好几个月了。

　　The words of the chorus were "Rejoice, O Rome: you are safe now that the Prince is well!" All the people stood up and clapped loudly. The flute player blew kisses to them, thinking that his listeners were happy to have him back.

　　合唱唱到：“多么欣喜呀，罗马，你已经安全了，王子也安然无恙。”全体观众起立鼓掌。这位长笛演奏家向观众送着飞吻，心里想着听众们看到他回来竟然如此高兴。

　　The chorus was, in fact, being played as an honor to the Prince of Rome. The audience knew that Prince was making a mistake. Then, he bowed before the people. Suddenly, he lost control and fell off the stage.

　　这段合唱，事实上，是在敬颂罗马王子。观众们都知道这位王子搞错了。接下来，就在他弯腰鞠躬答谢人们时，突然间，他整个人失控了，从舞台上跌落了下来。

　　A Perfect Person

　　完美的人

　　A man and his girlfriend were getting married. It was a large celebration. The bride was gorgeous in her white wedding gown and the groom was very dashing in his black suit. Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true.

　　一个男人和他的女友结婚了。婚礼庆典十分隆重。新娘穿着白色婚纱看上去美极了，新郎穿着黑色礼服也是一表人材帅气逼人。在场的每个人都能看出来他们就都是彼此的真爱。

　　A few months later, the wife came to her husband with a proposal: "I have an idea about how we can strengthen our marriage," she offered. "Each of us will write a list of everything we find a bit annoying about the other person. Then, we can talk about how we can change these annoying things and make our life together happier."

　　几个月后，妻子对丈夫提议说：“我有一个如何巩固我们婚姻的想法。”她说道。“我俩各自列一张单子，写上我们觉得对方有哪那些让自己不舒服的缺点。然后，我们一起来讨论我们怎样一起来改掉这些招人烦的毛病，以让我们的生活变得更快乐。”

　　The husband agreed, so each of them went to a separate room in the house and thought of the things that annoyed them about the other. They thought about these things all day long and wrote down what they came up with.

　　丈夫同意了。于是两个各自去了屋子里单独的房间，仔细思考着那些对方让自己不舒服的毛病。他们想了整整一天，然后写下了自己的想法。

　　The next morning, they went over their lists. "I'll start," offered the wife. She took out her list. It had many items on it. In fact, enough to fill 3 pages. As she started reading the list to her husband, she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husband's eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked.

　　第二天一早，他们开始来谈谈各自单子里都写了什么。“我先开始吧，”妻子说。拿出她的单子，条数不少真有不少项呢。事实上，足足差不多写了3页纸。然后，她开始读给丈夫听。她发现丈夫眼里渐渐盈满泪水。“你怎么了？”她问。

　　"Nothing, keep reading your list." He replied. The wife continued reading until she had read all three pages. She neatly placed her list on the table and folded her hands on top of it. "Now, you read your list and then we can talk about everything on our lists." She said happily.

　　“哦，没事，你继续读吧。”他回答道。妻子继续读起来直到读完了满满三页纸。她把单子整整齐齐地放在桌子上，双手交叉着放在上面。“现在，该你读你的单子了，然后我们来谈谈单子上所列的一切。”她开心地说。

　　Quietly the husband stated: "I don't have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the way that you are. You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn't want to change anything about you." The wife, touched by his honesty, the depth of his love for her and his acceptance of her, turned her head and wept.

　　丈夫此时平静地说：“我的单子上什么也没写。我觉得你现在这样就很完美。你可爱又迷人，我不想你为我改变哪怕一点。”妻子被他的诚实、他对她的爱与接纳宽容深深所感动了，转头哭泣了起来。