浮华背后篇04：The Marbles 大理石m

Once upon a time, there was a foolish boy who had a bag full of beautiful marbles². Now this boy was quite proud of his marbles. In fact, he thought so much of them that he would neither play with them himself nor would he let anyone else play with them. He only took them out of the bag in order to count and admire them; they were never used for their intended purpose. Yet that boy carried that coveted⁴ bag of marbles everywhere he went.
很久以前，有个愚蠢的男孩，他有一包满满的美丽大理石。男孩因为拥有这些大理石感到特别骄傲。事实上他太在意它们了，他既舍不得与大理石玩耍，也不让别人与它们玩耍。他只是将大理石拿出包来，数一数有多少，然后便赞叹地欣赏起来。他从没有有目的地去使用过它们，但是不管去哪儿，他都要背着那包令他垂涎三尺的大理石。

Well, there was also a wise boy who wished he could have such a fine bag of marbles. So this boy worked hard and earned money to purchase a nice bag to hold marbles. Even though he had not yet earned enough with which to purchase any marbles, he had faith and purchased the marble¹ bag. He took special care of the bag and dreamed of the day it would contain marbles with which he could play and share with his friends.
还有一个聪明的男孩，他希望他能拥有这样一包美丽的大理石。因此，男孩努力去挣钱想买一个装大理石的好包。尽管他挣的钱不足以买任何大理石，但他却信念坚定，于是买了一个大理石包。他对这个包特别小心，梦想有一天包里装满大理石，他自己与大理石玩耍，并且跟朋友一起玩耍。

Alas⁵, the foolish boy with all of the marbles didn't take care of the marble bag itself, and one day the bag developed a hole in the bottom seam⁶. Still, he paid no attention and, one by one, the marbles fell out of the bag.
然而，那个拥有大理石的笨男孩对大理石包漠不关心。一天，包底的缝合处开了个口子，但他根本没有注意到，结果大理石一个接一个地从包里掉了出来。

It didn't take long, once the foolish boy's marble bag developed a hole, for the wise boy to begin to find those beautiful marbles, one at a time, lying unnoticed on the ground. And, one by one, he added⁷ them to his marble bag. The wise boy thus gained a fine bag full of marbles in no time at all. This boy played with the marbles and shared them with all of his friends. And he always took special care of the bag so he wouldn't lose any.
自从笨小孩的包破了洞后，聪明的男孩开始发现那些漂亮的大理石一个接一个地躺在地上，没人理睬。于是，他就一个接一个地将它们捡起，放到自己的大理石包里。就这样，聪明的男孩很快便有了一包美丽的大理石。从此，他自己玩大理石，并和他的所有朋友一起玩。他总是给予装大理石的包无微不至的关心，以免包破后把大理石丢了。

And what about the foolish boy? Because he was selfish⁸ and careless, he lost all of his marbles and was left holding the bag
结果那个愚蠢的男孩怎么样？因为他自私自利，粗心大意，丢失了他所有的大理石，到头来只剩下一个空包。

注释：

1. marble n. 大理石

2. intended adj. 打算中的，有意的

3. covet³ vt. 垂涎

4. purchase vt. 买，购买

5. faith n. 信心，信念

6. seam n. 缝合处，接合线

7. unnoticed adj. 未被发觉的，不被注意的

8. selfish adj. 自私的，自私自利的

1 marble   

n.大理石，石弹，雕刻品；adj.大理石的，冷酷无情的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• Marble is a precious stone.大理石是一种珍贵的石料。
• The statue was carved out of marble.这尊像是大理石雕成的。

2 marbles   

n.（在地上玩的）弹子游戏；大理石( marble的名词复数 )；（用玻璃、泥等制成的）弹子；理智；弹子游戏

参考例句：

• Let's have a game of marbles. 咱们玩弹球游戏吧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But they cared nothing for marbles, or circus, or swimming, or anything. 可是，他们对石头弹子、马戏、游泳等一切游戏都不感兴趣了。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

3 covet   

vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)

参考例句：

• We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
• Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。

4 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

6 seam   

n.缝，接缝；vt.用缝缝，接缝；vi.有裂缝

参考例句：

• The seam of his coat is pulled.他外套的线缝被撕开了。
• His shirt ripped at the seam.他的衬衣缝口撕开了。

7 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

8 selfish   

adj.自私的，利己主义的，自我中心的

参考例句：

• You must learn to share and not be so selfish.你一定要学会与他人分享，不要那么自私。
• She is a selfish person.她是一个自私自利的人。