英文短篇故事（纽约）465 Those People Will Never Change

 　　On Alternate Earth, there are Stripers and Checkers. The Stripers have stripes. The Checkers have checks. Stripers and Checkers with only two colors are rich and powerful. Those with fifty colors are the middle class. Those with 100 colors are often jobless and homeless. But even a homeless person looks down on others. If he's a Striper, he looks down on Checkers. If he's a Checker, he looks down on Stripers. The president of one country, Bestoria, is a Striper. The vice¹ president is a Checker. The president was dining with his wife. He said, "I hate working with this guy. He's rude, he's stubborn, and he's lazy. Checkers are all the same. They'll never change. The parents teach the kids all the wrong things. Then the kids teach their kids the same wrong things. They say that gravity is the strongest force in the world. They're wrong. Tradition is."

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。