英文短故事：You can not please everyone

This is a short story to teach you that you can not please everyone. A man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said : "You fool, what a Donkey for but to ride is upon?" 

 

 

 

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men. One of whom said : "See that lazy youngster. He lets his father walk while he rides." 

 

 

 

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women. One of whom said to the other : "Shame on that lazy lout¹ to let his poor little son trudge² along." 

 

 

 

Well the Man did not know what to do. But at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town and the passers-by began to jeer³ and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing⁴ at. The men said : 

 

 

 

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading⁵ that poor Donkey of yours - you and your hulking son?" 

 

 

 

The man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey's feet to it and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge and his fore-feet being tied together, he was drowned. 

 

 

 

"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them : 

 

 

 

Moral : You Can Not Please Everyone.

 

 

1 lout   

n.粗鄙的人；举止粗鲁的人

参考例句：

• He's just an ill-bred lout.他是个缺乏教养的乡巴佬。
• He had no training, no skills and he was just a big, bungling,useless lout!什么也不行，什么也不会，自己只是个傻大黑粗的废物！

2 trudge   

v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行

参考例句：

• It was a hard trudge up the hill.这趟上山是一次艰难的跋涉。
• The trudge through the forest will be tiresome.长途跋涉穿越森林会令人疲惫不堪。

3 jeer   

vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评

参考例句：

• Do not jeer at the mistakes or misfortunes of others.不要嘲笑别人的错误或不幸。
• The children liked to jeer at the awkward students.孩子们喜欢嘲笑笨拙的学生。

4 scoffing   

n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• They were sitting around the table scoffing. 他们围坐在桌子旁狼吞虎咽地吃着。
• He the lid and showed the wonderful the scoffing visitors. 他打开盖子给嘲笑他们的老人看这些丰富的收获。

5 overloading   

过载，超载，过负载

参考例句：

• Enables multiple users to search the site without overloading the server. 使多个用户搜索网站，而无需超载的服务器上。
• The driver got stripped down again for overloading his trunk. 那位卡车司机因为超载又受到责备。