思年

A man once had four sons who never stopped quarrelling with one another.

He was always telling them how much easier life would be if they worked together but they took absolutely① no notice of him.

One day he decided to show them what he meant.

He called all the sons together and put a tightly tied bundle of sticks on the floor in front of them.

“Can you break that？” he asked the youngest son. The boy put his knee on the bundle but though he pressed and pulled with his arms he could not bend② the wood.

The father asked each son in turn to try to break the bundle， but none of them could do it.

Then he untied the string③ and scattered the sticks.

“Now try.” he said. The boys broke the sticks easily in their hands.

“Do you see what I mean？” asked the father. “If only you stand together no one can hurt you. If you all disagree④the whole time and insist on going your separate⑤ ways， the first enemy you meet will be able to destroy you.”

從前有一個(gè)人，他有四個(gè)兒子，兒子們不斷地爭(zhēng)吵。

他一再告誡他們，如果一起干活兒，生活會(huì)舒適得多，但兒子們絲毫不理會(huì)他的意見(jiàn)。

有一天，他決定通過(guò)示范把自己的意思告訴他們。

他把四個(gè)兒子都叫來(lái)，又把一捆扎得很緊的樹(shù)枝放在他們面前。

“你能折斷這個(gè)嗎？”他問(wèn)最小的兒子。小兒子用膝蓋頂住，兩只手又壓又拉，都不能把那捆樹(shù)枝弄彎。

父親讓另外三個(gè)兒子挨個(gè)兒試了試，但他們誰(shuí)也做不到。

然后，他解開(kāi)繩子，把樹(shù)枝散開(kāi)。

“現(xiàn)在試試吧?！彼f(shuō)。四個(gè)小伙子用手輕輕一撅，樹(shù)枝就斷了。

“你們明白我的意思了嗎？”父親問(wèn)，“只要你們聯(lián)合起來(lái)，誰(shuí)也不能傷害你們。如果你們老吵架，堅(jiān)持各行其是，那么你們一遇到敵人，就會(huì)被打敗?！?/p>

【Notes】

①absolutely [？謖？覸bs？藜lu？蘼tli] adv. 完全地，絕對(duì)地

②bend [bend] v. 彎曲，使彎曲，屈服

③string [strI？耷] n. 線(xiàn)，一串，字串

④disagree [？謣dIs？藜？謖ɡri？蘼] v. 不一致，有分歧，不適應(yīng)

⑤separate [？謖sep？藜reit] n. 分開(kāi)，抽印本