痛苦的根源The Cobbler and the Banker（1/2）

拉·封丹/ La Fontae

First listen and then ahe questions.

1.What did the banker give the bbler?

2.Why did the author say that the bbler burried the happess with the oogether?

A bbler passed his tisgg fr till night; it was wonderful to see, wonderful to hear hi; he was ore edakg shoes than was any of the seven sages. His neighbor, orary, who was rollgwealth, sung but little, and sleepless. He was a banker; when by ce he fell to a doze at day-break, the bbler awoke hi with his song. The banker ped sadly that Providence had not ade sleep a saleable odity, like edibles or drkables. Havg at length sent for the songster, he said to hi,“How uch a year do you earn, Master Gregory?”

“How uch a year, sir?”said the rry bbler ughg,“I never rethat way, livg as I do fro one day to another; sohow I ao reach the end of the year; each day brgs its al.”

“Well then! How uch a day do you earn, y friend?”

“Sotis ore, sotis less; but the worst of it is, and, without that our earngs would be very tolerable, a nuber of days ourthe year on which we are forbidden to work; and the curate, oreover, is nstantly addg so new sat to the list.”

The banker, ughg at his siplicity, said,“Iure I shall pce you above want. Take this hundred s, preserve the carefully, and ake e of theti of need.”

The bbler fancied he beheld all the wealth which the earth had producedthe past tury for the e of ankd. Returng ho, he buried his oney and his happess at the sa ti. Ng; he lost his voice, the ont he acquired that which is the source of so uch grief. Sleep quitted his dwellg; and cares, spis, and false ars took its pce. All day, his eye wahe dire of the treasure; and at night, if so stray cat ade a he cat was robbg hi. At length the poor an ran to the hoe of his rieighbiveback,”said he,“sleep and y voice, and take your hundred s.”

一个皮匠以歌自娱，在歌声中度过每一天。每一个见到他，或听到他歌声的人都甚感愉快。他安于自己的制鞋工作，甚至觉得比做希腊七圣还满足。他的邻居是一个家财万贯的银行家，与他相反，银行家很少唱歌，睡眠也不好，偶尔在天快亮时才打个盹，又被皮匠的歌声吵醒了。他痛苦地抱怨上帝没有把睡眠也变成商品，他多想睡眠也像食品和饮料那样能随意购买啊。最后，银行家把这个歌唱者请过来，对他说：“格雷戈里师傅，您一年能赚多少钱啊？”“一年赚多少钱吗，先生？”快乐的皮匠笑道，“我可从来没有统计过，我天天如此，每天挣足三餐，总能撑到年底。”

“啊，朋友，那么，你一天挣多少呢？”

“有时候挣得多，有时又少点，我们的收入还可以。最难过的日子就是每年总有些时候不让我们工作，而牧师又常吸纳新的圣徒。”

银行家被皮匠的直率逗乐了，他说：“今后，我将满足你的一切需求，你把这一百枚钱拿去存好，需要时就拿出来用。”

皮匠觉得自己好像看到了几个世纪以来，大地为人类所需创造出来的所有财富。他回家后，把这笔钱埋了起来，同时，也埋葬了他的欢乐。从此，他不再唱歌。在他得到钱这个痛苦根源的那刻起，就失去了歌喉。担心、怀疑、虚惊让他不能安稳入睡。他的目光整天游移在藏钱的地方。晚上，就是野猫弄出点声响，他也会以为有人来抢他的宝贝。最后，这个可怜的人跑到他富有的邻居那里，“还我睡眠和歌喉吧，把你的一百枚钱币拿回去。”

心灵小语

很多时候，人的烦恼是因心中的贪欲产生的。其实，快乐并非是用财富堆砌而成的。简简单单的生活，才能体会一种虽然平凡却幸福无比的滋味。

Learng for Better Uandg

Keywords and expressions

1. re

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