農(nóng)夫的金子

郭倩

1. Once upon a time， there was a warlike1 king. He made enemies everywhere. The whole country became so poor at last. 很早以前，有個(gè)國(guó)王非常好戰(zhàn)，到處樹(shù)敵，弄得國(guó)庫(kù)空虛。

2. So he ordered his soldiers to search the people for gold. 于是，他命令士兵到老百姓家里去搜刮金子。

3. The soldiers came to a farmers home and said， “It is said that you have a pot of gold.” Then they looked for it by force. 他們來(lái)到一個(gè)農(nóng)夫家，說(shuō)：“聽(tīng)說(shuō)你們家有一罐金子。”說(shuō)完，便強(qiáng)行搜查。

4. But they found nothing at last. The soldiers were so angry that they put the farmer in prison2. 搜了半天，什么也沒(méi)撈到，他們氣得把農(nóng)夫抓進(jìn)了監(jiān)獄。

5. In spring， the farmer in prison received a letter from his wife. It said， “Its time to plant potatoes， but you are not at home. I have to plow3 by myself.” 春天，農(nóng)夫在獄中收到妻子的來(lái)信，寫(xiě)道：“該種土豆了，但你卻不能在家?guī)兔Γ抑缓米约簛?lái)翻地。”

6. The farmer wanted to help his wife， but he couldnt go out. Suddenly， he had an idea. 農(nóng)夫很想去幫妻子，但又出不去。突然，他想到了一個(gè)辦法。

7. The farmer wrote a letter to his wife and said， “Dont plow the ground. Theres a pot of gold hiding under the ground.” Then he let a guard send the letter to his wife. 農(nóng)夫馬上寫(xiě)了一封信囑咐妻子，信中寫(xiě)道：“千萬(wàn)別去翻地，因?yàn)榈乩锊刂还藿鹱印！比缓筠r(nóng)夫把信交給看守代寄。

8. The guard read the letter secretly. He was so surprised. 看守私自拆信后，驚喜萬(wàn)分。

9. The guard sent it to the king in a hurry. 看守急忙將這封信交給了國(guó)王。

10. The next morning， more than ten strangers plowed the farmers ground with spades4 for several times. They even did not drink any water when they left. 第二天，十多個(gè)陌生人帶著鐵鍬，把農(nóng)夫家的地來(lái)來(lái)回回翻了好幾次，連水也不喝一口就走了。

11. A week later， the farmer heard from his wife again. His wife told him what had happened at home. 過(guò)了一個(gè)星期，農(nóng)夫又收到妻子的信，把家里發(fā)生的事告訴他了。

12. The farmer laughed from bottom after reading it. He wrote another letter to his wife， “Since so many people helped us plow the ground， you can plant potatoes now！ The potatoes are gold for our poor people！” 農(nóng)夫看后哈哈大笑，又寫(xiě)了一封回信，告訴妻子：“既然那么多人幫我們翻了地，那么快種土豆吧！土豆可是咱窮人的金子啊！”

Notes：

1. warlike [] adj. 戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的；好戰(zhàn)的

2. prison [] n. 監(jiān)獄

3. plow [] v. 犁；耕地

4. spade [] n. 鐵鍬，鏟子