獅子和公牛

A hungry lion sat watching a fat bull feeding in a field.

“If only bulls didnt have horns，” thought the lion greedily. “Then I could soon finish him off. As it is he could toss me over the moon.”

Then he had an idea. Sidling up to the bull he said in a friendly voice， “I was just admiring you， Mr Bull. I hope you dont mind. What a handsome head you have. What big， strong shoulders. What powerful legs and hooves. If I may say so， though， I dont see why you put up with those horns. They must have given you quite a headache and they do spoil your appearance， you know.”

“Do you think so？” Said the bull. “I never thought about it. But now you mentioned it they do rather get in the way. Did you say they spoil my appearance？ Hmm.”

The lion slunk away and hid behind a tree to watch. The bull waited until he was out of sight， then began to hit his head violently against a rock. First one horn splintered， then the other until soon the bulls head was smooth and bare.

“Aha， ” cried the lion， leaping out with a snarl. “Ive got you now. Thank you so much for getting rid of your horns. They were the only things that prevented me from attacking you before.”

Dont believe in flatterers.

一頭饑餓的獅子坐著看一頭肥壯的公牛在地里吃草。

“要是公牛沒有角就好了，”獅子饞涎欲滴地想，“那我就能很快把他吃掉。可他長了角，能把我扔到月球去。”

很快，獅子想了個主意。他側著身子悄悄地走到公牛身旁，用友好的語氣說：“我真羨慕你，公牛先生。希望你不要介意。你的頭多么漂亮呀。你的肩多么寬闊和結實呀。你的腿和蹄多么有力量呀。不過，如果我可以這樣說的話，我不明白你怎么受得了這兩只角。這兩只角一定叫你十分頭痛，而且它們確實有損你的外貌，不是嗎？”

“你認為是這樣嗎？”公牛說，“我從來沒有想過這一點。不過，現在經你這么一提，這兩只角確實顯得礙事。你說它們有損我的外貌嗎？哞。”

獅子溜走了，躲在樹后面看著。公牛等到獅子看不見了，就開始把自己的腦袋往石頭上猛撞。一只角先撞碎了，接著另一只角也碎了，公牛的頭不久就變得平整光禿了。

“啊哈，”獅子大吼一聲，跳出來咆哮著，“現在我可逮著你了。多謝你把兩只角都撞掉了。我先前沒有攻擊你，僅僅是這兩只角妨礙了我啊。”

不要聽信奉承者的話。

Vocabulary

sidle? v. 羞怯地走;悄悄地走（sidling為其現在分詞）

admire? v. 欽佩，羨慕;欣賞

hoof? n. （馬等動物的）蹄（hooves為其復數）

appearance n. 外貌;外觀;外表

violently? adv. 激烈地;暴力地;狂暴地

snarl? n. 齜牙低吼;咆哮（聲）