Better Late than Never

供稿：龍 菲

“亡羊補牢,為時未晚”出自《戰國策·楚策》；“見兔而顧犬，未為晚也；亡羊則補牢，未為遲也。”比喻出了問題以后，及時想辦法補救，還不算遲。

There once was a1)shepherd.He2)bredmany sheep.In the daytime,he herded them outside;at night,he drove them into the sheepfold which was3)enclosedby hays and pegs.

One morning,the shepherd went to herd the sheep and found one sheep lost.He then found that the sheepfold had been broken,and the wolf must had stolen the sheep through the4)hollow.“You’d better repair the sheepfold and plug up the hollow as soon as possible.”the neighbor advised him.“The sheep has been lost.What’s the point of repairing the sheepfold?”He didn’t take the neighbor’s kind suggestions.

The next morning,he went to herd and found another sheep lost.The wolf had done it again.The shepherd now regretted for not taking his neighbor’s advice and not taking remediation in time.So he plugged up the hollow soon,and5)reinforcedthe whole sheepfold to make it more6)stable.From then on,his sheep didn’t get stolen any more.

詞組加油站

regret for… 為……感到悔恨

take remediation in time 及時補救

1) shepherd [??ep?d] n.牧羊人；牧師

2) breed [bri?d] v.飼養；養育

3) enclose [?n?kl??z] vt.把……圍住

4) hollow [?h?l??] n.洞；孔

5) reinforce [?ri??n?f??s] v.加固

6) stable [?ste?bl] adj.牢固的；穩定的

從前有一個牧羊人，他養了很多羊。他白天放牧，晚上把它們趕進一個用干草和木樁圍起來的羊圈內。

一天早晨，牧羊人去放羊，發現羊少了一只。他發現羊圈破了個窟窿，他認為一定是狼從窟窿里鉆了進來，叼走了一只羊。鄰居勸他：“你最好盡快把羊圈修一修。”他卻說：“羊都已經丟了，修羊圈還有什么意義？”他沒有接受鄰居的好心勸告。

第二天早上，他去放羊，發現羊又少了一只。他認為一定是狼又來了。牧羊人很后悔沒有聽從鄰居的勸告，去及時采取補救措施。于是，他趕緊堵上窟窿，又把整個羊圈都加固了一番，羊圈比以前更加牢固了。從那以后，牧羊人的羊再也沒有丟過。

Fill in the blanks:

1._____sheep were lost before the shepherd reinforced the whole sheepfold.

2.The shepherd regretted for not taking_____________because another sheep had been stolen by the wolf.

Know More

戰國時期，越國的大商人范蠡曾對魯國商人猗頓說：“要想富裕，就要多養雌性的牛、馬、豬、羊、驢。”這說明畜養牲畜已成為當時致富的快捷方式。這一時期，已經形成了農區、牧區和半農半牧區，家畜成為社會財富的象征。