童話故事學英文：狼來了~ The Boy Who Cried Wolf

從前有個叫彼得的小男孩，某天輪到他負責照顧羊群時，他覺得很無聊…..

In a village on a hillside lived a boy named Peter, whose parents were sheep farmers. Everybody in the village had to take turns looking after the sheep. At 10, Peter was regarded as old enough to take his turn at shepherding.

山腰的村莊裡，住著一個叫彼得的男孩，他的父母都是牧羊人。村子裡每個人都要輪流照顧羊群。彼得十歲時，大家認為他的年紀已經可以幫忙輪流照顧羊群。

However, Peter found it very dull on the hillside with only sheep for company. So he’d look for ways to amuse himself: running up rocks, climbing trees and even chasing sheep. Unfortunately, he still felt bored. Then a brilliant idea crossed his mind. He climbed to the top of the tallest tree, shouting towards the village: “Wolf! Wolf! Wooolf! Woohoolf!”

然而，彼得每天都在山坡上看羊，覺得非常的無趣。於是，他想設法找些樂子:在石頭上爬上爬下，爬樹，甚至還追著羊跑來跑去。但他還是覺得生活很沒意思。然後，他突然靈機一動，爬到樹頂，對這村莊大喊大叫：「狼來了！狼來了！狼來了！狼來了！」

One of the villagers heard him and informed all the other people, who got together and armed themselves with axes and hoes. They ran out of the village to chase away the wolf and save their herd. However, when they got there, all they found was Peter perched high up in his tree with the sheep grazing peacefully nearby. Everyone was very annoyed with him.

一位村民聽到了叫聲，就跑去告訴其他人，他們就聚在一起，身上戴著斧頭和鋤頭。他們跑出村莊要趕走狼保護他們的羊。然而，當他們到了那裡，他們看到了彼得高高的坐在樹上，羊群在附近很平靜地吃著草。每個人都一肚子火。

For a while life went on again as usual. As time went by, people forgot about the incident. Until one day, Peter repeated the same trick, enjoying the attention it garnered. He picked up some sticks, and running through where the sheep were grazing, he started hitting the sticks together, shouting: “Wolf! Wolf! Wooolf! Woohoolf! Woohoohoooolf!”

一段時間過後，生活又再度回復平靜，一如往昔。隨著時間的推移，人們也漸漸忘了這件事。直到有一天，彼得又用同樣的伎倆，享受成為眾所注目的焦點。他拿起木棍衝過去，羊群還在旁邊吃草，他開始用木棍敲敲打打，還一邊高呼：「狼來了！狼來了！狼來了！」

Sure enough, somebody in the village heard, and before long the men all came running up the hill armed with their sticks and axes and hoes and shovels, ready to chase away the big bad wolf. Seeing people running nervously, Peter, sitting on a big rock, burst into laughter.

果然，有人在村子裡聽到了叫聲，不久人們手持木棍、斧頭、鋤頭和鐵鍬跑了過來，準備趕走大灰狼。看到人們緊張地跑來跑去，彼得坐在一塊大石頭上，放聲大笑。

That night, Peter was given a severe telling-off for his wrongdoing. People in the village were moaning about Peter and his nasty tricks, but before long things settled down again, and life resumed its normal uneventful course.

那一晚，彼得因為他不當行為被大罵了一頓。村人都抱怨彼得信口開河，但不久大家也都釋懷了，生活恢復了正常平靜。

However, one afternoon when Peter was in the fields with the sheep, he noticed some of them start bleating, running all over, and making an ever louder racket. Peter got worried and decided to climb a tree to see what was going on.

然而，一天下午彼得在田野中和羊群在一起，他發現其中一些羊開始咩咩叫，到處跑來跑去，還發出很大的聲音。彼德開始擔心起來，所以他決定爬到樹上一探究竟。

To his astonishment, what he saw almost made him fall out of the tree. A big hairy wolf was chasing the sheep and snapping at their tails. For a few seconds, Peter was still and speechless, helpless to act. Then he started shouting: “Woolf! Woolof! Woohoohooloof!”

令他驚訝的是，他所看到的情況讓他差點從樹上掉了下來。一隻巨大毛茸茸的狼，正在追羊群，猛地咬住他們的尾巴。有幾秒鐘的時間，彼得呆若木雞說不出話來，無助地不知如何反應。然後，他開始大喊：「狼來了！狼來了！狼來了！」

In the village, an old man heard the shouting. “Oh no, not that Peter again,” he said, with his head shaking. “What’s going on?” asked another villager. “It’s that Peter again, he just can’t help himself.”

村裡一位老人聽到呼喊。他邊搖頭邊說：「哦！不會又是彼得吧！」。另一位村民問：「這是怎麼回事呢？」「又是那個彼得，他就是控制不住自己。」

This time, nobody believed that there was really a wolf, so nobody got their hoe out, or their axe, or their shovel or rushed up the hillside. When the wolf really attacked, Peter rang his bell crying “Wolf!” but the men thought that he was just playing a trick again, so they did not come out. The wolf took one of the fattest sheep. Not until very much later that afternoon did people see dead sheep’s bodies strewn all over the hillside. The villagers found out there really had been a wolf this time.

這時候沒有人相信狼真的來了，所以沒有人帶鋤頭或斧頭過來，也沒人衝上山坡營救。當狼真的來攻擊的時候，彼得搖鈴叫喊：「狼來了！」但大家以為他又再騙人，所以沒人出來。狼抓了最肥的一隻羊。沒過多久當天下午人們看到山坡上羊屍橫遍野，村民才發現這一次狼真的來了。

Finally, Peter learned his lesson. If you always tell lies, people will eventually refuse to trust you, so that when you tell the truth for a change, and when you really need people to believe you, they probably won’t.

彼得最後終於得到教訓。如果你總是說謊，大家最後就不會再相信你，所以，當你開始改說真話，需要別人相信你的時候，他們可能再也不會相信你。

《重點單字》

moan (v.) 抱怨
They moan on a lot about money.
他們對錢的事情抱怨不已。

resume (v.) 重新開始
The search is expected to resume early today.
搜尋工作預計於今天稍早重新啟動。

normal (adj.) 正常的
These little setbacks are a normal part of life.
這些小挫折是生活中正常的事。

uneventful (adj.) 平凡的
The return journey was uneventful with the car running perfectly.
回程相當平順，車開得很順暢。

astonishment (n.) 驚訝
She was wide-eyed with astonishment.
她吃驚地睜大眼睛。

speechless (adj.) 無言的
She was speechless with rage.
她氣的說不出話來。

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