18.George Washington and His Hatchet乔治·华盛顿和他的小斧头-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《西方老故事50篇Fifty Famous Stories Retold》

Fifty Famous Stories Retold 8.George Washington and His Hatchet When George Washington was quite a little boy,his father gave him a hatchet.It was bright and new,and George took great delight in going about and chopping things with it. He ran into the garden,and there he saw a tree which seemed to say to him, "Come and cut me down!" ·098· 西方老故事50篇 18.乔治·华盛顿和他的小斧头 乔治·华盛顿年幼的时候，父亲送给他一把小斧 ①hatchet[hatfit]n.短柄 头。这是一把崭新的斧头，乔治拿着它东砍西砍，玩得 小斧 十分开心。 乔治跑到花园里面，看到那里有棵树好像在对他招 着手说：“快来，快来把我砍倒！” ·099· Fifty Famous Stories Retold George had often seen his father's men chop down the great trees in the forest,and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash to the ground.So he set to work with his little hatchet,and,as the tree was a very small one,it did not take long to lay it low. Soon after that,his father came home. "Who has been cutting my fine young cherry tree?"he cried."It was the only tree of its kind in this country,and it cost me a great deal of money." He was very angry when he came into the house. "If I only knew who killed that cherry tree,”he cried,“I would一yes,I would" "Father!"cried little George."I will tell you the truth about it.I chopped the tree down with my hatchet." His father forgot his anger. "George,"he said,and he took the little fellow in his arms,"George,I am glad that you told me about it.I would rather lose a dozen cherry trees than that you should tell one falsehood." ·100· 西方老故事50篇 乔治过去经常看到父亲的佣人在森林里砍伐大树， 心想要是这棵树一下子倒下来，那该是多么有趣的事 情！于是他拿起小斧头开始砍树，树并不大，不一会儿 工夫就被砍倒了。 没过多久父亲回来了。 “是谁砍倒了我那棵漂亮的小樱桃树？”父亲叫 道，“这种树村子里面仅有一棵，是我花了大价钱才买 回来的。” 说完，他怒气冲冲地走进家门。 “如果让我知道了是谁砍死了樱桃树，”他喊道，“我 一定要…是的，我一定要…” “爸爸！”小乔治吓得哭着说，“实话告诉你，这 棵樱桃树是我用小斧头砍倒的。” 听到乔治的话，父亲竟然立刻忘记了愤怒。 “乔治，”他一边说，一边把小家伙抱了起来。“你 没有撒谎，我很欣慰。我宁愿失去一打樱桃树，也不愿 意听你撒一次谎。” ·101·