英語雙語經(jīng)典寓言故事：籠子里的鳥與蝙蝠

　　A singing-bird was confined in a cage which hung outside a window, and had a way of singing at night when all other birds were asleep.

One night a bat came and clung to the bars of the cage, and asked the bird why she was silent by day and sang only at night. "I have a very good reason for doing so," said the bird: "it was once when I was singing in the daytime that a fowler was attracted by my voice, and set his nets for me and caught me. Since then I have never sung except by night."

But the bat replied, "It is no use your doing that now when you are a prisoner. If only you had done so before you were caught, you might still have been free."

　　Precautions are useless after the event.

　　一只畫眉鳥被囚禁在窗外掛著的一個籠子里，當(dāng)其他鳥兒都酣睡時，她卻在夜里唱歌。

有一個夜晚，蝙蝠飛過來，抓住鳥籠的柵欄，問她為什么白天默默無聲，卻在夜里放聲歌唱。小鳥回答說：“我這樣做是有道理的，曾經(jīng)有一次，當(dāng)我在白天唱歌時，一個捕鳥人被我的歌聲吸引，就用鳥籠子捉住了我。從此我只在夜里歌唱。”

可是，蝙蝠卻說：“你現(xiàn)在這樣做根本沒用了，因?yàn)槟阋呀?jīng)成為階下囚。若是在被捉住之前這樣做就好了，那樣或許你依然是自由之身!”

　　待事情發(fā)生之后再預(yù)防，為時已晚。