青蛙和牛

青蛙和牛

    An ox, grazing in a swampy meadow, chanced to set his foot among a parcel of young frogs, and crushed nearly the whole brood to death .One that escaped ran off to his mother with the dreadful news."and ,oh ,mother !"said he ,"it was a beast -such a big four footed beast!-that did it .""Big?" quoth the old frog , "How big? Was it as big" -- and she puffed herself out to a GREat degree-"as big as this ?""oh!"said the little one ,"a great deal bigger than that .""well, was it so big ?"and she swelled herself out yet mere ."Indeed ,mother ,but it was ,and of you were to burst yourself you would never reach half its size."provoked at such a disparagement of her powers, the old frog made one more trial ,and burst herself indeed.
    So men are ruined by attempting GREatness to which they have no claim.

    一頭牛在一快泥濘的草地上吃草，偶然把腳踏在一堆小青蛙當中，幾乎把所有的幼蛙踩死。脫險的一個帶著這可怕的消息跑到他母親那里去了。"啊，母親！"他說"是一只野獸-那樣一只有四只腳的大野獸-踩的。""大嗎？"老青蛙說。"多大？"她股足了氣把自己脹得大大的說："他像這樣的嗎？""啊！"小 青蛙說，"比那大多了。""哦，有這么大嗎？"她鼓著氣脹地更大了。"真的，母親，但確實如此，即使你脹破了自己，也不夠他一半大。"老青蛙看到自己的力氣受到輕視很是激怒，于是又鼓了一下氣，果然這次脹破了自己。
    妄自尊大的人必將自取滅亡的。

詞匯：

grazing 吃草

a parcel of 一群

brood 一窩

quoth 說（古代）

puffed herself out 鼓氣把自己吹大

disparagement 輕視