谁是更不诚实的

曲永华

中国拥有五千年的历史文化，诚实守信一向是中国人引以为傲的美德，“人无信而不立”、童叟无欺的故事熏陶了我们几千年。然而古今中外关于不诚实、不守信用的事件却屡屡发生。请阅读面包师与农民的故事，并以此思考我们如何在生活中做一个诚实的人。

In a small town in France，there was a farmer who lived alone. Every day he sold a pound of butter to his neighbour，a baker. ①One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound. After he weighed it，he found that he wasn’t. The baker then took the farmer to the judge.

The judge asked the farmer if he had any way to weigh the butter. ②The farmer replied，“I am so poor that I do not have enough money to buy anything to weigh it，but I do have a kind of scale.”The judge asked，“Then how do you weigh the butter？”The farmer replied，“Before the baker started buying butter from me，I had bought bread from him. ③So now every time I bring home the bread from the baker，I put it on the scale and give him the butter of the same weight.”

We get back what we give to others in life. ④Whenever you take action，ask yourself this question，“Am I honest？”

Honesty or dishonesty can become a habit. Some dishonest people can lie without a red face. Others lie so much that they do not even know what the truth is any more. But who is it bad for？ As a matter of fact，those who lie will hurt themselves by their own dishonest behaviour.

精彩譯文

在法国一个小镇上，有一个独居的农民。他每天都卖给他的邻居——一个面包师一磅黄油。一天，面包师决定称一下黄油看看是否重一磅。在称完之后，他发现重量不足。于是面包师把农民带到了法官面前。

法官问农民他是否有办法称黄油。农民回答说：“我很穷，没有足够的钱买称黄油的东西，但是我确实有一个天平。”法官问：“那么你是怎么称黄油的？”农民回答说：“在面包师开始从我这儿买黄油之前，我先从他那买了面包。所以现在每次我从面包师那拿回面包，我就把它放在天平上，然后给他称出同样重量的黄油。”

生活中我们拿回的是我们给予别人的东西。无论何时采取行动，都要问一下自己这个问题：“我诚实吗？”

诚实或不诚实会成为习惯。一些不诚实的人说谎时毫不脸红，其他人撒谎成性以至于他们不再知道什么是真相。但是那对谁有坏处呢？实际上，撒谎的人会因为自己不诚实的行为而伤害自己。

【新鲜词】

1. pound /paʊnd/ n.磅，英镑

2. baker /ˈbeɪkə（r）/ n.面包师，烤炉

3. judge /dʒʌdʒ/ n.法官，裁判

4. scale /skeɪl/ n.天平，规模

5. action /'ækʃn/ n.行动，动作

6. lie /laɪ/ v. 撒谎，说谎

【句型解读】

1. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound.

翻译：一天，面包师决定称一下黄油看看是否重一磅。

解读：句中if引导一个宾语从句，if可用whether替换。decide to do sth.意为“决定做某事”。

2. The farmer replied，“I am so poor that I do not have enough money to buy anything to weigh it，but I do have a kind of scale.”

翻译：农民回答说：“我很穷，没有足够的钱买称黄油的东西，但是我确实有一个天平。”

解读：直接引语使用了so...that结构，引导结果状语从句;have前面的do表示强调。

3. So now every time I bring home the bread from the baker，I put it on the scale and give him the butter of the same weight.

翻译：所以现在每次我从面包师那拿回面包，我就把它放在天平上，然后给他称出同样重量的黄油。

解读：every time为名词短语，在句中充当连词，引导时间状语从句。

4. Whenever you take action，ask yourself this question，“Am I honest？”

翻译：无论何时采取行动，都要问一下自己这个问题：“我诚实吗？”

解读：Whenever引导一个让步状语从句，主句为祈使句;take action意为“采取行动”。