双语·《伊索寓言》 牧童和狼

THE SHEPHERD'S BOY AND THE WOLF

A Shepherd's Boy was tending his flock near a village, and thought it would be great fun to hoax the villagers by pretending that a Wolf was attacking the sheep: so he shouted out, “Wolf! wolf!” and when the people came running up he laughed at them for their pains. He did this more than once, and every time the villagers found they had been hoaxed, for there was no Wolf at all. At last a Wolf really did come, and the Boy cried, “Wolf! wolf!” as loud as he could: but the people were so used to hearing him call that they took no notice of his cries for help. And so the Wolf had it all his own way, and killed off sheep after sheep at his leisure.

You cannot believe a liar even when he tells the truth.

牧童和狼

有一个牧羊人的儿子，在村子附近放牧，觉得假装狼攻击了羊群来骗骗村民应该挺有乐子的，所以便大叫：“狼来了！狼来了！”等人们纷纷跑来，他大肆嘲笑他们白费了一番力气。后来他又故技重演，村民们都发现自己被耍了，因为根本没有狼。后来有一天，狼真的来了，男孩大叫：“狼来了！狼来了！”他费尽力气，叫破了喉咙，而村民却都已经听而不闻，根本没有理会。所以狼一路横行无阻，好整以暇地吃了一只又一只羊。

训诫：骗子讲真话，也不会有人信。