新编大学英语第一册unit5 Text B: Elias: A Parable
UNIT 5 AFTER-CLASS READING 1; New College English (I)
Elias: A Parable
At one time the elderly couple had been the wealthiest in the region, now they were merely servants who had nothing but each other.
1 In the Province of Oufa there lived a man named Elias. His father died a year after he married, and left him a poor man. At that time Elias's property consisted only of seven mares, two cows, and twenty sheep, but now that he had become master he began to better himself. He and his wife worked hard from morning till night for thirty years, growing richer each year.
2 Elias had two sons and a daughter, all of whom he duly married off. In the days of his poverty his sons had worked with him; but when they became rich, they began to indulge in foolish pleasures. One of them, in particular, began to drink to excess. Eventually the elder of the two was killed in a fight, and the other one, because he disobeyed his father, was turned out.
3 Elias turned him out, but at the same time he gave him a house and cattle. His own wealth was thus diminished in proportion.
4 Soon afterwards his sheep became infected with disease, and many of them died. Next, there was a year of drought, when no hay grew, so that many cattle starved to death during the following winter. Then the Khirgizes came and stole the best of his horses, and his property was diminished even more. By the time he had reached his seventieth year, all the property left to him consisted of the clothes on his body and his wife, Sham Shemagi, who was as old as himself. The son whom he had turned out had gone to a distant land, and his daughter was dead; so that there was no one left to help the old people.
5 However a former neighbor of theirs, named Muhamedshah, felt sorry for them. He was neither rich nor poor, but lived plainly and was a respectable man. Remembering the days when he had been a guest in the house of Elias, he asked the couple to come and live with him and do some work for him if they liked. Elias thanked his good neighbor, and went with his old wife to live in the service of Muhamedshah. At first it grieved them to do so; but in time they got used to it, and settled down to live there and to work as much as their strength permitted.
6 It suited their master to have them in his service, since the old people had been in authority themselves, and so knew how to do things. Moreover, they were never lazy, but worked the best they knew. Yet Muhamedshah used to feel sorry to see people formerly so high in the world now reduced to such a difficult situation. 7 One day some of Muhamedshah's friends came to visit him. When the guests learned that Elias, once the wealthiest man in the region, was merely a servant of the host, they were so surprised that they asked the couple about their former life. 8 "Old man," said one of the guests, "tell me whether it grieves you now as you look upon us to remember your former fortunes and your present life of misery?
9 Elias smiled and answered: "If I were to speak to you of our happiness or misery you might not believe me. You should rather ask my wife. She has both a woman's heart and a woman's tongue, and will tell you the whole truth about that matter.
10 Then the guest called to the old woman who was seated behind the curtain: "Tell me, old woman, what you think concerning your former happiness and your present misery."
11 And Sham Shemagi answered from behind the curtain: "This is what I think concerning them. I lived with my husband for fifty years seeking happiness, and never finding it; but now, although we live as servants, and this is only the second year since we were left poor, we have found true happiness, and desire no other." 12 Both the guests and their host were surprised at this the latter, indeed, so much so that he rose to his feet to draw aside the curtain and look at the old woman. There she stood her hands folded in front of her, and a smile upon her face, as she gazed at her old husband and he smiled back at her in return. Then she went on: "I am telling you the truth, I am not joking. For half a century we sought happiness and never found it so long as we were rich; yet now that we have nothing now that we have come to live among humble folk we have found such happiness as could never be exceeded."
13 "Where, then, does your happiness lie?" asked the guest.
14 "When we were rich my husband and I had so many cares that we had no time to talk to one another, or think of our souls, or pray to God. If guests were with us we were fully occupied in thinking how to entertain them. Moreover, when guests had arrived we had their servants to look after. In addition, we constantly worried lest a wolf kill one of our fowls or calves, or thieves drive off the horses. We lay awake at night worrying, lest the ewes should lie on their lambs, and we got up again and again to see that all was well. When we retired to rest, we would find ourselves filled with fresh anxieties as to how to get fodder for the winter, and so on. Moreover, my husband and I could never agree. He would say that a thing must be done in this way, and I that it must be done in that and so we would begin to quarrel. The life led us only from worry to worry, but never to happiness."
15 "But how is it now?" asked the guest.
16 "Now," replied the old woman, when my husband and I rise in the morning, we always greet each other in love and harmony. We live peacefully, having nothing to worry about. Our only care is how best to serve the master. We work according to our strength, and with a good will, so that the master profits from our work. Then, when we come in, we find dinner and supper ready for us. Whenever it is cold we have fuel to warm us and sheepskin coats to wear. Moreover, we have time to talk to one another, to think about our souls, and to pray to God. For fifty years we sought happiness but only now have we found it."
17 The guests burst out laughing, but Elias cried: "Do not laugh, good sirs. This is no joke, but the truth. We have revealed it to you not for our own diversion, but for your good."
18 Then the guests ceased to laugh, and became thoughtful
