伊索寓言——青蛙和牛

　　原文：

　　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.

　　译文：

　　一头牛在一快泥泞的草地上吃草，偶然把脚踏在一堆小青蛙当中，几乎把所有的幼蛙踩死。脱险的一个带着这可怕的消息跑到他母亲那里去了。"啊，母亲！"他说"是一只野兽-那样一只有四只脚的大野兽-踩的。""大吗？"老青蛙说。"多大？"她股足了气把自己胀得大大的说："他像这样的吗？""啊！"小 青蛙说，"比那大多了。""哦，有这么大吗？"她鼓着气胀地更大了。"真的，母亲，但确实如此，即使你胀破了自己，也不够他一半大。"老青蛙看到自己的力气受到轻视很是激怒，于是又鼓了一下气，果然这次胀破了自己。

　　妄自尊大的人必将自取灭亡的。

　　词汇：

　　grazing 吃草

　　a parcel of 一群

　　brood 一窝

　　quoth 说（古代）

　　puffed herself out 鼓气把自己吹大

　　disparagement 轻视