懒惰的亨利Lazy Harry

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　　Harry was so lazy that although he had nothing else to do but drive his goat out to graze（放牧）
every day, he still heaved（发出） many a sigh（叹息） when he got back home in the evening
after completing his day's labors. "What a weary job it is," he would say, "what a terrible burden,
year after year, driving that goat out into the fields every day till Michaelmas! If I could even lie down
and take a nap while she feeds! But no, I've got to keep my eyes open or she'll damage the young
trees, or squeeze through a hedge（树篱，障碍） into someone's garden, or even run away
altogether. What sort of a life is that? No peace of mind, no relaxation. " He sat down and collected
his thoughts and tried to work out some way of getting this burden off his back. For a long time all
his ponderings were in vain, then suddenly the scales seemed to fall from his eyes. "I know what I'll
do!" he exclaimed. "I'll marry Fat Katie; she's got a goat as well, so she can take mine out with hers
and I won't have to go on wearing myself to a shadow like this."
     So Harry got up, set his weary（疲倦的，厌烦的） limbs in motion and walked right across the street,
for it was no further than that to where Fat Katie's parents lived; and there he asked for the hand of their
hard-working, virtuous（善良的，正直的） daughter. Her parents didn't stop to think twice, "Like to like
makes a good match," they remarked, and gave their consent（同意，赞成） . So now Fat Katie became
Harry's wife and drove both the goats out to graze. Harry spent his days very pleasantly, with nothing more
strenuous（紧张的，费力的） to recover from than his own idleness. He only went out with her now and
then, saying, "I'm just doing this so that I'll enjoy my bit of a rest afterwards all the more; you lose all your
appreciation of it otherwise."
 
www.350xue.com     But Fat Katie was no less（不相上下，仍然） idle than Harry. "Harry dear," she said one day, "Why should
we needlessly make our lives a misery like this and spoil the best years of our youth? Those two goats wake
us out of our best morning sleep anyway with their bleating（咩咩叫） : wouldn't it be better to give them both
to our neighbor and get a beehive（蜂窝） from him in exchange? We'll put up the beehive in a sunny place
behind the house and just leave it to look after itself. Bees don't need to be minded and taken out to graze:
they'll fly out and find their own way home and make honey, without our having to raise a finger." "You're a very
sensible girl," answered Harry, "and we'll do as you suggest right away. What's more, honey's tastier than goat's
milk and it does you more good and you can store it for longer."
   The neighbor willingly gave them a beehive in exchange for their two goats. The bees flew in and out tirelessly
from early in the morning till late in the evening and filled the hive with the finest honey, so that in the autumn Harry
was able to collect a whole jar of it.
   They stood the jar on a shelf that was fixed to the wall above their bed; and fearing that someone might steal it or
the mice mighty get at it, Katie fetched in a sturdy（坚定的，强健的） hazel rod and put it at the bedside, so that
she wouldn't have to bestir herself unnecessarily but just reach for it and drive away any unwelcome visitors without
having to get up.
  
www.350xue.com Lazy Harry didn't like to rise before midday: "Too soon out of bed and you'll soon be dead," he would remark. So there
he was one morning, still lolling among the feathers in broad daylight, having a good rest after his long sleep, and he
said to his wife: "Women have a sweet tooth, and you've been at that honey again; I think our best plan, before it all gets
eaten up by you, would be to give it in exchange for a goose and a young gander（雄鹅） ." "But not till we have a child
to mind them!" replied Fat Katie. "You don't suppose I'd want to be bothered with young goslings（小鹅） , needlessly
wearing out my strength?" "And do you suppose," said Harry, "that the boy will look after geese? Nowadays children don't
do what they're told any more, they do just as they please, because they think they're cleverer than their parents, just like
that farmhand who was sent to fetch a cow and started chasing three blackbirds（画眉） ." "Well then," answered Katie,
"this one had better look out if he doesn't do as I tell him. I'll take a stick to him and give his hide a real good tanning. 
  
www.350xue.com    Watch me, Harry!" she exclaimed in her excitement, seizing the stick she kept to drive away the mice, "watch me beat the backside
off him!" She lifted the stick, but unfortunately struck the honey jar above the bed. The jar was knocked against the wall and
fell to smithereens（碎片） , and all that fine honey went trickling（流出，滴下） over the floor. "Well, so much for the goose
and the young gander," said Harry, "we shan't have to mind them now. But it's a bit of luck that the jar didn't fall on my head;
we've every cause to be content with our lot（命运） ." And seeing that some honey was still left in one of the fragments, he
reached out and picked it up and said cheerfully: "Wife, let's enjoy the little that's left over here, and then take a bit of a rest
after the fright（惊吓） we've had. What does it matter if we get up a little later than usual, the day's still long enough." "Oh yes,"
answered Katie, "better late than never. You know the one about the snail that was invited to the wedding? It set out and got
there in time for the christening（洗礼） . And just outside the house it fell from the top of a fence, and said to itself: 'More haste,
less speed.'"



懒惰的亨利Lazy Harry