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11.And the Same Vein
11.另一則寓言笑話
The Ndele tribesmen of Africa were'a poor but proud people. Living as they did in the savannah regions south of the Sahara, they had only grass with which to build their houses, but these were nonetheless beautifully designed and spacious.
非洲的恩德拉部落是個(gè)貧窮但驕傲的民族，由于位在撒哈拉沙漠南部的大草原地區(qū)，他們只能用草來(lái)造房子，但他們的房屋仍然設(shè)計(jì)美觀，內(nèi)部寬敞。
In fact, the king's palace was all of three stories tall until the tragic events which I will now relate.
實(shí)際上，在我所要敘及的不幸事件之前，國(guó)王的皇宮都是三層樓的建筑。事情是這樣的。
The Ndele had always believed that as long as the king sat on the traditional golden throne, no harm could come to the tribe. In recent times, however, the kings had taken to sending their heirs to Europe to be educated.
恩德拉族人自古以來(lái)都相信，只要國(guó)王坐在那張傳統(tǒng)黃金打造的王座上，老天就不會(huì)降災(zāi)害于他們。可是最近非洲國(guó)王們都熱衷于把他們的繼承人送到歐洲深造。
One particular crown prince came back from Oxford with nothing but contempt for the ancient beliefs of his people. No sooner had he been crowned king than he had the golden throne removed to the palace attic and replaced with a comfortable steel-framed easy-chair.
其中一位王儲(chǔ)由牛津大學(xué)歸國(guó)，他除了鄙視該族人的古老迷信外，什么也沒(méi)學(xué)回來(lái)。他一登上王位就立刻把那張寶座搬到皇宮閣樓收藏，并換上一張鋼框的舒適安樂(lè)椅。
Sure enough, as soon as the young king settled his posterior into the new royal seat, an earthquake struck the entire territory of the Ndele, hundreds of homes were destroyed, and the old golden throne came crashing through the two intervening floors directly onto the foolish monarch,squashing him like a bug.
果然，那位年輕的國(guó)王剛坐下不久，地震就襲擊了恩德拉族境內(nèi)，好幾百棟的房子損毀，而原來(lái)那張黃金寶座也一路撞穿兩個(gè)夾層樓正中那名愚蠢的統(tǒng)治者，他就像一只小蟲般被壓得扁扁的。
And the moral of the story is: Those who live in grass houses should not stow thrones.
這則故事的真義就是：“住在茅草房子的人們不可把國(guó)王的御座收藏起來(lái)!”
