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In former days, when all a man's limbs did not work together as amicably as they do now, but each had a will and way of its own, the members generally began to find fault with the belly for spending an idle luxurious life, while they were wholly occupied in laboring for its support, and ministering to its wants and pleasure; so they entered into a conspiracy to cut off its supplies for the future;
以前，人的四肢并不是像現(xiàn)在這樣友好地合作。它們有各自的意志和行事方式。人體的其他器官指責肚子過著悠閑、奢侈的生活，而它們則為它終日忙碌著，給它吃給它喝，讓它快樂。后來，它們密謀要切斷對肚子的供應。
The hands were no longer to carry food to the mouth, nor the mouth to receive the food, nor the teeth to chew it.
手不再把食物送到嘴里，嘴不再接受東西，牙齒也不再咀嚼了。
They had not long persisted in this course of starving the belly into subjection, ere they all began, one by one, to fail and flag, and the whole body to pine away.
它們本想讓肚子挨餓，從而使它屈服，可是，沒過多久它們就堅持不住了。它們個個感到疲倦乏力，整個身體也消瘦下來了。
Then the members were convinced that the belly also, cumbersome and useless as it seemed, had an important function of its own; that they could no more do without it than it could do without them; and that if they would have the constitution of the body in a healthy state, they must work together, each in his proper sphere, for the common good of all.
此時，這些器官才明白，肚子雖然看似笨拙、無用，實際上卻有其重要的作用；它們離不開肚子，而肚子也同樣離不開它們；如果想讓身體保持健康，它們就得為了共同的利益精誠合作，各司其職。
