多言何益少儿英语小故事

One day, Zi Qin asked his master Mo Zi:

一天，子禽问他的`老师墨子：

“Master, is there any good at all of talking much?”

“老师，多说话到底有没有好处？”

Mo Zi thought for a while, and answered:

墨子想了一下回答说：

“If one takes too much, what good is there?”

“话要说得太多了，还有什么好处呢？”

Then, he told Zi Qin

接着，又告诉子禽说：

“Toads and frogs croak and flies buzz day and night until they are parched and dry in the mouth, yet nobody listens to them. But a rooster in a chicken coop crows only a few times at dawn, and everyone knows that when it crows, daylight is coming and the whole world will be awakened. Therefore, there is no use talking too much. What is important is to suit the words to the occasion, and say things which hit the nail on the head.”

“蛤蟆，青蛙、苍蝇白天黑夜不停地叫，叫得口干舌燥，可是却没有人听它们的。但是，鸡棚里的雄鸡只在黎明时啼叫两三次，大家知道鸡啼就要天亮，天下皆醒。所以，多说话没有什么用处，重要的是话要切合时机，说到点子上。”