井底之蛙 The frog at the bottom of a well – 棒小英

One day a frog who lived in an abandoned well said to the giant turtle of the Eastern Sea, “Look at me, I’m the happiest creature in this world! I can come up whenever I want and hop around the rim of the well. When I get tired, I can rest on a ledge on the inside wall. When I jump into the water, it buoys me up. When I walk through a mud puddle, it covers my feet. When I look at the other creatures around me—the little bugs, baby crabs and tadpoles—none of them is as happy as me! What’s more, I am the lord of this well with all its delights! You really should come down and see it for yourself!”

一天，一只住在废井里的青蛙对东海的巨龟说：“看看我，我是世界上最快乐的生物！我随时可以跳上来，在井口周围跳来跳去。当我累了，我可以靠在井壁上的一个突出物上休息。当我跳进水里时，它会托住我。当我穿过泥潭时，它会覆盖我的脚。当我看着周围的其它生物——小虫子、小螃蟹和小蝌蚪——它们没有一个像我一样快乐！而且，我是这个充满乐趣的井的主人！你真应该下来自己看看！”

Hearing all this made the great turtle curious, so he decided to go down into the well to take a look. But even before he could put in his left foot, his right knee got stuck on the rim of the well. So the great turtle slowly backed out and began telling the frog about the Eastern Sea.

听到这一切，大乌龟很好奇，于是决定下到井里看看。但是，还没等他把左脚放进去，他的右膝盖就被井口卡住了。于是大乌龟慢慢地退了出来，开始给青蛙讲述东海的故事。

“You let me look at your well,” said the great turtle, “so now I’ll tell you about the Eastern Sea. This sea is so vast that even a distance of a thousand li cannot begin to describe its breadth and the height of a thousand poles is not enough to measure its depth!

“你让我看了你的井，”大乌龟说，“现在我要告诉你关于东海的事。这个海如此之大，以至于即使距离一千里也不能开始描述它的宽度，而且高度一万竿也不足以测量它的深度！

In ancient times, the earth was once ravaged by floods for nine years out of ten and yet the sea did not rise one bit. At another time, there were droughts seven years out of eight and the sea did not change one bit. Thus the Eastern Sea is not affected by the changing times and it does not expand or shrink according to the amount of rainfall. This is the greatest delight of the Eastern Sea!”

在古代，十年九年的洪水会肆虐大地，然而大海一点也没有上涨。还有另外一年有七年之久干旱，大海也没有一点变化。因此，东海不受时间变化的影响，也不会根据降雨量而扩大或缩小。这是东海最大的乐趣！”

Hearing what the great turtle just said, the frog was stunned and was left utterly speechless.

听到大乌龟刚才说的话，青蛙惊呆了，完全说不出话来。