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乔治是一个喜欢开玩笑的种植园主。圣诞节前夕，他觉得应该嘉奖競兢业业的管家。于是，他拍着管家杰克的肩膀说：“这里有四大碗粥，我在其中一碗的碗底放了两枚金币。亲爱的杰克，看看你的运气如何。” 杰克非常渴望得到金币，但他不确定到底哪个碗里放有金币。他犹豫着把第一碗里的粥喝了一部分，突然觉得金币应该在第二个碗里，于是又去喝了一半第二个碗里的粥，但还是不甘心，就把第三碗的粥又喝掉了一部分，最后他又改变了主意，第四碗粥又被他艰难地喝了一半。这时，杰克感到自己的胃里再也装不下任何东西了。 结果，他一枚金币也没有得到。 其实，乔治在每碗粥的碗底都放了两枚金币，他只要随便喝掉一碗粥，就会得到梦寐以求的金币。 Gold Coins in the Bowl George was a planter who liked playing jokes. On Christmas Eve, feeling that his cautious and conscientious butler deserved rewards, he patted the butler Jack’s shoulder and said, “There are four large bowls of porridge here. I put two gold coins at the bottom of one bowl among these four. Dear Jack, let’s see if you’re lucky or not.” Jack was eager for the gold coins, but not sure in which bowl they were put. He hesitantly drank some porridge in the first bowl. Suddenly, he felt the gold coins should be in the second bowl, so he turned to it and tried half porridge in this bowl. Still not resigned in his mind, he drank some porridge in the third one. At last, he changed his mind. He struggled to drink half of the porridge in the fourth with much difficultly. At this moment Jack felt his stomach had been fully occupied. As a result, he didn’t get even one gold coin. Virtually，George placed two coins at the bottom of each bowl. As long as Jack finished up any bowl of porridge, he would have got the gold coins he had longed for. conscientious 认真的；尽责的 butler 男管家 porridge 粥；糊 hesitantly 迟疑地；踌躇地 resigned 顺从的；已放弃的 virtually 事实上；实质上 |
