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一天，两个男孩正在丛林里闲逛。他们发现了一些肉，可是他们都不能确定是谁先看到的。两人都认为是自己先看到的，而且说：“是我先看到的。”他们不同意每人分一半，都想要那块大一点的。他们吵啊吵，几乎打了起来。 最后他们决定把肉带到猴子法庭那儿去审判。猴子一看到他们来了，就决定自己先尝一尝那块肉的滋味。男孩们向他行了礼，并且告诉了他发生的一切。每个人都声称是自己先看到肉的。他们说完之后,猴子就说："我想我最好把肉给你们分开，让每一个人都没有异议，拿走他自己的那—份。" 猴子把肉分开了，但是一块大一块小。猴子拿起大的那一块，咬了一口吃掉了。当他把咬了一口的那块肉放下时，他看到它又比另一块肉小了。他又拿起另一块，咬了一口又吃掉了。猴子看起来很努力地试着，但是他却不能让这两块肉一样大。每次他从一块肉上咬一口，这一块就会比另一块小一些。 猴子看到两块肉都变小了，就对男孩说：“回家吧，剩下那么丁点儿肉就给我吧。你们谁都尝不到了。”他把他们赶走了，甚至没给他们一点点儿肉。 他们就这样失去了所有的肉。如果他们彼此愿意达成一致的话，那么每个人都会得到一块美味的肉。 The Monkey Trial One day two boys were wandering in the bush and they found some meat. They could not decide which of them saw it first. Each one thought that he had seen it first and each one said，“ I saw it first. ” They would not agree that each should have half of it. Each one wanted the larger piece. They argued and argued and almost fought. Finally they decided to take it to the monkey court for a trial. As soon as the monkey saw them coming he decided that he was going to taste that meat. The boys saluted him and told him everything that had happened. Each claimed that he had seen the meat first. When they had finished talking, the monkey said, “I think that I had better divide the meat for you and have each person take his portion without argument. ” The monkey divided the meat, but one piece was larger than the other piece. The monkey picked up the larger piece and took a bite of it and ate it. When he laid down the piece from which he had taken a bite, he saw that it was the smaller of the two. He picked up the other piece and took a bite from it and ate it. While the monkey seemed to be trying hard，yet he could not get the pieces equal. Each time the piece from which he would take a bite would be the smaller of the two. When the monkey saw that both pieces of meat were getting small，he said to the boys, “Go home. What little meat there is I will keep for myself. You shall not taste any of it. ” He drove them away without even giving them small pieces of meat. This is how they lost all their meat. If they had been willing to agree between them selves each would have had a nice piece of meat. |
