英文短故事：The Donkey and The Load of Salt

Once, there lived a peddler. The peddler sold all sorts of goods….sturdy shoes for the farmers and pretty trinkets for their sweethearts, warm, woolly shawls to keep the women warm and sweet, sticky toffees for the children to munch¹ on their way back from school. 

 

Some days he sold fruits and on other days, kettles. To carry all his wares², the peddler had a donkey. Every morning, the peddler loaded the donkey with his wares. The two would set out and walk from farmhouse³ to farmhouse, from village to village and from market to market. 

 

The peddler always walked ahead, whistling merrily as he went. The poor donkey followed, trying as hard as he could to keep up with his master and groaning⁴ under the weight of his load. 

 

Every evening, their wares sold, the peddler and his donkey would wend their way home. The peddler, pleased with the day's takings, would walk ahead, jingling⁵ the pennies in his pocket. The poor old donkey would follow, foot sore and weary from carrying the heavy sacks all day long. 

 

“Ah! My poor feet! Oooh! My aching back!" the donkey moaned every night as he collapsed⁶ wearily onto the hay in his stable. 

 

The old grey cat who shared the stable with the donkey, would shake her head and sigh. 'Poor old donkey,' she would say to herself, and slink off into the night. 

 

One morning, the peddler loaded the poor donkey with a dozen sacks. The sacks were full of salt and much heavier than the donkey’s usual load. The donkey groaned⁷ under the weight, but bore it patiently, as he had always done. 

 

“I shall make a tidy profit today on this salt.' said the peddler to the donkey, as they set off. 'There is not a woman who does not need to buy salt for her cooking and they will pay me well for this. I shall be a rich man tonight!' 

 

And the peddler danced a little jig⁸ in the middle of the road. The donkey could only think of the heavy load on his back and the long day ahead. 

 

The donkey plodded⁹ along behind the peddler. The sun was now high in the sky. The donkey was hot and tired and longing¹⁰ for a drink of water. Up ahead, he knew, there flowed a stream of cool, sweet water. The donkey hurried towards the stream as fast as his tired legs and the heavy load on his back would allow and leaned over for a drink. The edge of the stream was slippery with mud and slush. The donkey, with the heavy sacks of salt on his back, slipped and fell into the water. 

 

“Oooh, help! Help!' brayed¹¹ the donkey in terror, his legs flailing¹² madly in the water. ‘I will surely drown with this terrible load on my back!' 

 

But suddenly, the donkey felt himself floating, the load on his back gone as if by magic. He clambered out on to the bank and shook himself. Yes! The weight on his back had vanished! 

 

Of course the sacks were lighter¹³, for the salt had dissolved in the water. But the donkey did not know that. 'At last! A way to rid myself of my burdens,' he thought and brayed with joy at his great discovery. 

 

That night he told the grey cat all about how he had slipped and fallen into the stream and how, when he had climbed out, his load had become so much lighter. 

 

“No more heavy loads for me,' declared the donkey, feeling very pleased. 

 

‘Every time it gets too much for me, all I have to do is to pretend to fall into a stream and my load will lessen¹⁴ by magic!' 

 

The grey cat shook her head and sighed. 'Poor old donkey.' she said and slunk off into the night. 

 

Next morning the peddler loaded the monkey again, this time with bales of cloth that he wanted to sell at the next village. Be careful today, old donkey,’ he said as they set off. ‘I did not earn penny yesterday. I must earn double today or we go to bed hungry tonight.' 

 

The donkey plodded along behind the peddler and groaned under the weight of the cloth. His back ached more than ever and his feet were killing¹⁵ him. He resolved to find a stream as quickly as he could. As luck would have it, the peddler took the same path he had taken the previous day and very soon they came to the same stream. The donkey hurried ahead as though very thirsty and pretending to slip, fell in. He kicked his legs about, making sure the bundle on his back was properly soaked. 

 

In a moment my burden will vanish." he told himself and kicked about some more. 

 

But what was happening? Something was wrong! His load, in stead of becoming lighter, had become much heavier and was slowly pulling him deeper into the stream. Of course his burden was heavier, for the water had soaked into the bales of cloth. The poor donkey thrashed about in the water and brayed in terror. 

 

“Help! Help!' he cried. 

 

Meanwhile, the peddler had rushed to the stream and bracing¹⁶ himself on the bank, helped the frightened donkey out of the water. 

 

That night, the donkey was a sad and subdued¹⁷ creature. He had had to carry the much heavier, soaked and dripping bales of cloth all the way home again. His back was truly aching and what was worse, he had caught a cold. He sneezed miserably¹⁸ into the straw. The old grey cat looked at him and sighed. 'Poor old donkey,' he said and slunk off into the night.  

1 munch   

v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼

参考例句：

• We watched her munch through two packets of peanuts.我们看她津津有味地嚼了两包花生米。
• Getting them to munch on vegetable dishes was more difficult.使他们吃素菜就比较困难了。

2 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

3 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

4 groaning   

adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
• The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着，无人救助。

5 jingling   

叮当声

参考例句：

• A carriage went jingling by with some reclining figure in it. 一辆马车叮当驶过，车上斜倚着一个人。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Melanie did not seem to know, or care, that life was riding by with jingling spurs. 媚兰好像并不知道，或者不关心，生活正马刺丁当地一路驶过去了呢。

6 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

7 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 jig   

n.快步舞（曲）；v.上下晃动；用夹具辅助加工；蹦蹦跳跳

参考例句：

• I went mad with joy and danced a little jig.我欣喜若狂，跳了几步吉格舞。
• He piped a jig so that we could dance.他用笛子吹奏格舞曲好让我们跳舞。

9 plodded   

v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作）

参考例句：

• Our horses plodded down the muddy track. 我们的马沿着泥泞小路蹒跚而行。
• He plodded away all night at his project to get it finished. 他通宵埋头苦干以便做完专题研究。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

11 brayed   

v.发出驴叫似的声音( bray的过去式和过去分词 )；发嘟嘟声；粗声粗气地讲话（或大笑）；猛击

参考例句：

• He brayed with laughter. 他刺耳地大笑。
• His donkey threw up his head and brayed loudly. 他的驴扬起头大声叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 flailing   

v.鞭打( flail的现在分词 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克

参考例句：

• He became moody and unreasonable, flailing out at Katherine at the slightest excuse. 他变得喜怒无常、不可理喻，为点鸡毛蒜皮的小事就殴打凯瑟琳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His arms were flailing in all directions. 他的手臂胡乱挥舞着。 来自辞典例句

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

15 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

16 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

17 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

18 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》