LESSON 10

THE GOOD SON

好孩子

1. There was once a jeweler , noted for many virtues. One day, the Jewish elders came to him to buy some diamonds, to put upon that part of the dress of their high priest, which the Bible calls an ephod .

2. They told him what they wanted, and offered him a fair price for the diamonds . He replied that he could not let them see the jewels at that moment, and requested them to call again.

3. As they wanted them without delay, and thought that the object of the jeweler was only to increase the price of the diamonds, the elders offered him twice, then three times, as much as they were worth. But he still refused, and they went away in very bad humor .

4. Some hours after, he went to them, and placed before them the diamonds, for which they again offered him the last price they had named; but he said, “I will only accept the first one you offered to me this morning.”

5. “Why, then, did you not close with us at once?” asked they in surprise. “When you came,” replied he, “my father had the key of the chest, in which the diamonds were kept, and as he was asleep, I should have been obliged to wake him to obtain them.

6. “At his age, a short hour of sleep does him a great deal of good; and for all the gold in the world, I would not be wanting in respect to my father, or take from him a single comfort.”

7. The elders, affected by these feeling words, spread their hands upon the jeweler’s head, and said, “Thou shalt be blessed of Him who has said, ‘Honor thy father and thy mother;’ and thy children shall one day pay thee the same respect and love thou hast shown to thy father.”

EXERCISES.—Relate the story of the jeweler and his diamonds. What did the elders say to him, when they heard his reason for not giving them the diamonds at first?

【中文阅读】

1. 曾经有一位珠宝匠，因其身上许多的优秀品质而为人们所熟知。一天，几位上了年纪的犹太长老到他店里来，想要买一些珠宝，用来装饰他们最高级别神职人员的服装，即《圣经》中提到的犹太教大祭司所穿的法衣。

2. 他们告诉他需要什么样的珠宝，并且报的价格也公平合理。他回答说目前他没法让他们看珠宝，请他们再打电话和他联系。

3. 由于他们当下就需要那些珠宝，不能耽搁，而且他们认为珠宝匠的目的只是为抬高售价，老先生们给他开出了相当于珠宝价值两倍的价格，然后又加到了三倍。但他还是拒绝了，老先生们只得怏怏离去。

4. 几个小时之后，他去找他们，将珠宝摆在他们面前，老先生们仍然开出了最后提到的价码。但他说：“我只会接受今天早上你们最初开的价。”

5. “那你当时为什么不立刻和我们成交呢？”他们无比惊讶地问道。他回答：“当你们来时，我父亲保管着金库的钥匙，珠宝都保存在金库里。而我父亲当时正在睡觉，我本应该叫醒他，拿来钥匙。”

6. “但是到了他这个年纪，短短一小时的睡眠都会对他的身体非常有好处；再说，出于对父亲的敬爱，就算给我全世界的黄金，我也不会牺牲任何一点父亲休息的时间。”

7. 珠宝匠一番饱含深情的话语深深打动了老先生们，他们用手拍拍他的头，说：“你必感谢那个说过‘尊敬你父亲母亲’的人，你的孩子们也将如你尊敬你父亲这样尊敬你。”