🔊 Time was when the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to rule over them: so they sent a deputation to Jupiter to ask him to give them a King. Jupiter, despising the folly of their request, cast a log into the pool where they lived, and said that that should be their King. The Frogs were terrified at first by the splash, and scuttled away into the deepest parts of the pool; but by and by, when they saw that the log remained motionless, one by one they ventured to the surface again, and before long, growing bolder, they began to feel such contempt for it that they even took to sitting upon it.

从前,青蛙们因无人统治而心生不满,于是遣使前往朱庇特处,恳求他赐予一位国王。朱庇特鄙夷他们愚蠢的请求,便将一根木头抛入他们栖居的池塘,宣称那便是他们的国王。青蛙们起初被水花惊得魂飞魄散,纷纷窜入池底最深处；但渐渐地,见那木头纹丝不动,便一只接一只胆怯地浮回水面。没过多久,它们愈发大胆,竟开始对那木头嗤之以鼻,甚至索性蹲坐其上。

🔊

discontented /ˌdɪskənˈtentɪd/

adj. 不满的；不满足的➕

🔊

deputation /ˌdepjuˈteɪʃn/

n. 代表团；委派代表➕

🔊

despising /dɪˈspaɪzɪŋ/

v. (present participle). 鄙视,蔑视➕

🔊

folly /ˈfɒli/

n. 愚蠢；愚蠢的行为➕

🔊

terrified /ˈterɪfaɪd/

adj. 非常害怕的,恐惧的➕

🔊

scuttled /ˈskʌtld/

v. (past tense). 小步快跑,急赶➕

🔊

by and by /ˌbaɪ ən ˈbaɪ/

adv. phrase. 不久以后➕

🔊

ventured /ˈventʃəd/

v. (past tense). 冒险；敢于（去某处或做某事）➕

🔊

contempt /kənˈtempt/

n. 轻蔑,鄙视➕

🔊 Thinking that a King of that sort was an insult to their dignity, they sent to Jupiter a second time, and begged him to take away the sluggish King he had given them, and to give them another and a better one. Jupiter, annoyed at being pestered in this way, sent a Stork to rule over them, who no sooner arrived among them than he began to catch and eat the Frogs as fast as he could.

它们认为这般国王实乃对尊严的侮辱,便再度派人向朱庇特请愿,央求他撤走那呆钝的旧王,另赐一位更贤明的新君。朱庇特被这般纠缠惹得心烦,遂派一只鹳前来统辖。这鹳甫一降临,便迫不及待地追捕吞食青蛙,大快朵颐。

🔊

sluggish /ˈslʌɡɪʃ/

adj. 行动迟缓的,懒散的；不景气的➕

🔊

annoyed /əˈnɔɪd/

adj. 恼怒的,烦扰的➕

🔊

pestered /ˈpestəd/

v. (past tense). 不断打扰,纠缠➕

Chapter seventy-six: The Frogs Asking for a King (第七十六章:青蛙求王)

🔒 使用该功能需要授权码