298、英语小故事（英汉对照）“贪婪必将受到惩罚”
Sam was a greedy and selfish man.
山姆是一个贪婪、自私的人。
He always desired to have lots and lots of money and never hesitated to cheat others to make money.
他总是渴望拥有很多很多钱，总是毫不犹豫地欺骗他人以获取钱财。
Also, he never wished to share anything with others. He paid very low wages to his servants.
而且，他也从不希望与别人分享任何东西。他只给自己的仆人非常低的工资。
However, one day, he learned a lesson that changed his life forever.
然而，有一天他学会了永远改变他人生的一课。
It so happened that one day, a small bag that belonged to Sam was missing.
这一天发生了这样的事，山姆的一个小包丢失了。
The bag had 50 gold coins in it. Sam searched high and low for the bag, but could not find it.
包里有50个金币。山姆到处都搜寻遍了，也没有找到包。
Sam's friends and neighbours also joined in the search, but all their efforts were in vain.
山姆的朋友和邻居也加入了搜寻中，但他们所有的努力都是徒劳的。
After a couple of days, the ten-year-old daughter of a man working for Sam found the bag.
在几天之后，为山姆工作的工人十岁的女儿找到了这个包。
She told her father about it. Her father identified the bag as the one that was missing, and immediately decided to take it to his master.
她告诉了父亲这件事。她的父亲确认了这个包就是丢失的那一个，然后立刻决定要将包拿给他的主人。
He gave the bag back to his master Sam, and asked him to check whether the bag had 50 gold coins.
他将包还给主人山姆，然后让他检查包里是否有50个金币。
Sam was exultant（非常高兴的） to get the coins back, but he decided to play a trick.
山姆非常高兴拿回这些金币，但他决定要搞个恶作剧。
He shouted at his worker, "there were 75 gold coins in this bag but you gave me only 50! Where are the other coins? You have stolen them!"
他向自己的工人大声喊道：“包里本来有75个金币，但你只给了我50个！其他的金币去哪儿了？是你偷了吧！”
The worker was shocked to hear this and pleaded（辩护） his innocence.
工人听到这之后非常震惊，辩护称自己是无辜的。
Selfish and greedy, Sam did not accept the worker's story, and decided to take the issue to court.
自私又贪婪，山姆没有接受工人的说法，然后决定将这件事交给法庭。
The judge heard both sides. He questioned the daughter and the worker about the number of coins they had found in the bag, and they assured it was only 50.
法官听了两边的说法。他询问了女儿和工人关于他们在包里发现金币的数量，他们确信只有50个。
He cross-examined（盘问） Sam and Sam replied, "I had 75 gold coins in my bag, and they gave me only 50. Hence, it is quite obvious that they have stolen 25 coins!"
他盘问了山姆，山姆回答说，“我的包里有75个金币，他们只给了我50个。因此，很显然他们偷了25个金币！”
The judge then asked, "Are you sure that your bag had 75 coins?"
法官接着问：“你确定你的包里有75个金币吗？”
Sam nodded vigorously（用力地）. The judge then made his judgment.
山姆用力地点了点头。然后法官做出了判决。
"Since Sam lost a bag of 75 gold coins and the bag found by the girl had only 50 coins, it is obvious that the bag that was found does not belong to Sam.
“既然山姆丢掉了装有75个金币的包，而这个女孩发现的包只有50个金币，很显然被发现的这个包不是山姆的。
It was lost by someone else. If anyone finds a bag of 75 gold coins, I will declare that it belongs to Sam.
是其他人丢失的。如果有人发现装着75个金币的包，我将宣布它属于山姆。
As there are no complaints about the loss of 50 coins, I order the girl and her father to take those 50 coins as a token of appreciation for their honesty!"
既然没有人控诉丢掉50个金币，我命令这个女孩和他的父亲拿走这50个金币，作为感激他们诚实的象征。