英语故事：苛政猛于虎

　　In ancient times, at the foot of Mount Tai surrounded by mountains, one often heard of tales of tigers devouring people

　　One day, Confucius and his disciples4 passed by Mount Tai. As they walked along, his disciples talked about what they had heard and seen.

　　Suddenly, they heard someone weeping in the distance. They went over and saw a young woman who, with her head covered with a white kerchief, wore white cotton clothes, trousers, shoes and stockings. She was kneeling in front of a new grave and weeping bitterly. The disciples didn't know what to do. Confucius ordered one of them to go forward and ask: "Who has died? Why are you weeping in such sorrow?"

　　The woman raised her head, wiped her red and swollen eyes, sobbed and answered intermittently: "In the past, my father-in-law was devoured by a tiger. Later, my husband was devoured by a tiger too. Now my son has also been bitten to death by a tiger."

　　Confucius' disciple asked worriedly: "The tiger harmed the lives of three generations of your family. Why didn't you leave this place earlier and move to somewhere else?"

　　The woman sobbed, saying: "There are tigers here, but there are no exorbitant taxes, levies or heavy corvee here!" When Confucius heard this, he turned to his disciples and said: "Remember, tigers devour people, but tyranny is fiercer than tigers!"

　　古代，在群山环抱的泰山脚下，常常听到老虎吃人的事情。

　　有一天，孔子带着弟子路过泰山。弟子们一边走，一边谈论着所见所闻。

　　1 devour

　　v.吞没;贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读;使着迷

　　参考例句：

　　Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。

　　Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

　　2 devouring

　　吞没( devour的现在分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光

　　参考例句：

　　The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。

　　He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

　　3 disciple

　　n.信徒，门徒，追随者

　　参考例句：

　　Your disciple failed to welcome you.你的徒弟没能迎接你。

　　He was an ardent disciple of Gandhi.他是甘地的忠实信徒。

　　4 disciples

　　n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 );门徒;耶稣的信徒;(尤指)耶稣十二门徒之一

　　参考例句：

　　Judas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. 犹大是耶稣十二门徒之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》

　　"The names of the first two disciples were --" “最初的两个门徒的名字是——” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

　　5 swollen

　　adj.肿大的，水涨的;v.使变大，肿胀

　　参考例句：

　　Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。

　　A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

　　6 sobbed

　　哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 ); 哭诉，呜咽地说

　　参考例句：

　　She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。

　　She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

　　7 intermittently

　　adv.间歇地;断断续续

　　参考例句：

　　Winston could not intermittently remember why the pain was happening. 温斯顿只能断断续续地记得为什么这么痛。 来自英汉文学

　　The resin moves intermittently down and out of the bed. 树脂周期地向下移动和移出床层。 来自辞典例句

　　8 devoured

　　吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光

　　参考例句：

　　She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。

　　The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

　　9 exorbitant

　　adj.过分的;过度的

　　参考例句：

　　More competition should help to drive down exorbitant phone charges.更多的竞争有助于降低目前畸高的电话收费。

　　The price of food here is exorbitant. 这儿的食物价格太高。

　　10 levies

　　(部队)征兵( levy的名词复数 ); 募捐; 被征募的军队

　　参考例句：

　　At that time, taxes and levies were as many as the hairs on an ox. 那时，苛捐杂税多如牛毛。

　　Variable levies can insulate farmers and consumers from world markets. 差价进口税可以把农民和消费者与世界市场隔离开来。

　　忽然，听到远处传来哭声。大家便走了过去，一看原来是一个年轻的妇女，头上包着白色的头巾，身上穿着白布衣裤，脚上套着白布鞋袜，正跪在一座新坟前面痛哭。弟子们不知如何是好，孔子叫弟子上前询问：“死了谁?你为什么哭得这么伤心?”

　　妇女抬起头来，擦着红肿的眼睛，抽泣着断断续续地回答：“从前，我的公公被老虎吃掉了。后来，我的丈夫又被老虎吃掉了。如今，我的儿子也被老虎咬死了。”

　　孔子的弟子着急地问道：“老虎伤害了你家三代人的性命，你为什么不早点儿离开这里，搬到别处去呢?”

　　妇女哭着说：“这里有老虎，但是没有苛捐杂税和繁重的摇役啊!孔子听到这儿，回过头来，对弟子们说：“你们记住，老虎吃人，可是苛政比老虎还要凶猛啊!”