英语小故事 3分钟左右

Very Pleased to Meet You
During World War II, a lot of young
women in Britain were in the army. Joan Phillips was one of them. She
worked in a big camp, and of course met a lot of men, officers and
soldiers.
One evening she met Captain
Humphreys at a dance. He said to her, "I‘m going abroad tomorrow, but
I‘d be very happy if we could write to each other." Joan agreed, and
they wrote for several months.
Then his letters stopped, but she
received one from another officer, telling her that he had been wounded
and was in a certain army hospital in England.
Joan went there and said to the matron, "I‘ve come to visit Captain Humphreys."
"Only relatives are allowed to visit patients here," the matron said.
"Oh, that‘s all right," answered Joan. "I‘m his sister."
"I‘m very pleased to meet you," the matron said, "I‘m his mother!"

在第二次世界大战中，有许多年轻的妇女在军营中服役。琼.飞利浦斯是其中之一。她在一个大军营中工作，当然遇到了许多男士，包括军官和士兵。
一天晚上她在舞会上遇到了军官汉弗雷斯。他对她说，“我明天就要出国，但如果我们能够相互写信，我会很高兴。”琼同意了，于是他们几个月里一直通着信。
后来，他再没有来信。她收到了另一个军官的信，告诉她，他受伤了，住在英格兰的某个部队医院里。
琼到了医院，e69da5e6ba90e799bee5baa6e79fa5e98193365她对护士长说，“我来看望军官汉弗雷斯。”
“这里只有亲属可以探望病人。”护士长说。
“噢，是的，”琼说，“我是他的妹妹。”
“很高兴认识你，”护士长说，“我是他的母亲。

A man was going to the house of some rich person. As he went along the road, he saw a box of good apples at the side of the road. He said, "I do not want to eat those apples; for the rich man will give me much food; he will give me very nice food to eat." Then he took the apples and threw them away into the dust.
He went on and came to a river. The river had become very big; so he could not go over it. He waited for some time; then he said, "I cannot go to the rich man's house today, for I cannot get over the river."
He began to go home. He had eaten no food that day. He began to want food. He came to the apples, and he was glad to take them out of the dust and eat them.
Do not throw good things away; you may be glad to have them at some other time.
【译文】
一个人正朝着一个富人的房子走去，当他沿着路走时，在路的一边他发现一箱好苹果，他说：“我不打算吃那些苹果，因为富人会给我更多的食物，他会给我很好吃的东西。”然后他拿起苹果，一把扔到土里去。
他继续走，来到河边，河涨水了，因此，他到不了河对岸，他等了一会儿，然后他说：“今天我去不了富人家了，因为我e799bee5baa6e79fa5e98193e58685e5aeb9338不能渡过河。”
他开始回家，那天他没有吃东西。他就开始去找吃的，他找到苹果，很高兴地把它们从尘土中翻出来吃了。
不要把好东西扔掉，换个时候你会觉得它们大有用处。
The old man and the starfish (老人与海星）

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?"

The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. " But there must be thousands of beached and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?"

The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it into the safety of the sea, he said, "I made a difference to this one."

有一个男人沿着茺凉的海滩欣赏日落时，望见远远的海岸边有一个老人。
当那男人靠近时，他才知道那老人是把海水冲刷上岸的海星，一次一个的逐一丢回水中。
那男人感到十分疑惑，于是走到那个老人身边问他：「你好！请问你在做什么呢？」那老人回答：「我把这些海星丢回海里。你看，现在已经退潮了。如果我不把它们丢回海里，它们就会缺氧而死在这里。」
那男人当然能了解这种情形，但是他仍旧感到疑问：「但是海滩上有7a686964616fe59b9ee7ad94330成千上万的海星，而你不可能把它们全丢回海里啊！它们有如天上繁星，更何况在这么长的海岸线，这样的情形很多，你这样做并不能改变什么的。」
那老人，仍是弯下腰再度拾起另一只海星。当他把海星丢进海中的时候，说：「这只海星的命运改变了」。

有时候我们会觉得一己之力实在太小了，在整个大环境里或许是没有改变，但或许这个小改变却改变了小环境的整个生命。

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There are many version of this story, where the main character is a little boy instead of the old man. But it's basically the same. I really like this story, and I think it's very inspiring.

Drunk

One day, a father and his little son were going home. At this age, the boy was interested in all kinds of things and was always asking questions. Now, he asked, "What's the meaning of the word 'Drunk', dad?" "Well, my son," his father replied, "look, there are standing two policemen. If I regard the two policemen as four then I am drunk."
"But, dad," the boy said, " there's only ONE policeman!"

醉酒

一天，父亲与小儿子一道回e69da5e6ba90e79fa5e98193361家。这个孩子正处于那种对什么事都很感兴趣的年龄，老是有提不完的问题。他向父亲发问道：“爸爸，‘醉’字是什么意思？” “唔，孩子，”父亲回答说，“你瞧那儿站着两个警察。如果我把他们看成了四个，那么我就算醉了。” “可是，爸爸， ”孩子说，“那儿只有一个警察呀！”