多言何益少兒英語小故事

One day, Zi Qin asked his master Mo Zi:

一天，子禽問他的`老師墨子：

“Master, is there any good at all of talking much?”

“老師，多説話到底有沒有好處？”

Mo Zi thought for a while, and answered:

墨子想了一下回答説：

“If one takes too much, what good is there?”

“話要説得太多了，還有什麼好處呢？”

Then, he told Zi Qin

接着，又告訴子禽説：

“Toads and frogs croak and flies buzz day and night until they are parched and dry in the mouth, yet nobody listens to them. But a rooster in a chicken coop crows only a few times at dawn, and everyone knows that when it crows, daylight is coming and the whole world will be awakened. Therefore, there is no use talking too much. What is important is to suit the words to the occasion, and say things which hit the nail on the head.”

“蛤蟆，青蛙、蒼蠅白天黑夜不停地叫，叫得口乾舌燥，可是卻沒有人聽它們的。但是，雞棚裏的雄雞隻在黎明時啼叫兩三次，大家知道雞啼就要天亮，天下皆醒。所以，多説話沒有什麼用處，重要的是話要切合時機，説到點子上。”