18、Better Late Than Never
亡羊补牢，未为迟也
A farmer named Chien Ye Chao and his wife, Yu Qing, lived and worked on their family farm in a remote village. Farming was hard work. Ah Chao, as his wife and neighbors liked to call him, was not fond of work at all!Every day, Yu Qing had to remind her husband to get to work.“Ah Chao, the chickens need to be fed!”“Ah Chao, the field needs to be tilled!”One day, Ah Chao received news that he had inherited 20 sheep from his uncle.“What good fortune!” Yu Qing shouted. We can earn more money with 20 sheep. But we don’t have a fence to keep the sheep safe from foxes.You’d better build one, Ah Chao!”Ah Chao was lazy, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew that Yu Qing was right.So he went looking for wood to build a fence. He found a pile of old wood nearby. Some pieces were shorter than others. Luckily there was enough wood to build a fenced-in pen. There was just one problem. In the section of the fence with the shorter pieces, there was a gap at the bottom.Ah Chao looked at his handiwork and said, “The fence goes all around. It looks good to me. Time to call it quits.”He took a nap under a shady tree. And then he went home to enjoy dinner and rest some more.“Ah Chao!” Yu Qing hollered. “The fence is not finished. There’s a gap under that section!” She pointed out the window.“It’s good enough,” Ah Chao replied. “The fence is closed off. It’s just a small gap. I’m done for the day.”“The sheep arrive tomorrow!” Yu Qing cried, exasperated. “You’d better fix the fence!”The next day, 20 sheep arrived at the farm. Ah Chao herded all the sheep into the new pen. Then he enjoyed a long nap under the shady tree.Every afternoon after that, Ah Chao would herd his grazing sheep. Then he would guide them back inside the fence. He always took a nap under the shady tree afterward.One day, a neighbor, Lao Chen, woke up Ah Chao from his nap. “Hey, Ah Chao. I think you’re missing a sheep. I count only 19,” Lao Chen said.“What?” asked Ah Chao sleepily. “There’s 20. Leave me alone. I need my 40 winks more than my 20 sheep.”Ah Chao fell back asleep.Lao Chen shook his neighbor again.“Ah Chao, count your sheep,” he insisted. “I think there’s only 19. The fox may have slipped through that gap and stole one of your sheep! You should fix the fence.”Ah Chao paid Lao Chen no mind.“Oh, it’s just one sheep,” Ah Chao yawned. “Not much I can do about it now. It is gone.”A few days later, Yu Qing rushed into the house with a huff.“Ah Chao!” she shouted. “Why do we only have 18 sheep? I thought you only lost one. Now I count 18 inside the fence! You should have fixed that fence when Lao Chen told you about the fox.”“Lao Chen only guessed it was a fox,” said Ah Chao. “Anyway, there’s not much I can do about it now. The sheep are gone.”Yu Qing stormed out of the room, frustrated.The following week, Lao Chen woke Ah Chao from his nap again.“Neighbor, you’re missing another sheep. You are down to 17 now. At this rate, you will have none left in a few weeks.”“You are making badfortune by being lazy,” his neighbor added. “Stop worrying about your 40 winks! Start worrying about your 20 sheep and fix that fence!”Yu Qing was standing behind Lao Chen. She repeated his words. “Ah Chao, you are bringing us bad fortune! Stop being lazy and fix the fence already!”Ah Chao shrugged. He was lazy, but he wasn’t dumb. He could see that his laziness had indeed brought them bad fortune.So he gathered new wood and repaired the fence.Better late than never! He realized it was better to lose a little sleep than lose any more sheep.Question: What do you think Ah Chao would do if he found out he hadinherited 20 more sheep?
核心词汇
exasperated adj. 被激怒的，恼怒的shrug v. （为表示冷漠、蔑视、怀疑、厌烦等）耸（肩）以下翻译来自百度翻译：
一位名叫钱业超的农民和他的妻子余青在一个偏远的村庄的家庭农场生活和工作。耕作是一项艰苦的工作。阿超，他的妻子和邻居们都喜欢叫他，根本不喜欢工作！有一天，阿超接到消息说他从叔叔那里继承了20只羊。“多好的运气啊！”余青喊道。我们可以用20只羊赚更多的钱。但是我们没有围栏来保护绵羊不受狐狸的伤害。所以他去寻找木料来建造篱笆。他在附近发现了一堆旧木头。有些作品比其他的短。幸运的是，有足够的木材建造一个围栏。只有一个问题。在有较短部分的围栏部分，底部有一个缺口。阿超看了看自己的作品，说：“篱笆四面都是，我觉得不错，该结束了。”他在一棵树荫下小睡了一会儿。然后他回家吃晚饭，休息一会儿。“阿超！”余青喊道。“篱笆还没完工。那一段下面有个缺口！”她指着窗外。“够了，”阿超回答。“篱笆是封闭的。只是一个小缺口。我今天就完了。”“明天羊就到了！”余青恼怒地叫道。“你最好把篱笆修好！”第二天，20只羊来到了农场。阿超把所有的羊都赶到新的圈里。然后他在树荫下小睡了很长时间。此后，每天下午，阿超都会放羊。然后他会引导他们回到栅栏里。之后他总是在树荫下小睡一会儿。“嘿，阿超。我想你少了一只羊。我只数了19只。”老陈说。“什么？”阿超困倦地问。“有20只。别管我。我需要我的40只眼睛，而不是我的20只羊。”“阿超，数数你的羊，”他坚持道。“我想只有19只。狐狸可能从那个缺口溜走了，偷走了你的一只羊！你应该修好篱笆。”“哦，只有一只羊，”阿超打了个呵欠。“我现在对此无能为力。它不见了。”“阿超！”她喊道。“为什么我们只有18只羊？我以为你只丢了一只。现在我在栅栏里数了18只！当老陈告诉你狐狸的事时，你应该把栅栏修好。”阿超说：“老陈只是猜到是只狐狸。”。“不管怎么说，我现在对此无能为力。羊不见了。”“邻居，你又少了一只羊。你现在已经减到17只了。照这个速度，几周后你就一只羊也没有了。”他的邻居补充道：“你的懒惰是在制造厄运。”。“别担心你的40只眼睛！开始担心你的20只羊，修好篱笆！”“阿超，你给我们带来了厄运！别偷懒了，快把篱笆修好！”阿超耸耸肩。他很懒，但并不笨。他可以看出，他的懒惰确实给他们带来了厄运。迟到总比不做好他意识到少睡一会儿总比多丢一只羊好。
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