有哲理的英文小故事——兔子、狐狸与狼

One sunny day a rabbit came out of her hole in the ground to enjoy the fine weather. The day was so nice that she became careless and a fox snuck up behind her and caught her.

"I am going to eat you for lunch!" said the fox.

"Wait!" replied the rabbit.

"Oh yeah? Why should I wait?"

"Well, I am just finishing my thesis on 'The Superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'"

"Are you crazy? I should eat you right now! Everybody knows that a fox will always win over a rabbit."

"Not according to my research. If you like, you can come into my hole and read it for yourself."

"You really are crazy!" But since the fox was curious, he went with the rabbit. The fox never came out.

A few days later the rabbit was again taking a break from writing and sure enough, a wolf came out of the bushes and was ready to set upon her.

"Wait!" yelled the rabbit, "you can't eat me right now."

"And why might that be?"

"I am almost finished writing my thesis on 'The Superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'

" The wolf laughed: "Maybe I shouldn't eat you; you really are sick ... in the head."

"Come and read it for yourself; you can eat me afterward if you disagree with my conclusions."

So the wolf went down into the rabbit's hole and never came out.

The rabbit finished her thesis and was out celebrating in the local lettuce patch. Another rabbit came along and asked, "What's up? You seem very happy."

"Yup, I just finished my thesis."

"Congratulations. What's it about?"

"'The Superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'"

"Are you sure? That doesn't sound right."

"Oh yes. Come and read it for yourself."

So together they went down into the rabbit's hole. As they entered, the friend saw the typical graduate abode, albeit a rather messy one after writing a thesis. And to the right there was a pile of fox bones, on the left a pile of wolf bones. And in the middle was a large, well-fed lion, who was the rabbit's advisor.

The moral of the story is: the title of your thesis doesn't matter; all that matters is who your advisor is.

改编版中文译著：

在一个充满阳光的午后，一只兔子从她的洞里出来享受大好天气。

天气好得让她失去警觉，一只狐狸尾随其后，抓住了她。

“我要把你当午餐吃掉！”狐狸说。

“慢着！”兔子答道。“你应该至少等个几天。”

“喔？是吗？为什么我要等？”

“嗯，我正在完成我的博士论文。”

“哈，那是个很蠢的理由。你的论文题目是什么？”

“我正在写《兔子比狐狸的优越性》。”

“你疯了吗？我应该现在就把你吃了！大家都知道狐狸总是比免子强的。”

“根据我的研究，并不尽然。如果你想的话，你可以来我洞里，自己读它。如果你不能被说服，你可以把我当午餐吃了。”

“你真的疯了！”但狐狸很好奇，而且读读论文也不会损失什么，就跟兔子进去了。狐狸再也没有出来。

几天以后兔子又出来休息。一只狼从树丛中出来并准备吃她。

“慢着！”兔子叫道。“你现在不能吃我。”

“为什么呢？我毛绒绒的开胃菜。”

“我的论文《兔子比狐狸与狼的优越性》几乎要完成了。”

狼笑得太厉害，以致于松开抓住兔子的手。

“也许我不应该吃你。你的脑子真的有病，你可能有某种传染病。”

“你可以自己来读它。如果你不同意我的结论，你可以把我吃掉。”

于是狼跟兔子进洞里去，再也没有出来。

又过了些日子，兔子写累了出窝晒太阳。

这时候一只老虎跑过来抓住了它。这个庞然大物幸灾乐祸地看着兔子说：“我准备先吃了你，然后边日光浴边听你的骨头讲《兔子比狐狸与狼与老虎的优越性》”。

“且慢”，兔子很镇静地说，“显然你具有推理的头脑，而事实上这正是我下一步的构思。通过我对狐狸和狼的研究表明，他们其实不配和兔子做比较。我已经将新论文的理论部分完成了。所以如果可以的话，我对你作一个interview, 以补充实证方面的不足。