HERCULES AND THE WAGONER

HERCULES AND THE WAGONER 赫拉克勒斯和马车夫

One day, a very long time ago, a farmer was driving his loaded wagon along a country road. It had been raining all day and the road was deep in squelchy, sticky mud. The farmer’s poor old horses were struggling with all their might to drag the wagon along. But suddenly they came to a complete standstill when one of the wagon’s wheels sank right down deep in a muddy, squelchy rut.
很久以前的一天，一个农民开着他满载的马车沿着乡间小路行驶。雨下了一整天，路面上沾满了吱吱作响的粘稠泥泞。农夫那匹可怜的老马正竭尽全力地挣扎着拖着马车前进。但突然间，他们完全停了下来，因为马车的一个车轮深深地陷在泥泞、吱吱作响的车辙中。

The farmer jumped down from his seat and just stood there looking miserable but didn’t make any effort to push or pull the wagon out of the rut. All he did was to yell and shout and mutter about his bad luck. Then he called out loud to Hercules to come and help him. And believe it or not, the old stories tell us that Hercules actually did appear right then.
农夫从座位上跳下来，只是站在那里，看起来很痛苦，但没有做出任何努力来推动或拉出马车。他所做的只是大喊大叫，嘀咕他的运气不好。然后他大声呼唤赫拉克勒斯来帮助他。信不信由你，古老的故事告诉我们，赫拉克勒斯确实在当时出现。

They say that Hercules looked at the farmer, then he looked at the poor, tired horses and he looked at the wagon stuck in the mud and said: 
他们说赫拉克勒斯看着农夫，然后他看着可怜的、疲惫的马，他看着陷入泥泞的马车说：

“Get to the back of your wagon and push with all your strength and tell your horses to pull with all their might. Do you really think that you can move your wagon by just looking at it and whining and moaning and shouting about it? I’m just not going to help you unless you make some effort to help yourself.”
“到你的马车后面，用尽全力推动，告诉你的马用尽全力拉动。你真的认为你可以通过看着它、抱怨、呻吟和大喊大叫来移动你的马车吗？除非你努力帮助自己，否则我不会帮助你。

The farmer nodded, gritted his teeth and got around the back of the wagon. Then he pushed and pushed as hard as he could, and called to the horses to pull and pull as hard as they could. And guess what? The wagon started to move along bit-by-bit until the wheel was out of the rut. Soon the horses were trotting happily and the wagon was moving beautifully along the country road. The farmer had a big smile on his face because he had learned a very good lesson.
农夫点了点头，咬了咬牙，绕到了马车的后面。然后他用尽全力推搡，并呼唤马匹尽可能用力地拉扯。你猜怎么着？马车开始一点一点地移动，直到车轮脱离车辙。不一会儿，马匹欢快地小跑着，马车在乡间小路上优美地行驶着。农夫脸上挂着灿烂的笑容，因为他吸取了很好的教训。

And the moral of the story is if you never try you will never know what you can achieve.
这个故事的寓意是，如果你从不尝试，你永远不会知道你能取得什么成就。

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