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!”

?【南京大學(xué)、南京師范大學(xué)、蘇州大學(xué)考研專業(yè)課資料，點擊關(guān)注】

“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.

The EndQuestion: What do you think Ah Chao would do if he found out he hadinherited 20 more sheep?

核心詞匯

remote adj. 遙遠(yuǎn)的

till v. 耕、犁

inherit v. 繼承

fortune n. 財富

dumb adj. 愚蠢的，愚鈍的

pen n. 圍欄

section n. 部分，塊，片

quit v. 離開，停止工作

nap n. & v. 小睡，打盹

holler v. 叫嚷，訴苦，抱怨

exasperated adj. 被激怒的，惱怒的

herd v. 放牧，帶領(lǐng)并照看

wink n. 眨眼，（星光的）閃爍

graze v. （牛、羊等）啃食牧草

slip v. 溜，悄悄地走

yawn v. 打哈欠

huff n. 氣惱，憤怒

frustrated adj. 沮喪的

shrug v. （為表示冷漠、蔑視、懷疑、厭煩等）聳（肩）

以下翻譯來自百度翻譯：

一位名叫錢業(yè)超的農(nóng)民和他的妻子余青在一個偏遠(yuǎn)的村莊的家庭農(nóng)場生活和工作。耕作是一項艱苦的工作。阿超，他的妻子和鄰居們都喜歡叫他，根本不喜歡工作！余青每天都要提醒丈夫去上班?！鞍⒊u要喂了！”“阿超，這塊地需要耕種！”有一天，阿超接到消息說他從叔叔那里繼承了20只羊?！岸嗪玫倪\氣啊！”余青喊道。我們可以用20只羊賺更多的錢。但是我們沒有圍欄來保護綿羊不受狐貍的傷害。阿超，你最好造一個！”阿超很懶，但他并不笨。他知道余慶是對的。所以他去尋找木料來建造籬笆。他在附近發(fā)現(xiàn)了一堆舊木頭。有些作品比其他的短。幸運的是，有足夠的木材建造一個圍欄。只有一個問題。在有較短部分的圍欄部分，底部有一個缺口。阿超看了看自己的作品，說：“籬笆四面都是，我覺得不錯，該結(jié)束了。”他在一棵樹蔭下小睡了一會兒。然后他回家吃晚飯，休息一會兒?！鞍⒊?！”余青喊道。“籬笆還沒完工。那一段下面有個缺口！”她指著窗外。“夠了，”阿超回答?！盎h笆是封閉的。只是一個小缺口。我今天就完了?！薄懊魈煅蚓偷搅耍　庇嗲鄲琅亟械??！澳阕詈冒鸦h笆修好！”第二天，20只羊來到了農(nóng)場。阿超把所有的羊都趕到新的圈里。然后他在樹蔭下小睡了很長時間。此后，每天下午，阿超都會放羊。然后他會引導(dǎo)他們回到柵欄里。之后他總是在樹蔭下小睡一會兒。一天，鄰居老陳從午睡中醒來?！昂?，阿超。我想你少了一只羊。我只數(shù)了19只。”老陳說?！笆裁?？”阿超困倦地問。“有20只。別管我。我需要我的40只眼睛，而不是我的20只羊?！卑⒊炙恕＠详愑謸u了搖他的鄰居?！鞍⒊?，數(shù)數(shù)你的羊，”他堅持道?！拔蚁胫挥?9只。狐貍可能從那個缺口溜走了，偷走了你的一只羊！你應(yīng)該修好籬笆?！卑⒊瑢详惡敛辉谝??！芭?，只有一只羊，”阿超打了個呵欠。“我現(xiàn)在對此無能為力。它不見了。”幾天后，余青怒氣沖沖地沖進房子?！鞍⒊?！”她喊道?！盀槭裁次覀冎挥?8只羊？我以為你只丟了一只?，F(xiàn)在我在柵欄里數(shù)了18只！當(dāng)老陳告訴你狐貍的事時，你應(yīng)該把柵欄修好?！卑⒊f：“老陳只是猜到是只狐貍?！??！安还茉趺凑f，我現(xiàn)在對此無能為力。羊不見了?！庇嗲嗑趩实貨_出房間。第二周，老陳又把阿超從午睡中叫醒?！班従樱阌稚倭艘恢谎颉Ｄ悻F(xiàn)在已經(jīng)減到17只了。照這個速度，幾周后你就一只羊也沒有了?！彼泥従友a充道：“你的懶惰是在制造厄運?！?。“別擔(dān)心你的40只眼睛！開始擔(dān)心你的20只羊，修好籬笆！”余青站在老陳后面。她重復(fù)了他的話。“阿超，你給我們帶來了厄運！別偷懶了，快把籬笆修好！”阿超聳聳肩。他很懶，但并不笨。他可以看出，他的懶惰確實給他們帶來了厄運。因此，他收集了新的木材并修理了柵欄。遲到總比不做好他意識到少睡一會兒總比多丟一只羊好。