英文美文:隱藏的金子
The hidden gold
隱藏的金子
There was once a farmer who had a fine olive（橄欖樹） orchard（果園） . He was very hardworking, and the farm always prospered under his care. But he knew that his three sons despised（輕視，看不起） the farm work, and were eager to make wealth, trough adventure.
從前有一個農民，他有一座漂亮的橄欖園。他非常勤勞，而且農場在他的照管下蒸蒸日上。可他知道自己的三個兒子瞧不起農活，都迫不及待的想通過冒險發家致富。
When the farmer was old, and felt that his time had come to die, he called the three sons to him and said, "My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."
這個農民上了年歲，感到死期快要來臨時，將三個兒子叫到身邊說：“兒子們，橄欖園裏藏有一罐金子。你們想要，就去挖吧。”
The sons tried to get him to tell them in what part of the orchard the gold was hidden; but he would tell them nothing more.
兒子們想讓父親告訴他們金子藏在果園的那一塊地方，可他什麼也沒再給他們說。
After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold; since they did not know where the hiding-place was, they agreed to begin in a line, at one end of the orchard, and to dig until one of them should find the money. They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, round the tree-roots and between them. But no pot of gold was to be found. It seemed as if someone must have stolen it, or as if the farmer had been wandering（漫遊，閒逛） in his wits. The three sons were bitterly disappointed to have all their work for nothing.
那個農民死後，三個兒子就開始挖地，想找到那罐金子；因爲他們不知道金子藏在什麼地方，所以他們一致同意排成一行從果園的一頭開始挖起，知道其中一人挖到金子爲止.
The next olive season, the olive trees in the orchard bore more fruit than they had ever given; when it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of gold.
到了第二年的橄欖季節，果園裏的橄欖樹接出的果子比以往的都多；賣完果子後，三個兒子賺了整整一罐金子。
And when they saw how much money had come from the orchard, they suddenly understood what the wise father had meant when he said, "There is gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it.
他們從果園裏得到這麼多錢後，突然明白了聰明的父親所說的“果園裏藏有金子，想要就去挖吧”這句話的含義.
