A snake, having made his hole close to the door of a cottage, inflicted1 a sever2 bite on the cottager's little son. So the child died.
This caused much sorrow to his parents. The father decided3 to kill the snake. The next day, on its coming out of its hole for food, he took up his ax, but, making too much haste to hit the snake, missed its head, and cut off only the end of its tail.
After some time the cottager, lest the snake should also bite him, tried to make peace, and placed some bread and salt beside its hole, the snake, slightly hissing4, said, "From now on there can be no peace between us; for whenever I see you I shall remember the loss of my tail, and whenever you see me you will be thinking of the death of your son."
No one truly forgets injuries in the presence of him who caused the injury.
有條蛇在一家農(nóng)舍的門邊打了個洞，并把主人的小孩咬了一口，孩子就一命嗚呼。
這對夫婦痛不欲生。孩子的父親決意弄死那條蛇。第二天，當蛇出洞覓食之時，他舉起斧頭就砍那條蛇?？上僦^急，沒砍中蛇頭，只砍斷了尾巴。
過了一陣子，屋主很害怕那條蛇會以牙還牙，就想同蛇講和，于是就將一些面包和鹽放在洞口。那條蛇發(fā)出絲絲的聲音作出回答：“從今以后，在我們之間不會有和平。因為我一看到你，就會想自己被砍掉的尾巴；同樣當你見到我時， 你會想起你死去的兒子?！?
面對傷害過自己的人，我們難以真正忘記有過的創(chuàng)痛。
1 inflicted
把…強加給，使承受，遭受( inflict的過去式和過去分詞 )
參考例句：
They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他們使主隊吃了一場很沒面子的敗仗。 Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓婭英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。
2 sever
v.切開，割開；斷絕，中斷
參考例句：
She wanted to sever all her connections with the firm.她想斷絕和那家公司的所有聯(lián)系。 We must never sever the cultural vein of our nation.我們不能割斷民族的文化血脈。
3 decided
adj.決定了的，堅決的；明顯的，明確的
參考例句：
This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.這使他們比對手具有明顯的優(yōu)勢。 There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英國人和中國人打招呼的方式有很明顯的區(qū)別。
4 hissing
n. 發(fā)嘶嘶聲, 蔑視動詞hiss的現(xiàn)在分詞形式
參考例句：
The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大聲地嘶嘶冒了出來。 His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里還聽得薩薩薩的聲音和屑索屑索的怪聲。 來自漢英文學 - 春蠶
學網(wǎng)站豎圖.jpg )
