Little White Lamb
原文
Lesson 16
Mary had a little lamb
Was Dimitri right to apologize to his neighbour? Why not?
Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece.
One of Mary's prize possessions was a little white lamb which her husband had given her.
She kept it tied to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every evening.
One evening, however the lamb was missing.
The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.
When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened.
Dimitri at once set out to find the thief.
He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small village.
After telling several of his friends about the theft,
Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb.
Dimitri immediately went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him of stealing the lamb.
He told him he had better return it or he would call the police.
Aleko denied taking it and led Dimitri into his backyard.
It was true that he had just bought a lamb he explained, but his lamb was black.
Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to Aleko for having accused him.
While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko's house until the rain stopped.
When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find that the little black lamb was almost white.
Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain!
译文
第16课
玛丽有一只小羊羔。
迪米特里向邻居道歉，这样做对吗？为什么不对？
玛丽和她的丈夫迪米特里住在希腊南部的一个小村庄——佩拉霍拉（Perachora）。
玛丽最珍视的物品之一是一只白色的小羊羔，这是她丈夫送给她的。
她白天把它拴在田野里的一棵树上，每晚都会去把它取回来。
然而，有一天晚上，那只小羊不见了。
绳子已经被剪断了，因此很明显这只小羊是被偷走了。
当迪米特里从田里回来时，他的妻子告诉了他发生的事情。
迪米特里立刻着手寻找小偷。
他知道在这么小的村庄里，要找到小偷应该不难。
在向他的几个朋友讲述了这起盗窃事件之后，
迪米特里发现他的邻居阿莱科突然养了一只小羊。
迪米特里立刻去了阿莱科的家，愤怒地指责他偷了小羊。
他告诉阿莱科最好把羊还回来，否则他就报警。
阿莱科否认拿了羊，并带着迪米特里去了他的后院。
他解释说，他确实刚买了一只小羊，不过那只小羊是黑色的。
迪米特里为自己如此鲁莽的行为感到羞愧，便向阿莱科道歉，为自己冤枉了他。
他们正在谈话的时候，天开始下雨了。迪米特里便待在阿莱科的家里，直到雨停。
半小时后，当他走到外面时，惊讶地发现那只小黑羊几乎变成了白色。
那块原本被染成黑色的羊毛，被雨水冲洗得干干净净了！