[优质文档]华盛顿砍樱桃树的故事

[优质文档]华盛顿砍樱桃树的故事 华盛顿砍樱桃树的故事 When George was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet of which, like most little boys, he was extremely fond. He went about chopping everything that came his way. One day, as he wandered about the garden amusing himself by hacking his mother's pea sticks, he found a beautiful, young English cherry tree, of which his father was most proud. He tried the edge of his hatchet on the trunk of the tree and barked it so that it died. Some time after this, his father discovered what had happened to his favorite tree. He came into the house in great anger, and demanded to know who the mischievous person was who had cut away the bark. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Just then George, with his little hatchet, came into the room. "George,'' said his father, "do you know who has killed my beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden? I would not have taken five guineas for it!'' This was a hard question to answer, and for a moment George was staggered by it, but quickly recovering himself he cried: "I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie! I did cut it with my little hatchet.'' The anger died out of his father's face, and taking the boy tenderly in his arms, he said: "My son, that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees! Yes - though they were blossomed with silver and had leaves of the purest gold!'' (下面不是上面的翻译.不过也是一样的故事.不同描述方法.) 华盛顿的父亲非常喜爱花草树木，他亲手在自家的花园里栽了几棵樱桃树，每天浇水、 松土，视如珍宝。一天，父亲出去了，小华盛顿望着枝叶茂盛的樱桃树，脑子里闪出一个大 问号:这几棵樱桃树为什么长得这么好,他皱着眉头来回打量，突然自语道:“这树干里面 说不定有什么宝贝呢,弄开来看看。” 于是，他提了一把斧头，“喀嚓”一声把树给砍断了，但是里面什么“宝贝”也没有。小华盛顿心想，这下可糟了，“宝贝”没找到，树也砍坏了，父亲回来后一定会找我的，他感到害怕起来。 父亲回来了，像往常一样，先去看他的樱桃树。听着父亲的脚步声，华盛顿紧张的冒出一身冷汗。果然，大祸临头，父亲拣起被砍断的樱桃树怒吼道:“这是谁干的,谁干的,真是太坏了，我要扭断他的胳膊～”听到父亲的吼声，全家人赶紧示不是自己砍的。 小华盛顿心想，明明是自己砍的，何必连累别人呢, 他咬了一下嘴唇，毅然地走到父亲面前承认是自己砍的。父亲正要打他，华盛顿睁大眼睛望着父亲说:“爸爸，我告诉你的是事实，绝没有假话～” 听着儿子的申诉，父亲的怒容消失了，他和蔼亲切地拉过华盛顿说:“孩子，你不要害怕，我不会打你的。因为，你这种勇于承认错误的态度，比爸爸心爱的樱桃树要珍贵千万倍～”