Once there lived a rich businessman and a poor shoemaker in the same house. The busi■nessman lived the second floor， but the shoemaker lived and worked in a small room on the first floor.

從前，有一位富商和一個(gè)窮鞋匠住在同一棟房子里。商人住在二樓，而鞋匠只在一樓的一間小屋子里生活和工作。

The shoemaker was one of the happiest persons on earth. He worked from morning till night， singing happily.

鞋匠是世界上最快樂的人之一。他從早忙到晚，快樂地唱歌。

Now the businessman upstairs was so rich that he hardly knew how much wealth he had. He was always counting over his gold and silver coins far into the night. Even in bed worring about his riches kept him awake when at last he had been asleep for an hour or two， up came the song of the happy shoemaker， who got up early.

如今，樓上的商人很富有，富到連他都不清楚自己到底擁有多少財(cái)富。他經(jīng)常數(shù)他的金子和銀幣到深夜。即使躺在床上，他的這些財(cái)富仍讓他感到不安。直到早上被早起的鞋匠的歌聲吵醒，最終他只睡了一兩個(gè)小時(shí)。

It continued all day and was a trouble to the businessman day by day. He asked a wise friend of his how he could put an end to the shoemakers song.

這種狀態(tài)持續(xù)一整天，這個(gè)問題也一天比一天令商人苦惱。他向一個(gè)聰明的朋友尋求幫助，詢問怎么樣才可以讓小鞋匠不再唱歌。

“Well， if I were you， I would give the shoemaker a hundred pounds，” answered his friend， “You are rich enough to do that， I suppose. Ask for nothing in return. Simply give the money.” So the businessman readily followed the advice.

“好吧，如果我是你，我會(huì)給鞋匠一百英磅?！彼呐笥鸦卮穑拔蚁嘈拍愕腻X足夠這么做了。只給錢，不要去要求任何回報(bào)?！庇谑牵倘苏罩笥训脑捜プ隽?。

When the shoemaker opened the bag that had been sent by the merchant， he was surprised to find shining1 coins. “I must hide this from the eyes of my neighbors. If they see it， they will think that I have stolen it.” he thought. So he hid the bag of money under the floor. From then on he avoided his neighbors as much as he could.

當(dāng)這位鞋匠打開商人送來的包時(shí)，他吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)了里面那些閃閃發(fā)亮的硬幣?！拔冶仨毎彦X藏起來，不能讓鄰居們看到。如果被看到，他們一定會(huì)以為是我偷來的?！彼?。于是，他把裝著錢的包藏到了地板之下。從那時(shí)候起，他總是盡量躲著鄰居。

His mind was too much set on the money bag to attend to his work hard. He could not sing happily now. One day his wife said to him in tears， “Dear husband， what makes you so sad and uneasy？ All our neighbors say you have changed. I wish you were as good and gentle as before.” He was so sorry for her that he told her everything.

鞋匠滿腦子都是那些錢，以至于他都沒辦法努力工作了。他再也不能快樂地唱歌了。一天，他的妻子哭著對他說：“親愛的丈夫，發(fā)生了什么事讓你這么傷心和不安呢？所有的鄰居都說你變了。我多希望你能和以前一樣快樂、平和?！甭牭剿@樣說，鞋匠覺得很對不起妻子，于是把一切都告訴了妻子。

“We were happy before the businessman gave us the money，” said his wife， when she heard the story， “We have good health. We have plenty of work to do. What more do we need？ Send the money back to the businessman， and the happy life that was once ours will return to us.”

“商人給我們錢之前我們都很幸福?！逼拮勇犕暾麄€(gè)故事后對鞋匠說：“我們有健康，有充實(shí)的工作，這樣不就夠了嗎？把這些錢還給商人，我們就能過和從前一樣幸福的生活了?！?/p>

The shoemaker agreed and went to the businessman to return the bag of money. Happy song was again heard all over the house. He was as happy as he had ever been.

鞋匠同意了妻子的話，并且把錢還給了商人?？鞓返母杪曉俅雾懫?。鞋匠又和從前一樣快樂了。