英语故事:状元和乞丐

【英文原文】

摘要：有一天，上帝的使者来到了人间。他碰到了一位高僧正在为两个孩子占卜前程。高僧指着其中一个孩子说“状元”，然后又指着另一个孩子说“乞丐”。

One day one of God’s messengers descended to the world and happened to meet an eminent monk who was telling fortunes for two boys. The monk pointed at one of the boys saying “Number One Scholar”, and at another one “Beggar”.

Twenty years later, the messenger came down to the world again. When he saw the previous two boys, he was puzzled about the outcome: the original “Number One Scholar” now became a beggar while the original “Beggar” turned into a Number One Scholar instead.

So the messenger went to ask God.

God answered, “I endow everyone with talent, which only decides one third of his destiny while the rest lies in how he grasps it.”

Life is just like this.

【中文译文】

有一天，上帝的使者来到了人间。他碰到了一位高僧正在为两个孩子占卜前程。高僧指着其中一个孩子说“状元”，然后又指着另一个孩子说“乞丐”。

20年后，上帝的使者又来到了人间，看到了先前的那两个孩子，结果让他百思不得其解：当初的“状元”如今成了乞丐，而当初的“乞丐”反而成了状元。

于是，使者去问上帝。

上帝说：“我赋予每个人的天分只决定他命运的三分之一，其余的则在于他如何去把握。”

人生就是这样。