This Hole in the Ground 地坑

There was once a farmer who lived near a road.

 

It was not a busy road, but from time to time, cars passed the farm.

 

Near the farm gate, there was a large hole in the road.

 

This hole was always full of water, and the drivers of the cars could not see how deep the hole was. They thought it was probably shallow¹.

 

Then when they drove² into the hole, they could not drive out because it was so deep.

 

The farmer did not spend much time working on his farm. He spent most of it watching the hole.

 

When a car drove into it, he pulled the car out with his tractor³ and charged⁴ the driver a lot of money for doing this.

 

One day, the driver of a car said to him, "You must make a lot of money pulling cars out of this hole night and day."

 

"Oh, no," the farmer said, "I don't pull cars out of the hole at night. At night I fill the hole with water."

 

从前有一个农夫，他家就住在马路附近。

 

这条马路并不繁华， 偶尔才会有汽车从农场经过。

 

靠近农场大门口的马路中间有一个大坑。

 

这个坑里总是积满了水。从表面上看，汽车司机根本辨认不出坑的深浅，他们会认为是一个很浅的坑。

 

一旦车子掉进了坑里，司机们就别想再开出来，因为坑太深了。

 

农夫没有花多少心思去经营农场，大部分时间都盯着这个坑。

 

每当汽车开进坑里时，他就用拖拉机把汽车拉上来，然后向司机收取很多费用。

 

一天，一位汽车司机对他说：“你没日没夜地把汽车往外拉，肯定挣了很多钱吧。”

 

“哦，不，”农夫说，“我夜里不拉汽车，我还得往这个坑里灌水呢。”

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