Seeing how a bee was busying itself about a flower, an eagle said to it, with disdain¹: "How I pity thee, poor thing, with all thy toil²（辛苦） and skill! All through the summer, thousands of thy fellows are moulding honeycomb in the hive. But who will afterwards separate and distinguish the results of thy labour? I must confess, I do not understand what pleasure thou can take in it. To labour all one's life,  and to have what in view? Why, to die without having achieved distinction, exactly like all the rest. What a difference there is between us! When I spread my sounding pinions³, and am borne along near the clouds, I am everywhere a cause of alarm. The birds do not dare to rise from the ground, the shepherds fear to repose⁴ beside their wellfed flocks, and the swift does, having seen me, will not venture out into the plain."

 

But the bee replies: "To thee be glory and honour! May Jupiter continue to pour on thee his bounteous⁵（丰富的） gifts! I, however, born to work for the common good, do not seek to make my labour distinguished⁶. But, when I look at our honeycombs, I am consoled by the thought that there are in them a few drops of my own honey."

 

Fortunate is he, the field of whose labour is conspicuous⁷! He gains added strength from the knowledge that the whole world witnesses his exploits. But how deserving of respect is he who, in humble⁸ obscurity, hopes for neither fame nor honour in return for all his labour, for all his loss of rest -- who is animated⁹ by this thought only, that he works for the common good!

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