One fine day in winter some ants were busy drying their store of corn, which had got rather damp during a long spell of rain. Presently¹ up came a grasshopper² and begged them to spare her a few grains, "For," she said, "I'm simply starving." The ants stopped work for a moment, though this was against their principles. "May we ask," said they, "what you were doing with yourself all last summer? Why didn't you collect a store of food for the winter?" "The fact is," replied the grasshopper, "I was so busy singing that I hadn't the time." "If you spent the summer singing," replied the ants, "you can't do better than spend the winter dancing." And they chuckled³ and went on with their work.

 

冬天一个温暖如春的日子里，蚂蚁们正忙着晒干自己存储的粮食。由于下来很长时间的雨，粮食已经非常潮湿了。这时，来了一只蚂蚱，向他们乞讨一点粮食。“因为，”蚂蚱说，“我实在是饿坏了。”尽管有点违背原则，但蚂蚁们还是停下了手头的工作。“我们能问一下吗？”他们说，“整个夏天你都在做些什么呢？为什么不为冬天储存一些粮食呢？”“实际上，”蚂蚱回答道，“我一直在忙着唱歌，根本没有时间存储粮食。”“如果你整个夏天都在唱歌，”蚂蚁们回答道，“那么，你最好在冬天就忙着跳舞吧。”他们哈哈大笑起来，继续忙于各自的工作。

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