There were once two crows who were fierce rivals.

从前，有两只乌鸦是无情的竞争对手。

 

One day, one of the crows said to the other, "You realize, of course, that I can fly much higher than you can."

有一天，其中一只对另外一只说：“你当然清楚，我飞得比你高得多。”

 

"Don't be ridiculous." the other crow said. "Everyone knows that I can fly much higher than you."

“别太荒谬了，”另外一只说，“大家都知道我比你飞得高得多。”

 

"No, you can't." the first crow said.

“不，你不行，”第一只乌鸦说道。

 

"Yes, I can." the second crow replied,fly and the argument went on and on.

“是的，我就是行，”第二只回答道。它们喋喋不休地争吵起来。

 

At last, they decided¹ to have a contest to settle the argument.

最后，它们决定进行一场比赛来解决争执。

 

"We will compete to find out who can fly the highest while carrying a sack." the first crow said.

“我们比一比，看谁能带着一袋子东西飞得更高，”，第一只乌鸦说。

 

They argued for some time over the size of the sack, but eventually came to an agreement.

它们为袋子的大小争论了一阵子，最后终于意见达成一致。

 

Then there was further argument about what each sack would contain.

接着，它们又为每个袋子里装什么东西争吵起来。

 

Finally, they agreed that the first crow would fill his sack with cotton and the second crow would fill his with salt.

最后，它们一致同意第一只乌鸦的袋子里装满棉花，第二只乌鸦的袋子里装满盐。

 

The first crow thought he was being very clever to agree to this because, of course, salt is much heavier than cotton.

第一只乌鸦心想，它真是聪明，同意这么办，因为盐当然要比棉花重得多。

 

At last, they were ready for the great contest, and holding their sacks in their beaks², they flew up into the sky.

终于，它们准备好要进行这场重大的比赛了，它们将袋子衔在嘴里，飞上了天空。

 

They had not been flying for long, however, when it began to rain -- as the second crow had expected it would.

可是，没飞多久，天就开始下起雨来——果然不出第二只乌鸦所料。

 

As the cotton got wetter and wetter, it became heavier and heavier.

棉花越来越湿，变得越来越沉。

 

However, the salt just dissolved in the rain, so the second crow was easily able to fly higher than the first.

然而，盐融化在雨水里，因此，第二只乌鸦轻而易举地就比第一只乌鸦飞得高。

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