There was once a house that was overrun with mice. A cat heard of this, and said to herself, "That's the place for me," and off she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the mice one by one and ate them. At last the mice could stand it no longer, and they determined¹ to take to their holes and stay there. "That's awkward," said the cat to herself: "the only thing to do is to coax² them out by a trick." So she considered a while, and then climbed up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind³ legs from a peg⁴, and pretended to be dead. By and by a mouse peeped out and saw the cat hanging there. "Aha!" it cried, "you're very clever, madam, no doubt: but you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet you won't catch us coming anywhere near you."

 

If you are wise you won't be deceived by the innocent airs of those whom you have once found to be dangerous.

 

从前，有一座房子，里面的老鼠泛滥成灾。一只猫听到此事，便自言自语的说：“那正是我要去的地方。”于是她走到那座房子里住下了，一只接一只地抓老鼠，然后吃掉他们，最好，老鼠们再也无法忍受下去，决定躲到自己的洞里，再也不出来，“这还真不好办了，”猫自言自语道，“若想骗它们出来，只能耍个花招了。”她琢磨了一会儿，然后爬上墙，用后腿钩住木桩倒挂下来，假装已经死了。过了一会儿，一只老鼠向外窥探，看到了挂在那里的猫。“啊哈！”老鼠大叫，“夫人，你还真聪明，不过，就算你假装成一袋食粮挂在那里，你也骗不了我们去接近你。”

 

如果有足够的智慧，面对那些曾认定的危险人物所假装出来的无辜，你也不会上当受骗。

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