The king's seed
國王的種子
There is a story of a young man named Owen, who lived in a far-away country, and a king, who was getting old and needed to find a successor, The king had thought of a way to find a successor who would have courage and be honest.
這個故事講述的是一個叫歐文的年輕人。他住在一個偏遠(yuǎn)的國家里，這個國家的國王年事已高，因此需要尋找一位繼承人。國王已經(jīng)想出了一個用來挑選既有勇氣有誠實(shí)的接班人。
The king sent a small seed to all of the young men in the country. This seed was to be planted and nourished to the best of each young man’s ability.
國王給這個國家的每個年輕人都發(fā)了一粒小種子。要求這些年輕人盡自己最大的努力去種植和培養(yǎng)它。
When Owen received his seed he bought a very beautiful flower pot and planted his seed. He watered it and watched it every day, but nothing happened.
歐文收到種子之后，他買了一個漂亮的花盆并將種子種下。他每天都給種子澆水并觀察它，但是種子并沒有發(fā)生任何變化。
He moved his plant to another area with more sun, thinking that it needed more light. He watched it and watered it, but still nothing happened!
他將種子移到另一個陽光更充足的地方，因?yàn)樗X得種子可能需要更多的陽光。他觀察種子，給它澆水，但種子依舊沒有任何變化。
Then he went to his father and asked him what to do. His father suggested putting it into another pot. Still nothing happened! He was very disappointed.
于是他找到父親，并問他該怎么做，父親建議他把種子移到另一個花盆里，但還是沒有任何變化!他非常失望。
Then the day finally arrived when all of the young men were to present their plants to the king. Owen was very sad, because everyone there had beautiful plants. Owen sat in the back with his empty pot so that he would not be noticed.
這一天終于還是來了，所有的年輕人都將他們的植物呈獻(xiàn)給國王看。歐文非常失落，因?yàn)槟抢锏拿總�人都捧著一株漂亮的植物。歐文捧著他的空花盆坐在后面，這樣別人就不會注意到他。
The king started to look at all of the plants. Then, at once he saw Owen’s empty pot and the king announced that Owen would be the next king because of his honesty. The king also expressed his disappointment that there were so many dishonest men. Then he explained that he had boiled all of the seeds before sending them out so that none of the seeds would grow.
國王開始查看所有的植物，接著他很快就看到了歐文的空花盆，因?yàn)闅W文的城市，國王便宣布?xì)W文將成文下一任的國王。國王也表達(dá)了他的失望之情，因?yàn)橛刑嗖徽\實(shí)的人。然后他解釋說所有的種子在分發(fā)之前都已經(jīng)被煮過，因此沒有一粒種子能夠發(fā)芽。
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