少兒英文故事之TheFreeLifePond

1、The Free Life PondThe peaks of Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang are green and black. They stand like an ornamental screen. People come from far away to enjoy the scenery here.浙江天臺(tái)山的山峰是青黛色的，猶如豎起的畫屏。遠(yuǎn)客紛沓而至，觀其美景。For thousands of years， there have been many temples in these beautiful mountains. The head of

2、a big temple there was called Zhihyi. He lived from about 539 to 597 AD. Because he was so wise， the Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty gave him the title The Wise Master， and this is how he is known even today.幾千年來，這些秀麗的山峰上都建有許多的寺廟。有一個(gè)大廟的主持名叫智顗，約生活在公元539597年間。因?yàn)樗闹腔郏?隋煬帝賜封他為智者大師，這個(gè)名字至今仍為人們所知。At the ti

3、me， The Wise Master felt that people were too cruel， especially when they wanted something to eat. They would kill almost anything that moved and eat it.當(dāng)時(shí)，智者大師覺得當(dāng)時(shí)的人們過于殘忍，尤其是滿足口腹之欲時(shí)。他們可以殺掉任何活物，然后吃掉。He decided something had to be done. But how？ Monks dont have any money. So The Wise Master became a

4、beggar for several years until he finally got enough money to get some land and hire some workers to build him a pond.他覺得必須做點(diǎn)什么 .但怎么做呢？僧侶們又沒有錢。所以智者大師開始化緣，幾年后他終于攢了足夠的錢。他拿這筆錢買了一塊地，并雇了一些人來幫他建一個(gè)池子。When people saw that， they laughed and said The Wise Master is pretty dumb！人們看到后，紛紛嘲笑智者大師其實(shí)是個(gè)傻瓜！Because he

5、was so wise， The Wise Master didnt care how much they laughed at him. He kept up work on his pond.大師是智者，所以他一點(diǎn)也不在乎別人的嘲笑，繼續(xù)建造他的池塘。When the workers had spare time， he told them about Buddhism. He said，The sutras （the holy books of Buddhism） say， All living creatures have Buddha nature. You may not thin

6、k much of a fish or a crab， but they too can become Buddhas.工人們休息時(shí)，大師就向他們宣講佛教。他說：佛經(jīng)上說一切眾生皆有佛性。你也許會(huì)對一條魚或者一只螃蟹不以為然，但是它們也能成佛。Wild animals all have Buddha natures， too. If somebody gets killed by a wild animal， we think its tragic. We feel sorry for that person. Hasnt it ever occurred to you that when y

7、ou kill a fish， the other fish think its tragic， and feel sorry for the dead fish？野生動(dòng)物也同樣有佛性。如果一個(gè)人被野獸所殺，我們覺得很悲慘，我們會(huì)為那個(gè)人覺得難過。您們有沒有想過，當(dāng)你們殺了一條魚，其他的魚也認(rèn)為這很悲慘，同樣也會(huì)為這條魚感到難過嗎？The Wise Master explained that he was making a pond so anybody who had a fish or crab could have a place to release it and let it liv

8、e out its life in peace.He called his pond the Free Life Pond.智者大師解釋說他之所以要挖一個(gè)池塘，就是為了讓人們有地方放生魚蟹，而魚蟹也可以安居樂命。他把他的池塘起名為放生池。The workmen were moved， and the people who had laughed at him felt sorry for being so mean. They became Buddhists， and stopped killing animals to eat their meat.工人們都被感動(dòng)了，那些曾經(jīng)嘲笑智者大師的人也為自己的自私感到羞愧。他們?nèi)拣б懒朔鸾蹋⑶以僖膊粴⑸匀饬?。Other temples copied his idea. If you have a chance to visit a Chinese Buddhist temple， you can probably see their Free Life Pond， full of happy fish and crabs and t