邀請

Invitation

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said, “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?” they asked, “No,” she said. “he’s out.” “Then we cannot come in,” they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. “Go and tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a house together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know.

One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!!” he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come in and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!”

“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman went out and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.”

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?”

The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, Wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”

【助讀詞匯】

◇heed vt. 注意或聽從（勸告等）

【參考譯文】

邀請

一個女人走出家門看到三個長著白色長胡須的老人坐在她家的前院里，她并不認識他們。她說：“我想我不認識你們，但是你們肯定餓了。請進來吃點東西吧。”

“你們家的男主人在家嗎？”他們問道。“不在，”她說，“他出去了。”“那我們不能進去。”他們回答道。

傍晚，當她丈夫回到家，她告訴了他自己遇到的事。“去告訴他們我回來了，你請他們進來！”女人就出去請他們進屋來。“我們不同時進一棟房子，”他們回答道。“為什么？”女人想知道。

一個老人解釋說：“他名叫財富，”他指著他的一個朋友說，然后他又指著另一個說，“他是成功，而我是愛。”然后他補充說，“現在進去跟你丈夫討論下想讓我們中間誰進屋。”

女人進屋去告訴了她丈夫老人的話，她丈夫非常高興。“多好啊！！”他說，“既然是這樣，讓我們邀請財富吧，讓他進來把我們家里裝滿財富！”

他妻子不同意：“親愛的，我們為什么不邀請成功呢？”他們的兒媳在房子的另一頭聽著他們的談話，她跳出來提出了自己的建議：“邀請愛不是更好嗎？這樣我們家就充滿愛了！”

“讓我們聽兒媳的建議吧，”丈夫對他妻子說。“出去請愛做我們的客人。”

女人出去問三個老人：“你們誰是愛啊？請進來做我們的客人。”

愛站起來開始朝房子走去，另外兩個人也站起來跟著他走。女人感到很意外，她問財富和成功：“我只邀請了愛，為什么你們也進來呢？”

老人們齊聲回答道：“如果你邀請的是財富和成功，我們中間的另兩個人就會待在外面，但是既然你邀請了愛，不管他去哪里，我們都會跟他一起去。不論哪里，只要有愛，那里就會有財富和成功！”

【人生啟迪】

雖然說成功和財富對每個人都很重要，但去不是最重要的。多少次，當人們為了要成功，要追求財富，不擇手段，到最后發現自己窮得只剩下錢了，孤身一人，特別凄涼。所以，讓我們把愛放在心上，不要為了別的東西放棄愛！