哥哥和妹妹

The Brother and the Sister

A father had one son and one daughter—the former was remarkable for his good looks, the latter for her extraordinary ugliness. While they were playing one day as children, they happened by chance to look together into a mirror that was placed on their mother’s chair. The boy congratulated himself on his good looks; the girl grew angry, and could not bear the self-praises of her brother, interpreting all he said into reflection on herself. She ran off to her father to be avenged on her brother, and spitefully accused him of having, as a boy, made use of that which belonged only to girls.

 The father embraced them both, and bestowing his kisses and affection impartially on each, said, “I wish you both would look into the mirror every day: you, my son, that you may not spoil your beauty by evil conduct; and you, my daughter, that you may make up for your lack of beauty by your virtues.”

【日積月累】

remarkable adj. 不平常的，非凡的，值得注意的，顯著的

accuse vt. 控告，譴責，非難

spitefully adv.充滿惡意地，懷恨在心地

embrace vt. 擁抱

bestow vt. 把…給予，把……賦予

impartially adv. 公平地，無私地

【參考譯文】

哥哥和妹妹

一位父親有一個兒子和一個女兒，兒子因容貌俊俏而引人注意，而女兒引人注意則是因為長得十分難看。小時候，他們有一天在一起玩耍的時候，他們有機會在放在媽媽椅子上的鏡子里看到了彼此的長相。男孩夸贊自己有一張好面孔；女孩非常生氣，她無法忍受哥哥的自我表揚，覺得他說的所有的話都在影射自己。她跑向他的爸爸去報復哥哥，指責他作為一個男孩子，使用了只屬于女孩子用的東西。

這位父親擁著他們兩個，公平地給每個孩子親吻和慈愛，說道：“我希望你們兩個每天都照鏡子：你，我的兒子，不可以用不良的行為來損壞你的帥氣；而你，我的女兒，你可以用你的美德來彌補美貌的不足。”

【人生啟迪】

鏡子不但能看到人的容貌，有時候也能真實地反映出人們的內心所想，所以面對鏡子的時候，我們要懷著誠實、謙虛地心態，不要因為自己容貌的美丑而得意或是沮喪，要記住：心靈美才是最重要的，美德可以彌補容貌的不足。