【外语特色】用英语传播中国故事——《对牛弹琴》

Gongming Yi was a musician. He was good at playing the guqin, a Chinese instrument.

公明仪是一位音乐家，他擅长弹古琴。

On a sunny day, he went out for a walk. He saw a cow eating grass.

一天，天气晴朗，阳光明媚，他到外面散步。他看见一头牛在外面吃草。

Gongming Yi was in a good mood, so he played the guqin in front of the cow.

他突然有了兴致，在牛的面前弹起古琴来。

The music was very beautiful, but the cow didn’t show any interest.

It was only eating grass. Gongming Yi thought：“Why didn’t the cow listen to the music? Didn’t I play it well?”

    这首乐曲非常动听，但是牛并没有表现出感兴趣的样子。只是不停的低头吃草。公明仪疑惑地想：为什么牛不听曲子呢？难道是我弹的不好吗？

He played new music for the cow. The music was like the sound of a calf.

于是他换了一首曲子来弹。新的曲子听上去像小牛的叫声。

This time, the cow stopped eating grass, and listened to the music. Gongming Yi thought: “It wasn’t because I didn’t play well.” Gongming Yi said: “The cow doesn’t know the music played by a man. It only knows the sound of its own.”

这次牛停止了吃草，专注地听着这首曲子。公明仪恍然大悟：并不是我弹的不好，而是牛根本无法理解人类的曲子。他只能听懂自己同类的声音。

There is no need to preach reason to those who do not speak reason.

    这个故事告诉我们，没有必要对不讲道理的人讲道理。