Jack Sells the Cow
杰克卖掉牛

ONCE upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a little cottage with her only son Jack.
从前有个贫穷的寡妇和她唯一的儿子杰克住在一间小屋里。

Jack was a giddy, thoughtless boy, but very kind-hearted and affectionate. —
杰克是个轻浮、冲动的孩子，但非常善良和热心。 —

There had been a hard winter, and after it the poor woman had suffered from fever and ague. —
经历了一个严冬后，这位可怜的女人患上了疟疾和寒热。 —

Jack did no work as yet, and by degrees they grew dreadfully poor. —
杰克还没有开始工作，于是他们变得非常穷困。 —

The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation but by selling her cow; —
寡妇看到唯一能让杰克和她免于饥饿的方法就是出售她的牛； —

so one morning she said to her son, ‘I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for me, and sell her.’
所以一天早上她对儿子说：“我太虚弱了，杰克，所以你必须带着牛去市场卖掉。”

Jack liked going to market to sell the cow very much; —
杰克非常喜欢去市场卖牛； —

but as he was on the way, he met a butcher who had some beautiful beans in his hand. —
但在路上，他遇到了一个拿着一些漂亮的豆子的屠夫。 —

Jack stopped to look at them, and the butcher told the boy that they were of great value, and persuaded the silly lad to sell the cow for these beans.
杰克停下来看它们，而屠夫告诉这个愚蠢的男孩这些豆子非常有价值，并说服他用这些豆子来换牛。

When he brought them home to his mother instead of the money she expected for her nice cow, she was very vexed and shed many tears, scolding Jack for his folly. —
当他把它们带回家给他的母亲，而不是她期望的钱来换她漂亮的奶牛时，她非常恼火，流了很多眼泪，责骂杰克愚蠢。 —

He was very sorry, and mother and son went to bed very sadly that night; —
他非常难过，母子两人那天晚上非常悲伤地上床睡觉； —

their last hope seemed gone.
他们最后的希望似乎已经破灭了。

At daybreak Jack rose and went out into the garden.
天一亮，杰克起床走出去到花园。

‘At least,’ he thought, ‘I will sow the wonderful beans. —
“至少”，他想，“我要播种这些神奇的豆子。” —

Mother says that they are just common scarlet-runners, and nothing else; —
母亲说它们只是普通的红扁豆，什么也不是; —

but I may as well sow them.’
但我还是可以播种它们。”

So he took a piece of stick, and made some holes in the ground, and put in the beans.
于是他拿了一块木棍，在地上挖了几个洞，放进了豆子。

That day they had very little dinner, and went sadly to bed, knowing that for the next day there would be none and Jack, unable to sleep from grief and vexation, got up at day-dawn and went out into the garden.
那天他们只吃了很少的午饭，悲伤地上床睡觉，知道第二天没有吃的了，而杰克因为伤心和恼火而无法入睡，天一亮就起床到花园里去了。

What was his amazement to find that the beans had grown up in the night, and climbed up and up till they covered the high cliff that sheltered the cottage, and disappeared above it! —
当他惊讶地发现豆子在一夜之间长高并爬上去，直到遮住了住宅的高崖，并在上面消失时，他非常惊讶！ —

The stalks had twined and twisted themselves together till they formed quite a ladder.
这些茎蔓延交错在一起，形成了一条相当长的梯子。

‘It would be easy to climb it,’ thought Jack.
“爬上去会很容易的，”杰克想道。

And, having thought of the experiment, he at once resolved to carry it out, for Jack was a good climber. —
他一想到这个实验，马上就决定要去尝试一下，因为杰克擅长爬树。 —

However, after his late mistake about the cow, he thought he had better consult his mother first.
不过，在他之前关于牛的错误之后，他觉得最好先咨询一下他的妈妈的意见。