passage28

28. One Real Man In an ancient kingdom(王国),all men were ruled by their wives. The king didn’t believe it. In order to prove it was not true, the king had all the men of his kingdom brought before him. He warned that any man who did not tell the truth would be seriously punished. Then he asked all the men who followed their wives' orders to step to the left side of the hall. All the men did so but one little man who moved to the right side. “It's good to see,”said the king,“that we have one real man in the kingdom Tell these chicken-hearted men why you alone among them stand on the right side of the hall.” “Your Majesty(陛下),”came the reply in a weak voice, “it is because before I left home my wife told me to keep out of crowds(人群). I don't dare to go against her.” 28. 一个真正的男子汉 在古代的(ancient)一个王国里，所有的男人都由妻子统治(rule)。国王(king)不相信这一点，为了证明(prove)这不是真的，便把全国所有的男人都召来，并警告(warn)说，任何不说实话(tell the truth)者将受到严重的(serious)惩罚(punish)。 然后，他让遵循(follow)妻子命令(order)的男人站到大厅(hall)的左边(left side)，所有的男人都站到了左边，只有一个小个子男人站到右边。 “很好，”国王说：“我们国家总算还有一位真正的男子汉，你告诉这些软弱的家伙，为什么众人之中(among)只有你独自一人(alone)站在了大厅的右边。” “陛下，”那个男人用虚弱的(weak)声音回答道，“这是因为离家前，我妻子交待我，不许扎堆。我不敢(dare)违背(go against)她的命令。”