介绍:
中文文本：来自网络
英译：阿九
讲读：阿九
塞翁失马
战国时期有一位老人，名叫塞翁。他养了许多马，一天马群中忽然有一匹走失了。邻居们听到这事，都来安慰他不必太着急，年龄大了，多注意身体。塞翁见有人劝慰 (wei4)，笑笑说：“丢了一匹马损失不大，没准还会带来福气。”
邻居听了塞翁的话，心里觉得好笑。马丢了，明明是件坏事，他却认为也许是好事，显然是自我安慰而已。可是过了没几天，丢了的马不仅自己回家了，还带回来一匹骏马。
邻居听说马自己回来了，非常佩服塞翁的预见，向塞翁道贺说：“还是您老有远见，马不仅没有丢，还带回一匹好马，真是福气呀。”
塞翁听了邻人的祝贺，反倒一点高兴的样子都没有，忧虑地说：“白白得了一匹好马，不一定是什么福气，也许惹出什么麻烦来。”
邻居们以为他故作姿态纯属老年人的狡猾。心里明明高兴，有意不说出来。
塞翁有个独生子，非常喜欢骑马。他发现带回来的那匹马顾盼生姿，身长蹄大，嘶鸣嘹亮，膘悍神骏，一看就知道是匹好马。他每天都骑马出游，心中洋洋得意。
一天，他高兴得有些过火，打马飞奔，一个趔趄，从马背上跌下来，摔断了腿。邻居听说了，纷纷来慰问。
塞翁说：“没什么，腿摔断了却保住性命，或许是福气呢。” 邻居们觉得他又在胡言乱语。他们想不出，摔断腿会带来什么福气。
不久，匈奴兵大举入侵，青年人被应征入伍，塞翁的儿子因为摔断了腿，不能去当兵。入伍的青年都战死了，唯有塞翁的儿子保全了性命。
英译：阿九
The Old Man Loses His Horse, What Fortune May Yet Befall?
Once upon a time, there lived in a small border village an old man, whose name was Sai Weng. He raised horses. One day, he found that one of his horses had gone missing! When the neighbors heard, they hurried to comfort him. But Old Man Sai did not need their soothing words. He told them, “I’m not too sad. Who’s to say this incident won’t end fortunately?”
A few months later, the horse came back! Not only that, it had even brought with it a robust, spirited mate. The neighbors raucously congratulated Sai Weng. “You were right, sir!” they exclaimed. “Your fortune was indeed returned twofold!” Yet the old man was skeptical. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” he cautioned. “You never know what disaster might befall.”
Sure enough, only a few days after that, the Sai Weng’s only son was riding his new horse when it, still unused to its new owners, bucked and threw the boy to the ground, crippling his leg. The neighbors were appalled. “It really was so,” they whispered in horrified awe, “Great misfortune has descended upon his household.”
Once again, the old man contradicted their words, saying, again, “You can’t say for sure that this, too, will not end happily.”
When the empire was invaded, all the young men in the land were drafted to the front lines, dooming most of them to death. But Sai Weng’s son, because of his crippled leg, was allowed to stay home-- likely saving his life.
Thus was born the idiom “The Old Man Loses His Horse”. By itself, this may seem like a very inane line, but when paired with the implied second line, “what fortune may yet befall?”, the meaning is clear: good things and bad things do not last forever; success might herald new problems, but from mistakes may also arise new opportunities.
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