第13章 The Quarrel 争吵

Under a great tree in the woods, two boys saw a fine, large nut, and both ran to get it.

James got to it first, and picked it up.

"It is mine," said John, "for I was the first to see it."

"No, it is mine" said James, "for I was the first to pick it up."

Thus, they at once began to quarrel about the nut.

As they could not agree whose it should be, they called an older boy, and asked him.

The older boy said, "I will settle this quarrel."

He took the nut, and broke the shell. He then took out the kernel, and divided the shell into two parts, as nearly equal as he could.

"This half of the shell," said he, "belongs to the boy who first saw the nut.

"And this half belongs to the boy who picked it up.

"The kernel of the nut, I shall keep as my pay for settling the quarrel.

"This is the way," said he, laughing, "in which quarrels are very apt to end."

在树林里的一棵大树下，两个小男孩看见一枚又大又好的坚果，他俩跑过去抢它。

詹姆斯先到，他捡起了那枚坚果。

“那是我的，”约翰喊道，“是我先看到的。”

“不，它是我的，”詹姆斯说，“是我先捡到的。”

就这样，他们当即开始为这枚坚果吵了起来。

当他们不能就这枚坚果应该属于谁而达成一致意见时，于是他们找了一个年龄较大的男孩来做询问。

那个年龄较大的男孩说：“我有办法解决这场争吵。”

他拿过坚果，将果壳敲破，取出里边的果仁，然后将果壳尽可能地分成一样大小的两半。

“这一半果壳呢，”他说，“给第一个看见坚果的人。另外这一半属于第一个捡起坚果的人。至于果仁呢，就作为平息这场争吵的回报留给我。”

“这就是我的解决方法。”说着，他大笑了起来：“这就是争吵最容易出现的结局。”