some of the stories we know and like are many hundreds of years old. among them are aesop’s fables. a fable is a short story made up to teach a lesson. most fables are about animals. in them animals talk. many of our common sayings come from fables. “sour grapes” is one of them. it comes from the fable “the fo and the grapes.” in the story a fo saw a bunch of grapes hanging from a vine. they looked ripe and good to eat. but they were rather high. he jumped and jumped, but he could not reach them. at last he gave up. as he went away he said. “those grapes were sour anyway.” now we say, “sour grapes!” when someone pretends he does not want something he tried to get but couldn’t.
One day a fox said to himself,"I am hungry.Let me see what I can get here."
So the fox looked up and down for something to eat.After a mo-ment he came to a wall.The wall was very high.The fox stopped at the bottom of the wall and looked up.There,at the top of the wall,he saw some beautiful grapes.
"I must get those grapes."said the fox,"I want to eat them.They look so beautiful.I think I can jump up and get them.
So the fox started to jump up to get the grapes.But he couldn't get the grapes.The wall was too high for him.
Then the fox went away and said,"I don't want those grapes.They are green.I don't think they are good to eat."
参考译文：
一天,一只狐狸自言自语:“我饿了。 让我看看我能在这里找到什么东西吃。”
这只狐狸就上下张望,寻找东西吃。几分钟后走到一堵墙前。墙很高,狐狸停在了墙根底下向上看。在墙顶上,它看见了一些甜津津的葡萄。
“我必须得到这些葡萄,”狐狸说,“我想吃这些葡萄,这些葡萄看上去太诱人了。我想我能跳上去够着它。”
于是,狐狸跳上去够葡萄。可它没够着,这堵墙对它来说太高了。
后来狐狸走了,临走时说:“我不想吃那些葡萄,葡萄都没熟,我想,它们肯定不好吃。”
狐狸和葡萄
One hot summer day a fox was walking through an orchard. He stopped before a bunch of grapes. They were ripe and juicy.
"I'm just feeling thirsty" he thought. So he backed up a few paces got a running start jumped up but could not reach the grapes. He walked back. One two three he jumped up again but still he missed the grapes.
The fox tried again and again but never succeeded. At last he decided to give it up. He walked away with his nose in the air and said“I am sure they are sour.”
【参考译文】
一个炎热的夏日，狐狸走过一个果园，他停在一大串熟透而多汁的葡萄前。
狐狸想：“我正口渴呢。”于是他后退了几步，向前一冲，跳起来，却无法够到葡萄。狐狸后退又试。一次，两次，三次，但是都没有得到葡萄。
狐狸试了一次又一次，都没有成功。最后，他决定放弃，他昂起头边走边说：“葡萄还没有成熟，我敢肯定它是酸的。” 寓意: 在经历了许多尝试而不能获得成功的时候，有些人往往故意轻视成功，以此来寻求心理安慰。
