There was once a farmer who lived near a road.

　　從前有一個(gè)農(nóng)夫，他家就住在馬路附近。

　　It was not a busy road, but from time to time, cars passed the farm.

　　這條馬路并不繁華， 偶爾才會(huì)有汽車從農(nóng)場(chǎng)經(jīng)過(guò)。

　　Near the farm gate, there was a large hole in the road.

　　靠近農(nóng)場(chǎng)大門(mén)口的馬路中間有一個(gè)大坑。

　　This hole was always full of water, 　and the drivers of the cars could not see how deep the hole was. They thought it was probably shallow1.

　　這個(gè)坑里總是積滿了水。從表面上看，汽車司機(jī)根本辨認(rèn)不出坑的深淺，他們會(huì)認(rèn)為是一個(gè)很淺的坑。

　　Then when they drove2 into the hole, they could not drive out because it was so deep.

　　一旦車子掉進(jìn)了坑里，司機(jī)們就別想再開(kāi)出來(lái)，因?yàn)榭犹盍恕?/p>

　　The farmer did not spend much time working on his farm. He spent most of it watching the hole.

　　農(nóng)夫沒(méi)有花多少心思去經(jīng)營(yíng)農(nóng)場(chǎng)，大部分時(shí)間都盯著這個(gè)坑。

　　When a car drove into it, he pulled the car out with his tractor3 and charged4 the driver a lot of money for doing this.每當(dāng)汽車開(kāi)進(jìn)坑里時(shí)，他就用拖拉機(jī)把汽車?yán)蟻?lái)，然后向司機(jī)收取很多費(fèi)用。

　　One day, the driver of a car said to him, "You must make a lot of money pulling cars out of this hole night and day."

　　一天，一位汽車司機(jī)對(duì)他說(shuō)：“你沒(méi)日沒(méi)夜地把汽車往外拉，肯定掙了很多錢(qián)吧。”

　　"Oh, no," the farmer said, "I don't pull cars out of the hole at night. At night I fill the hole with water."

　　“哦，不，”農(nóng)夫說(shuō)，“我夜里不拉汽車，我還得往這個(gè)坑里灌水呢。”