英语小故事《守株待兔》Waiting for Rabbits by the Stump

从前，宋国有个农夫，每天日出而作，日落而息，在田间辛苦劳作。
Once upon a time, there was a farmer in the State of Song. He worked hard in the fields, starting at sunrise and resting at sunset every day.

有一天，他像往常一样在地里耕作，突然，一只野兔受惊后拼命奔跑，慌乱中竟一头撞在田边的树桩上，折断脖子死了。
One day, while he was plowing the fields as usual, all of a sudden, a wild rabbit, scared out of its wits, dashed about wildly. In its haste, it slammed right into a tree stump at the edge of the field, broke its neck and died.

农夫又惊又喜，放下农具，不费吹灰之力就捡到了一只肥美的野兔。当晚，他美美地享用了一顿兔肉，还想着这真是意外之财。
The farmer was overjoyed and astonished. He put down his farming tools and effortlessly picked up the plump rabbit. That night, he feasted on the rabbit meat and thought to himself that this was truly an unexpected windfall.

从那以后，农夫再也不愿辛苦种地了。他天天守在树桩旁，幻想着能再次有野兔撞上来。
From then on, the farmer no longer wanted to toil in the fields. He waited beside the tree stump day after day, fantasizing that another wild rabbit would come crashing into it.

日子一天天过去，他的田地因无人打理而杂草丛生，庄稼也全都荒废了，可他始终没有等到第二只撞桩的野兔。
As the days went by, his fields became overrun with weeds due to lack of care, and all the crops withered and died. But he never waited for a second rabbit to hit the stump.

农夫不明白，偶然发生的事情不会重复出现，而他却妄图不劳而获，最终只能落得个一无所获的下场 。
The farmer failed to realize that something that occurs by chance won’t happen again. He was hoping to reap without sowing, and in the end, he got nothing in return.

这个故事告诉我们不能心存不劳而获的侥幸心理。
This story teaches us that we should never harbor the wishful thinking of getting something for nothing.