梦里兴衰总未真(英中对照)

古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
梦里兴衰总未真
in the year 870, amer, king of persia, was taken prisoner in battle. while he was sitting on the ground, a soldier prepared a coarce meal to appease his hunger. he watched his dinner simmering in a little pot when a hungry dog thrust his head into it. the mouth of the pot being too small, he could not draw it out again, and ran away with the pot and its contents. this made the king laugh immoderately.
when a guard asked what could induce a person facing certain death to laugh, amer replied,"it was but this morning the steward of my household complained that three hundred camels were not enough to carry my kitchen furniture; how easily it is now borne by that dog, who has carried away both my cooking instruments and dinner."

公元八七○年，波斯王阿姆战败被擒。他坐在地上，一个士兵给他备粗食疗饥。阿姆望着饭菜在小罐里慢煮，一只饿狗忽然把头伸进罐里，但由于罐口太小，再也抽不出来，就带着小罐和其中饭菜跑掉。阿姆不禁大笑。
一个 卫兵问，他难逃一死，怎么还会笑。阿姆回答：「今天早上，我的管家还在诉苦，说御厨的用具，三百只骆驼都搬运不了；现在，一只狗就轻而易举，把我的煮食器皿和饭菜都带走了。」
【附注】 borne可解作「负担」、「忍受」或「生（孩子）」，是 bear的过去分词。 bear的另一过去分词 born只可指「生（孩子）」，并只可用于不说明生产者的被动语态，例如：（ 1） he was born in 1900（他一九○○年出生）。（ 2） he was borne by mary（他是玛丽生的）。