The Marbles
大理石
Once upon a time, there was a foolish boy who had a bag full of beautiful marbles. Now this boy was quite proud of his marbles. In fact, he thought so much of them that he would neither play with them himself nor would he let anyone else play with them. He only took them out of the bag in order to count and admire them; they were never used for their intended purpose. Yet that boy carried that coveted bag of marbles everywhere he went.
很久以前，有個愚蠢的男孩，他有一包滿滿的美麗大理石。男孩因為擁有這些大理石感到特別驕傲。事實上他太在意它們了，他既捨不得與大理石玩耍，也不讓別人與它們玩耍。他只是將大理石拿出包來，數一數有多少，然後便讚歎地欣賞起來。他從沒有有目的地去使用過它們，但是不管去哪兒，他都要揹著那包令他垂涎三尺的大理石。
Well, there was also a wise boy who wished he could have such a fine bag of marbles. So this boy worked hard and earned money to purchase a nice bag to hold marbles. Even though he had not yet earned enough with which to purchase any marbles, he had faith and purchased the marble bag. He took special care of the bag and dreamed of the day it would contain marbles with which he could play and share with his friends.
還有一個聰明的男孩，他希望他能擁有這樣一包美麗的大理石。因此，男孩努力去掙錢想買一個裝大理石的好包。儘管他掙的錢不足以買任何大理石，但他卻信念堅定，於是買了一個大理石包。他對這個包特別小心，夢想有一天包裡裝滿大理石，他自己與大理石玩耍，並且跟朋友一起玩耍。
Alas, the foolish boy with all of the marbles didn't take care of the marble bag itself, and one day the bag developed a hole in the bottom seam. Still, he paid no attention and, one by one, the marbles fell out of the bag.
然而，那個擁有大理石的笨男孩對大理石包漠不關心。一天，包底的縫合處開了個口子，但他根本沒有注意到，結果大理石一個接一個地從包裡掉了出來。
It didn't take long, once the foolish boy's marble bag developed a hole, for the wise boy to begin to find those beautiful marbles, one at a time, lying unnoticed on the ground. And, one by one, he added them to his marble bag. The wise boy thus gained a fine bag full of marbles in no time at all. This boy played with the marbles and shared them with all of his friends. And he always took special care of the bag so he wouldn't lose any.
自從笨小孩的包破了洞後，聰明的男孩開始發現那些漂亮的大理石一個接一個地躺在地上，沒人理睬。於是，他就一個接一個地將它們撿起，放到自己的大理石包裡。就這樣，聰明的男孩很快便有了一包美麗的大理石。從此，他自己玩大理石，並和他的所有朋友一起玩。他總是給予裝大理石的包無微不至的關心，以免包破後把大理石丟了。
And what about the foolish boy? Because he was selfish and careless, he lost all of his marbles and was left holding the bag.
結果那個愚蠢的男孩怎麼樣？因為他自私自利，粗心大意，丟失了他所有的大理石，到頭來只剩下一個空包。