泰西50軼事(十八之一)：喬治·華盛頓和他的小斧頭江銘輝五夢網
泰西50軼事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恆的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚歷史的著名英雄和他們的羅曼史，故事內容有勇氣、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破崙、羅賓漢，喬治華盛頓、成吉思汗等人。這些故事都是老少鹹宜的故事，我將它逐篇翻譯，並配合圖畫，供大家欣賞。
泰西50軼事(十八)：喬治·華盛頓和他的小斧頭
原文及翻譯如下：
George Washington and His Hatchet
喬治·華盛頓和他的小斧頭
WHEN George Washington was quite a little boy, his father gave him a hatchet. It was bright and new, and George took great delight in going about and chopping things with it.
當喬治·華盛頓(圖1)還是個小孩的時候，他的父親給了他一把小斧頭。它既光亮又嶄新，喬治開心地拿著它去砍伐砍東西。
He ran into the garden, and there he saw a tree which seemed to say to him,“Come and cut me down!”
他跑進了花園，在那兒，它看到有一棵樹。那樹好像在對他說：“來吧，把我砍倒！”
George had often seen his father’s men chop down the great trees in the forest, and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash to the ground. So he set to work with his little hatchet, and, as the tree was a very small one，it did not take long to lay it low.
喬治經常看到他父親的傭人在森林裡砍倒大樹，他想，這棵樹“砰”的一聲倒在地上會是一件很有趣的遊戲。於是他就拿起小斧頭開始工作了(圖2)。這是一棵很小的樹，沒有多久就把它砍倒了。
圖2：喬治拿起小斧頭開始砍樹。
Soon after that, his father came home.
“Who has been cutting my fine young cherry tree”? he cried.
“ It was the only tree of its kind in this country, and it cost me a great deal of money.”
這件事，過了不久，他的父親回家了。
“誰把我美好的小櫻桃樹砍倒了？”他叫了起來，“在這個村子裡，這種樹只有這一棵，我花了很多錢才把它買來的。”(圖3)
圖3：喬治的父親看到小櫻桃樹被砍倒，非常生氣。
He was very angry when he came into the house.
“If I only knew who killed that cherry tree,”he cried,“I would — yes, I would”
當他進到屋子的時候，非常生氣。
“如果我知道是誰砍死了那棵櫻桃樹，”他叫道，“我將……，是的，我將……”。
—
“Father!”cried little George. “I will tell you the truth about it. I chopped the tree down with my hatchet.”
“爸爸！”小喬治大聲說，“我要告訴你實話，是我用小斧頭砍倒了這棵櫻桃樹的。”
His father forgot his anger.
“George,”he said, and he took the little fellow in his arms, “George, I am glad that you told me about it. I would rather lose a dozen cherry trees than that you should tell one falsehood.”
他的父親忘記了憤怒。
“喬治，”他說，並用手臂把這個小傢夥抱了起來。“喬治，我很高興你說了實話。我寧願失去一打的櫻桃樹，也不願意你說一次謊話。