泰西50轶事(十八之一)：乔治·华盛顿和他的小斧头 江铭辉 五梦网
泰西50轶事(Fifty Famous Stories Retold)，是永恒的短篇故事，它收集的故事：包括浩瀚历史的著名英雄和他们的罗曼史，故事内容有勇气、毅力和情感。故事人物包括拿破仑、罗宾汉，乔治华盛顿、成吉思汗等人。这些故事都是老少咸宜的故事，我将它逐篇翻译，并配合图画，供大家欣赏。
泰西50轶事(十八)：乔治·华盛顿和他的小斧头
原文及翻译如下：
George Washington and His Hatchet
乔治·华盛顿和他的小斧头
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.
当乔治·华盛顿(图1)还是个小孩的时候，他的父亲给了他一把小斧头。它既光亮又崭新，乔治开心地拿着它去砍伐砍东西。
He ran into the garden, and there he saw a tree which seemed to say to him,“Come and cut me down!”
他跑进了花园，在那儿，它看到有一棵树。那树好像在对他说：“来吧，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.
乔治经常看到他父亲的佣人在森林里砍倒大树，他想，这棵树“砰”的一声倒在地上会是一件很有趣的游戏。于是他就拿起小斧头开始工作了(图2)。这是一棵很小的树，没有多久就把它砍倒了。
图2：乔治拿起小斧头开始砍树。
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.”
这件事，过了不久，他的父亲回家了。
“谁把我美好的小樱桃树砍倒了？”他叫了起来，“在这个村子里，这种树只有这一棵，我花了很多钱才把它买来的。”(图3)
图3：乔治的父亲看到小樱桃树被砍倒，非常生气。
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”
当他进到屋子的时候，非常生气。
“如果我知道是谁砍死了那棵樱桃树，”他叫道，“我将……，是的，我将……”。
—
“Father!”cried little George. “I will tell you the truth about it. I chopped the tree down with my hatchet.”
“爸爸！”小乔治大声说，“我要告诉你实话，是我用小斧头砍倒了这棵樱桃树的。”
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.”
他的父亲忘记了愤怒。
“乔治，”他说，并用手臂把这个小家伙抱了起来。“乔治，我很高兴你说了实话。我宁愿失去一打的樱桃树，也不愿意你说一次谎话。