There was once a farmer who lived near a road.

　　從前有一個農(nóng)夫，他家就住在馬路附近。

　　It was not a busy road, but from time to time, cars passed the farm.

　　這條馬路并不繁華， 偶爾才會有汽車從農(nóng)場經(jīng)過。

　　Near the farm gate, there was a large hole in the road.

　　靠近農(nóng)場大門口的馬路中間有一個大坑。

　　This hole was always full of water, 　and the drivers of the cars could not see how deep the hole was. They thought it was probably shallow1.

　　這個坑里總是積滿了水。從表面上看，汽車司機根本辨認不出坑的深淺，他們會認為是一個很淺的坑。

　　Then when they drove2 into the hole, they could not drive out because it was so deep.

　　一旦車子掉進了坑里，司機們就別想再開出來，因為坑太深了。

　　The farmer did not spend much time working on his farm. He spent most of it watching the hole.

　　農(nóng)夫沒有花多少心思去經(jīng)營農(nóng)場，大部分時間都盯著這個坑。

　　When a car drove into it, he pulled the car out with his tractor3 and charged4 the driver a lot of money for doing this.每當汽車開進坑里時，他就用拖拉機把汽車拉上來，然后向司機收取很多費用。

　　One day, the driver of a car said to him, "You must make a lot of money pulling cars out of this hole night and day."

　　一天，一位汽車司機對他說：“你沒日沒夜地把汽車往外拉，肯定掙了很多錢吧。”

　　"Oh, no," the farmer said, "I don't pull cars out of the hole at night. At night I fill the hole with water."

　　“哦，不，”農(nóng)夫說，“我夜里不拉汽車，我還得往這個坑里灌水呢。”