童言笑話：3、 The rain 下雨

3. The rain

A small boy and his father were having a walk in the country when it suddenly began to rain very hard. They did not have their umbrella1 with them, and there was nowhere to hide from the rain, so they were soon very wet, and the small boy did not feel very happy. For a long time while they were walking home through the rain, the boy was thinking. Then at last he turned to his father and said to him, "Why does it rain, Father? It isn't very nice, is it?"

No, it isn't very nice, but it's very useful, Tom. answered his father. "It rains to make the fruits2 and the vegetables3 grow for us, and to make the grass grow for the cows4 and sheep."

Tom thought about this for a few seconds, and then he said, "Then, why does it rain on the road too, Father?"

Notes:

1. umbrella 雨傘

2. fruit 水果

3. vegetable 蔬菜

4. cow 牛，母牛

下　雨

一個小男孩和他的父親正在鄉(xiāng)間行走，突然下起了大雨。他們沒帶傘，加上四下無處可以躲雨，所以很快他們渾身上下被淋濕了，小男孩感到很不好受。他們在雨中朝家走去，有好一會兒，小男孩一直在思索著什么。

后來，他朝父親轉(zhuǎn)過臉去，問他說：“爸爸，為什么天會下雨呢？下雨可不太好，是吧？”“是呀，下雨是不太好，可是下雨也有很多有益的地方，湯姆。”父親回答說。“下雨可以促進(jìn)水果和蔬菜生長，供我們食用；同樣也促使牛羊所吃的青草生長?！?

湯姆想了一會兒父親的這番話，然后說：“那么，爸爸，老天爺為什么還要把雨下在路上呢？”

Useful link:

在美國，只要在球賽開始以后下雨，每個人在離開體育場時都可以得到一張?zhí)貏e的票——rain check。意思是你買了票，但因?yàn)橄掠隂]有看成比賽，為了補(bǔ)償你的損失，給你一張票下回免費(fèi)看一場球賽?，F(xiàn)在，這個詞已經(jīng)不局限在體育球賽方面，而是廣泛應(yīng)用于生活的各個方面。它的意思是：給予第二次機(jī)會。