【国旗下讲话】勤奋而非懒惰（一）

勤奋是投资时间、心思和精力在一项工作上，并且希望能得到好的结果。“勤奋而非懒惰，全力以赴完成别人交待的任务”正是本周国际小学部5C品格教育的主题。

因此，在今天的“国旗下讲话”中，国际小学部六年级刘武涵同学、五年级陈雨涵同学通过“蚂蚁和蚂蚱、勤奋与懒惰”对比的寓言故事，向我们阐释了勤奋的重要性。

勤奋而非懒惰 8 March 2021

The word of the month in our character development series is “diligence.” We can explore this concept with the old Aesop fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper.”
这个月品格教育的关键词是“勤奋”。我们可以用古老的伊索寓言《蚂蚁和蚱蜢》来探讨这个概念

 In a field one summer’s day a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content.  A group of ants walked by, grunting as they struggled to carry plump kernels of corn.
夏天的一天，一只蚱蜢在田野里跳来跳去，尽情地鸣叫着。一群蚂蚁走过，一边挣扎着搬运饱满的玉米粒，一边咕哝着。

“Where are you going with those heavy things?” asked the grasshopper. 
“你带着那些沉重的东西去哪里？”蚱蜢问道。

Without stopping, the first ant replied, “To our ant hill.  This is the third kernel I’ve delivered today.
“第一只蚂蚁没有停下来，回答说:“去我们的蚂蚁山。这是我今天交付的第三个玉米粒。” 

“Why not come and sing with me,” teased the grasshopper, “instead of working so hard?” 
“为什么不来和我一起唱歌，”蚱蜢打趣道，“而不是这么努力地工作？”

“We are helping to store food for the winter,” said the ant, “and think you should do the same.”   
“我们正储存过冬的食物，”蚂蚁说，“我认为你也应该这样做。”

“Winter is far away and it is a glorious day to play,” sang the grasshopper
“冬天还很远，这是玩耍的好日子，”蚱蜢唱道。

But the ants went on their way and continued their hard work.
但是蚂蚁继续前进，继续努力的工作。

The weather soon turned cold.  All the food lying in the field was covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the grasshopper could not dig through.  Soon the grasshopper found itself dying of hunger. 
天气很快变冷了。田野里所有的食物都被厚厚的白雪覆盖着，就连蚱蜢也挖不到底。不久，蚱蜢发现自己快要饿死了。 

He staggered to the ants’ hill and saw them handing out corn from the stores they had collected in the summer.  He begged them for something to eat.
它摇摇晃晃地走到蚂蚁山，看到它们正在分发仓库里面夏天收集的玉米。它恳求它们给点吃的东西。

“What!” cried the ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter?  What in the world were you doing all last summer?”
“什么！”蚂蚁惊讶地叫道:“你没有储存过冬的东西吗？去年夏天你到底在干什么？”

“I didn’t have time to store any food,” complained the grasshopper; “I was so busy playing music that before I knew it the summer was gone.” 
“我没有时间储存任何食物，”蚱蜢抱怨道,”我忙于演奏音乐，不知不觉中，夏天已经过去了。”

The ants shook their heads in disgust, turned their backs on the grasshopper and went on with their work. 
蚂蚁厌恶地摇摇头，背对着蚱蜢继续工作。 

The ants showed diligence in the story while the grasshopper was slothful and lazy. In the end the ants were prepared for the winter and the grasshopper was not. What’s the moral of this story? Work hard and being diligent now, it will pay off later.
蚂蚁在故事中表现出勤奋的品格，而蚱蜢则懒惰。最后，蚂蚁为冬天做好了准备，蚱蜢却没有。这个故事有什么寓意呢？这个故事告诉我们要未雨绸缪，现在的努力和勤奋，未来一定会获得回报的。