37. A BAD STORY

　　Now we have to tell you a bad story.
　
　　Long ago, there was a government official whose favorite dishes were geese's feet and live goat's heart. When he wanted to eat a goose's feet, he had the goose hung above an iron wok with a fire under it. When the fire heated the wok,the goose would twist and cry, but the official didn't care. The heat of the fire would make the goose's feet swell up, and the blood would run into its feet as the goose was cooked to death. What a cruel way to prepare a dish!

　　Then the official would have a goat tied to a stake. The cooks would skin its ribs and reach in to pluck out its heart and liver. They cooked these and served them with liquor. The poor goat would bleat in pain until it died.

　　The official killed many geese and goats in this brutal way.
　
　　One day, a man who looked like a scholar advised the official to change his ways and stop killing innocent animals. The official didn't take his advice. Instead,he yelled at him and called him bad names.

　　"Then you're going to die of boils." The scholar said that and left.
　
　　The official yelled more insults after him, but sure enough, before long, he got boils all over his body. Every day he lived in pain. Many famous doctors treated him, but nobody could cure his boils. He died soon, and his body smelled so bad nobody could come near him.

37. 一个悲惨的故事

　　现在我们来给你讲一个悲惨的故事。
　
　　很久以前，有个官员，他最爱吃的两道菜是鹅掌和活羊心。当他想吃鹅掌 的时候，就把鹅吊在一个铁锅上，锅下生了火。火渐渐把锅烤热，那只鹅就忍不住挣扎叫唤起来，但是那个官员一点也不在乎。火的热量 让鹅掌渐渐肿胀，血都涌进它的脚掌里，鹅就这样活活地被烤死了。这道菜的做法实在是太残忍了！

　　接着官员就把一只羊拴到树上。厨子们把羊肋骨处的皮剥掉，伸进手去把羊的心肝都掏了出来。他们把这些炒了当下酒菜。那只可怜的羊痛苦地哀叫着直到死去。

　　那个官员就用这种残忍的手段杀了很多鹅和羊。

　　一天，一个看起来像是学者的人劝告那个官员改变他的行事方法，停止屠杀这些无辜生命。官员　　不听。相反，他对着那个人大声叫喊，还恶狠狠地咒骂他。

　　“那你会得疖子而死。”那个学者说完就离开了。

　　官员在他身后骂得更起劲了。不出所料，不久后，他全身长满了疖子。每天他痛苦不堪。名医纷至，但都束手无策。他很快就死掉了，尸体发出阵阵恶臭，没人敢接近。