A young mother believed that it was very wrong to waste any food when there were so many hungry people in the world。One evening，she was giving her small daughter her midnight snack before putting her to bed。First she gave her a slice of fresh brown bread and butter，but the child said that she did not want it like that。She asked for some jam on her bread as well。
Her mother looked at her for a few seconds and then said，“When I was a small girl like you，Lucy，I was always given either bread and butter，or bread and jam，but never bread with butter and jam。”
Lucy looked at her mother for a few moments with pity in her eyes and then said to her kindly，“Aren’t you pleased that you have come to live with us now？”
幸运的母亲
一位年轻的母亲认为，世界上还有许多受饥饿的人，浪费食物真不应该。有天晚上，在安排幼小的女儿睡觉之前，她给女儿喂夜宵。她先给她一片新鲜的黑面包和黄油，但孩子说她不喜欢这样吃。她还要一些果酱涂在面包上。
母亲看了女儿几秒钟，随即说道：“露西，当我像你一样小的时候，总是吃面包加黄油，或者面包加果酱，从来没有面包既加黄油又加果酱。”
露西看了母亲一会儿，眼中露出怜悯的神情，然后她柔声说：“您现在能跟我们生活在一起难道不感到高兴吗？”
slice[slais]n。片，薄片，切片；部分；份
例：They wanted to make sure they got a slice of the profits。他们想确保自己可得到一份利润。
butter[bt]n。黄油；黄油状的食品
例：She combined some sugar，flour and butter to make some cookies。她把白糖、面粉和黄油和在一起做小甜饼。
jam[dm]n。果酱；拥挤，堵塞；困难的处境，窘境
例：There was such a jam of people that we could not get in。由于人多拥挤，我们无法进入。
brown bread黑面包
“黑面包”只是一个俗称，科学的叫法应该称为“麸皮面包”，或者“全麦面包”。由于其制作的原料并不全是精面粉，而是混合了小麦在磨粉过程中被碾下来的皮层、胚芽、糊粉层及少量胚乳等麸皮，因此比精面粉面包更具有营养价值。
黑面包分为两种，一种是酵母发酵的，一种是germ（面包发酵粉）发酵的。所以一种吃起来很硬，适合抹面包酱吃，一种比较松软。面包上一般会裹荞麦皮儿、麦仁儿、南瓜子、芝麻、植物籽等等，增加香味和口感。有机会尝一下吧！刚出炉的好吃，一般亚洲人不爱吃，因为黑面包不是甜的，口感有些酸。
bread and butter与to butter up someone
bread and butter的意思就是“生活最基本的需要”，例如，食品、住房、衣服等。有的人把自己的工作叫做bread and butter。如：Cooking hamburgers at MacDonald’s is not the job I expected to get with my degree in business administration。But at least it’s my bread and butter until I find a job that suits my education better。（我有一个企业管理的学位，在麦当劳做汉堡包本来不是我想要的工作。但是，在我找到一个跟我的学识比较相配的工作前，现在的工作至少能让我过日子。）
to butter up someone，要注意的是butter这个字在这里是当作动词用，意思就是“涂黄油”。但是，to butter up someone并不是把黄油涂在谁的身上。作为习惯用语，to butter up someone是指“一个人为了从某人那里得到好处而拍他的马屁”。如：Since the word came out David will be promoted to vice president，everybody in the office is busy trying to butter him up except Joseph。Joseph is an honest person，so he just does not know how to say things that are not true。（自从消息传开说大卫将被提升为副总经理以来，办公室里每个人，除了约瑟夫以外，都忙着拍他的马屁。约瑟夫是个老实人，他就是不知道怎么说假话。）