The cobbler fancied he beheld all the wealth, which the earth had produced in the past century for the use of mankind. Returning home, he buried his money and his happiness at the same time, No more singin; he lost his voice, the moment he acquired that which is the source of so much grief. Sleep quitted his dwelling; and cares, suspicions, and false alarms took its place, All day, his eye wandered in the direction of his treasure; and at night, if some stray cat made a noise, the cat was robbing him. At length the poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbor;"Give my back."said he,"sleep and my voice, and take your hundred crowns."
一个皮匠从早到晚在歌唱中度过。无论见到他本人或听见他的歌声都使人觉得很愉快。他对于制鞋工作比当上了希腊七圣还要满足。
与此相反，他的邻居是个银行家，拥有万贯家财，却很少唱歌，晚上也睡得不好。他偶尔在黎明时分迷迷糊糊刚入睡，皮匠的歌声便把他吵醒了。银行家郁郁寡欢地抱怨上帝没有把睡眠也制成一种像食品或饮料那样可以买卖的商品。后来，银行家就叫人把这位歌手请来，问道：“格列戈里师傅，你一年赚多少钱？”
“先生，你问我一年赚多少钱吗？”快乐的皮匠笑道：“我从来不算这笔账，我是一天一天地过日子，总而言之坚持到年底，每天挣足三餐。”
“啊，朋友，那么你一天赚多少钱呢？”
“有时多一点，有时少一点；不过最糟糕的是一年中总有些日子不准我们做买卖，牧师又常常在圣徒名单上添新名字，否则我们的收入也还算不错的。”
银行家被皮匠的直率逗笑了，他说：“我要你从今以后不愁没钱用。这一百枚钱你拿去，小心放好，需要时拿来用吧。”
皮匠觉得自己好像看到了过去几百年来大地为人类所需而制造出来的全部财富。他回到家中，埋藏好硬币，同时也埋葬了他的快乐。他不再唱歌了；从他得到这种痛苦的根源那一刻起，他的嗓子就哑了。睡眠与他分手；取而代之的却是担心、怀疑、虚惊。白天，他的目光尽朝埋藏硬币的方向望；夜间，如果有只迷途的猫弄出一点声响，他就以为是有人来抢他的钱。最后，这个可怜的皮匠跑到他那富有的邻居家里说：“把你的一百枚钱拿回去，还我的睡眠和歌声来。”
The Most Beautiful Heart最美的心灵
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered, and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a flaw in it.
Suddenly, an old man appeared and said, "Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine."
The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right, and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The young man laughed. "Comparing your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars."
"Yes," said the old man, "Yours looks perfect but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart that fits into the empty place in my heart. But because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared.
"Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his or her heart to me. These are the empty gouges — giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for those people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"
The young man walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man.
The old man placed it in his heart, then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.
They embraced and walked away side by side.
一天，一位年轻人站在城镇的中央，宣布他的心是整个山谷中最美丽的心。围观的人很多，他们都称赞年轻人的心的确是完美无缺，并没有一点伤痕瑕疵。
突然，一位老人出现在人群中，说：“你的心不如我的美丽。”
围观者和年轻人都朝老人的心看去：它布满了伤疤，有的地方被挖去又重新填补上，但修补得不甚完整，留下一些参差不齐的疤痕。实际上，有的地方缺失了整块，甚至露出很深的豁口。
年轻人笑了起来：“我们两人的心相比，我的是那么完美，而你的却是一堆伤疤。”
“是的，”老人说，“你的心从表面来看很完美，但我绝不会跟你交换。你看，每个伤疤都代表我为别人献出的一份爱——我掏出一块心给他们，他们常常会掏出自己的一块回赠给我，以填补我的空缺。但由于这两块不完全一样，伤口的边缘就留下了疤痕，不过我十分珍惜这些疤痕，因为它们使我想起我们共同拥有的爱心。”
“有时我送出了一瓣心，其他人并没有回赠给我，因此就出现了这些豁口——献出爱也是需要冒风险的。尽管这些豁口很疼，我还是让它们敞开着，因为它们能使我想起我付出的爱。我希望有一天，得到爱的人们能够回来填补上我心里的空间。你现在明白什么是真正的美丽了吧？”
年轻人默默走近老人，把手伸进自己完美的心中，撕下一块来，把它献给这位老人。
老人接过馈赠，把它放进自己的心里。然后他从自己疤痕累累的心里掏出一块，放在年轻人心里的那个伤口上。正好放进去，但不是特别吻合，也出现了一些疤痕。
年轻人看着自己的心，看起来不再完美但比以前更美丽了，因为老人心中的爱也流淌到了他的心里。
他们拥抱着，肩并肩离开了。
A Greek To Remember一位值得纪念的希腊人
Diogenes was a famous Greek philosopher of the fourth century B.C., who established the philosophy of cynicism. He often walked about in the daytime holding a lighted lantern, peering around as if he were looking for something. When auestioned about his odd behavior, he would reply,"I am searching for an honest man.."
Diogenes held that the good man was self-sufficient and did not require material comforts or wealth. He believed that wealth and possessions constrained humanity’s natural state of freedom. In keeping with his philosophy, he was perefectly satisfied with making his home in a large tub discarded from the temple of Cybele, the goddess of nature.
This earthen tub, called a pithos, and formerly been used for holding wine or oil for the sacrifices at the temple.
One day, Alexander the Great, conqueror of half the civilized world, saw Diogenes sitting in this tub in the sunshine .So the king, surrounded by his countries, approached Diogenes and said,"I am Alexander the Great."The philosopher replied rather contemptuously,"I am Diogenes, the Cynic."Alexander then asked him if he could help him in any way."
“Yes,”shot back Diogenes,"don’t stand between me and the sun."A surprised Alexander then replied quickly,"If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."
提奥奇尼斯是公元前四世纪一位著名的希腊哲学家，就是他创立了犬儒派哲学。他经常在白天点着灯笼四处走动、张望，像是在找什么东西似的。当人们问起他这古怪行为时，他会回答说：“我正在寻找正人君子。”
提奥奇尼斯认为好人是自给自足的，不需要物质享受和财富。他认为财富、财产束缚了人们天生的自由状态。与他的哲学相一致，他拿一个别人从自然之母的庙里丢弃的大坛作为自己的家，还对此万分满意。
这个陶制的大坛叫做圣坛，过去在庙里是用来盛装祭祀用的酒和油的。
天，征服了半个文明世界的亚历山大大帝看见提奥奇尼斯坐在大坛里晒太阳。于是这位君主在大臣们的簇拥下走过去，对提奥奇尼斯说：“我是亚历山大大帝。”哲学家相当傲慢地回答说：“我是提奥奇尼斯——犬儒学者。”然后亚历山大问他是否需要任何帮助。
“是的，”提奥奇尼斯驳回道，“别站在我和太阳之间。”大吃一惊的亚历山大继而迅速回答道：“假如我不是亚历山大，我就会是提奥奇尼斯。”