读者朋友们好，感谢大家的阅读和关注。本篇选自《伊索寓言》，希望各位喜欢^^

Dear readers, thanks for reading this and following me. This one is selected fromAesop, hope you'll enjoy it.

Hercules And The Wagoner

大力神与车夫

by Aesop

选自《伊索寓言》

A Farmer was driving his wagon along a miry country road after a heavy rain. The horses could hardly drag the load through the deep mud, and at last came to a standstillwhen one of the wheels sank to the hub in a rut.

一场大雨过后，有一个农夫正沿着泥泞的乡村小路驱使着他的马拉货车。这路实在太烂了，马儿们实在难以拉动分毫，突然间，由于货车的一个轮子陷进了泥潭，农夫只好原地停了下来。

The farmer climbed down from his seat and stood beside the wagon looking at it but without making the least effort to get it out of the rut. All he did was to curse his bad luck and call loudly on Hercules to come to his aid. Then, it is said, Hercules really did appear, saying:

农夫从他的座位上爬了下来，站在货车的旁边，看着眼前的遭遇，他却没有做点什么来摆脱困境。他唯一所做的是，埋怨着运气太糟，同时大声吼叫着大力士来助他解困。不久，据说大力士真的出现了，对农夫说道：

"Put your shoulder to the wheel, man, and urge on your horses. Do you think you can move the wagon by simply looking at it and whining about it? Hercules will not help unless you make some effort to help yourself."

“把你的肩膀顶到车轮上，伙计，再指挥你的马儿前进。你以为仅仅是看着这一切，抱怨个没完没了，你就能让货车前进吗？我是不会帮助你了，除非你先试试靠自己。”

And when the farmer put his shoulder to the wheel and urged on the horses, the wagon moved very readily, and soon the Farmer was riding along in great content and with a good lesson learned.

然后，农夫就遵照大力士所说的去做，货车还真的稳稳当当地开动了。接着，这个农夫就满意地骑着马儿前进，还汲取了一个好教训。

Self help is the best help.

靠山山倒，靠自己最好。

Heaven helps those who help themselves.

正所谓：天助自助者。

词汇注解：

1、wagon n.四轮马车 wagoner 车夫

2、standstill n.停止

3、hub n.中心、轮毂

4、rut n.车辙

5、in a rut 千篇一律、原地踏步

6、aid n.帮助、援助 came to his aid (= helped him)

本期内容就到这里，感谢大家的阅读，咱们下期再见^^

英文材料来源：美国文学官网

往期内容请戳：

每日一译：Belling The Cat——给猫系铃铛（中英双语）