A clam1 swam to the bank and opened its shell in the sun.

　　一天，河里的蚌游到岸邊，把蚌殼張開(kāi)曬太陽(yáng)。

　　A snipe flew over and saw a piece of red meat on the ground, so it dived to the ground and pecked2 at the clam. Before the snipe drew back its beak3, it was gripped tightly4 inside because the clam suddenly felt a sharp pain and closed its shell quickly. The snipe shook its head violently to cast off the clam, but it failed no matter how hard it tried.

　　這時(shí)候鷸飛過(guò)，看到一塊鮮美的肉在地上，就想吃到嘴里。鷸用嘴一啄，蚌突然感到一陣疼痛，英語(yǔ)小故事立即把蚌殼合了起來(lái)。鷸的長(zhǎng)嘴就被夾住了。鷸想把蚌甩掉，就拼命的用力甩頭，可是蚌夾的非常緊，鷸怎么也甩不掉。

　　The snipe said angrily, "Listen, you clam, it's not going to rain today, neither will it tomorrow. Then you'll die from thirst. So quick! Let me off!"

　　鷸生氣地說(shuō)：“蚌你聽(tīng)著，今天不下雨，明天也不下雨，就把你渴死了，你還不快松開(kāi)！”

　　The clam was angry too. "You listen, I won't let you off today, and I won't let you off tomorrow, either. Then you'll die of hunger. Do you still dare to eat me?"

　　蚌也著急地說(shuō)：“鷸你聽(tīng)著，今天我不放開(kāi)你，明天不放開(kāi)你，就會(huì)把你餓死。你還敢吃我嗎？”

　　The snipe and clam were locked in fight and quarreled, and neither of them liked to give in first. Just at that moment, an old fisherman came. He picked them up and took them home for dinner.

　　鷸和蚌互不相讓。這時(shí)候來(lái)了個(gè)打魚(yú)的老人，看到纏在一起的鷸和蚌，就把它們一起抓走了。

　　The story tells us that the third party will have an advantage fall into his lap when the other two parties are locked in combat5 for their own personal interests.

　　這個(gè)故事是說(shuō)，為了私利，各不相讓，會(huì)導(dǎo)致兩敗俱傷，反而會(huì)讓第三者坐收漁利。