English Original
One day, a colt carried a bag of wheat to the mill.
As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river. The water went gurgling on. The colt could not decide whether he could cross it. Looking around, he saw a cow grazing nearby. He asked, "Uncle Cow, could you tell me if I can cross the river?" The cow told him that he could and that the river was not very deep, just up to his knees.
The colt was about to cross the river when a squirrel jumped down from a tree and stopped him. The squirrel shouted, "Colt, stop! You'll drown! One of my friends drowned in this river just yesterday." Not knowing what to do, the colt went home to consult his mother.
He told his mother about his experience. His mother said, "My child, don't always rely on others' opinions. You'd better go and try for yourself. Then you'll know what to do."
Back at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again. "Little horse, it's too dangerous!" "No, I want to try for myself," answered the colt. Then he crossed the river carefully. On the other side, the colt realized that the river was neither as shallow as the cow had said nor as deep as the squirrel had told him.
This fable tells us a truth: real knowledge comes from practice.
中文翻译
一天，一匹小马驮着一袋麦子去磨坊。
他背着袋子跑着，来到了一条小河边。河水汩汩地流着。小马不知道能不能过河。他环顾四周，看到一头牛正在附近吃草。他问道：“牛伯伯，您能告诉我我能过这条河吗？”牛告诉他可以，并且说河水不深，刚没到他的膝盖。
小马正要过河时，一只松鼠从树上跳下来拦住了他。松鼠喊道：“小马，快停下！你会淹死的！我的一个朋友昨天就在这条河里淹死了。”小马不知所措，便回家向妈妈请教。
他把自己的经历告诉了妈妈。妈妈说：“孩子，不要总是听信别人的话。你最好自己去试一试。那样你就会知道该怎么办了。”
回到河边，松鼠再次拦住了小马。“小马，这太危险了！”“不，我想自己试一试，”小马回答。然后他小心翼翼地过了河。到了河对岸，小马意识到河水既不像牛说的那么浅，也不像松鼠说的那么深。
这个寓言告诉我们一个道理：实践出真知。