三种长江鱼的启示录 ⑵ (中英对照)

爷爷给我讲过这三种鱼的故事，给我留下了深刻的印象。渔民捕这三种鱼用的都是同样一张网，形状很像排球网，渔民把网拦在江河中，让鱼钻到网眼中去。鲫鱼头小身子大，头钻过去后身子就过不去了，这时鲫鱼只要往后一退，就能逃脱而去。但由于鲫鱼爱惜鱼鳞，死不后退，就被渔民捕获了。刀鱼看到鲫鱼被捕后，心想这家伙真笨，向后退一下不就行了吗？于是刀鱼穿过网眼后就迅速后退，结果两边的鱼鳍卡在了网上，其实这时候刀鱼只要继续向前就能穿网击去了，但它吸取鲫鱼被抓住的教训，拼命后退，终于也被渔民捕获，河豚看到它们被抓，心想你们真笨，碰到网只要不前进也不后退，不就不会被抓住了吗？于是河豚碰到网后就拼命给自己打气，把自己胀得圆鼓鼓的，结果飘到江面上被渔民轻而易举地捕获到了。
I still vividly remember the story my grandpa told me, then only a young schoolboy, about these three kinds of fish: A group of fishermen used a single net to catch all of them successively. The net looked like one used on a volleyball court. With it they blocked the path down the river, so that fish might weave their way through its mesh. The crucian carp has a tiny head but a stocky body; whereas the head made it through, the body got stuck halfway. If it had tried to cope by pulling backwards, though, the fish could still have escaped. But it was so fussy about its scales that it just wouldn’t do so. Taking advantage of the situation, the fishermen captured it without a hitch. Seeing what had happened to the crucian carp, the hairtail thought, “What a fool! He could have backed off before it was too late.” It acted accordingly, but its fins got caught on the net. It could have broken free had it moved on ahead. However, it took the wrong lesson from its predecessor and desperately darted backwards rather than forward. Sure enough, it fell captive as well. The globefish sneered when its turn arrived, “You nuts! If you had neither moved forward nor backwards, you would be safe now.” So, once it reached the net its body began puffing up. Bigger and bigger did the fish inflate until it became like a balloon floating above the water. The fisherman easily subdued it like they had done the other two…