The rogue and the oracle 无赖和圣人（中英）

A Rogue laid a wager that he would prove the Oracle at Delphi to be untrustworthy by procuring from it a false reply to an inquiry by himself. So he went to the temple on the appointed day with a small bird in his hand, which he concealed under the folds of his cloak, and asked whether what he held in his hand were alive or dead. If the Oracle said “dead,” he meant to produce the bird alive: if the reply was “alive,” he intended to wring its neck and show it to be dead. But the Oracle was one too many for him, for the answer he got was this: “Stranger, whether the thing that you hold in your hand be alive or dead is a matter that depends entirely on your own will.”

一个狡猾的人下赌注，他能让德尔斐（希腊古都）的圣人用错误的回答来证明自己不值得信赖。于是，到了约定好的那一天，他来到了庙里，手里拿着一只小麻雀，并将它藏在外衣里面。他问圣人自己手中拿着的东西是活的还是死的。如果圣人说“是死的”，他便把活着的麻雀拿出来；如果圣人说“是活的”，他就捏死麻雀，然后再将死的拿出来。可是，圣人远比他更高明，说道：“陌生人，不管你手里的东西是死是活，完全取决于你自己的意愿！”