The Three Army-surgeonsThere were once three army-surgeons who reckoned that they had nothing more to learn about the art of surgery. They were on their travels., and stopped for the night at an inn. The landlord asked them where they had come from and where they were going, and they answered, "We're on our travels and living by our skill." "Well, just show me what you do," said the landlord. The first said he would cut off his hand and put it back on again next morning and make it heal; the second said he would tear out his heart and put it back in again next morning so that it would heal; the third said he would gouge out his eyes, and they too would heal when he replaced them next morning. "If you can do that," said the landlord, "then you've nothing more to learn." Now they had with them an ointment which was able to close and heal any wound they smeared it on, and they always carried the flask containing it wherever they went. So they cut from their bodies the hand and the heart and the eyes as they had said they would, put them all together on a plate and gave it to the landlord; and the landlord gave it to a maidservant, telling her to put it aside in the larder and keep it carefully. But this maidservant secretly had a sweetheart who was a soldier. So when the landlord and the three surgeons and everyone else in the house were asleep, the soldier came and asked her for something to eat. So the girl opened the larder and brought in something from it, and she was so much in love with him that she forgot to close the larder door. she sat down with her sweetheart at the table and they had a good chat, but as she sat there without a care in the world the cat came creeping in, found the larder open, snatched the hand and the heart and the eyes that belonged to the three surgeons and made off with them. So when the soldier had finished eating and the girl got up to clear away the dishes and lock the larder, she saw at once that the plate the landlord had given her to look after was empty. She took fright and said to her young man: "Oh, heaven save me, what am I to do? The hand's gone, and the heart and the eyes are gone, whatever will happen to me tomorrow morning!" "Stop crying," he said, "I'll get you out of this. There's a thief hanging on the gallows out there, and I'll cut his hand off; which hand was it?" "The right hand." So the girl gave him a sharp knife and he went outside, cut the poor sinner's right hand off and brought it in. Then he seized the cat and gouged out its eyes; now all that was needed was the heart. "Haven't you just slaughtered some pigs and put their carcasses in the cellar?" "Yes," said the girl, "Well, that's all right then," said the soldier, and he went down to the cellar and came back with a pig 's heart. The maid put all the things together on a plate and left it in the larder: then her sweetheart took his leave and she went to bed thinking all was well. When the three surgeons got up next morning, they told the maid to fetch them the plate with the hand and the heart and the eyes. So she fetched it out of the cupboard, and the first surgeon held the thief's hand in place and smeared the join with his ointment, whereupon the hand at once grew back on to his arm. The second took the cat's eyes and fitted them into his head, and the third put the pig's heart in place. The landlord stood and watched their skill with admiration, saying that he had never seen such a thing in his life and that he would praise and recommend them to all and sundry. Then they paid their bill and travelled on. As they were walking along, the one who had the pig's heart kept on leaving the others; every time they passed some corner he would trot over to it and root around in it like a pig. The other two tried to hold him back by the coat tails, but it was no good, he kept running off to wherever the filth was thickest on the ground. The second of them also began to behave strangely, rubbing his eyes and saying to the other: "My dear fellow, what's the matter with me? These aren't my eyes, I can't see a thing, for heaven's sake one of you hive me your arm or I'll fall." And they struggled on till evening, when they came to another inn. They all went into the parlor, and there in one corner a rich gentleman was sitting at the table counting money. The surgeon with the thief's hand sidled round behind him, his arm twitched a few times and finally, when the gentleman had his back turned, he reached out and snatched a handful of coins from the pile. One of the others saw this and said: "My dear fellow, what are you doing? It's wrong to steal, you ought to be ashamed." "Yes, but I can't stop myself," said his friend. "My hand keeps twitching and just has to help itself whether I want to or not." Then they went to bed, and as they lay there it was so dark that you couldn't have seen your hand in front of your face. Suddenly the one with the cat's eyes woke up, wakened the others and said: "My dear friends, look at this, do you see all these white mice running about?" The other two sat up in bed but couldn't see a thing. Then he said: "There's something wrong with us: we didn't back our own parts, that landlord cheated us and we must go back to him." So next morning they set off back and told the landlord that their right organs hadn't been returned to them: one of them had a thief's hand, the second cat's eyes and the third a pig's heart. The landlord said that it must be the maid's fault and was going to call her, but when the girl had seen the three surgeons returning she had fled through the back door, and she didn't reappear. Then the three of them told the landlord that unless he paid them a great deal of money they'd make a bonfire of his house; so he gave them all he had and all he could raise, and off they went with it. It was enough to keep them for the rest of their lives, but they'd still rather have had their own organs back.
I. Translation for Reference(參考譯文) 三個軍醫 從前,有三個自以爲醫術都學到家了的軍醫在各地旅行.一天晚上,他們來到一家旅店.旅店老闆問他們從哪裏來,到哪裏去?他們回答說:"我們靠本領,到各處旅行.""你們有什麼本領,讓我開開眼界好嗎?"旅店老闆說.於是,第一個軍醫說,他可以把自己的手砍下來,明天早晨再接好;第二個軍醫說,他可以把自己的心挖出來,明天早晨再放回去;第三個軍醫說,他可以把自己的兩隻眼睛全剜出來,明天早晨再裝好."要是真能這樣的話,"老闆說,"那你們的本領可就真到家了!"原來,三個軍醫有一種藥膏,只要抹上去,傷口就會癒合,他們總是隨身帶着那裝藥的小瓶子.他們按自己說的那樣,把手,心,眼睛從身上割下來,一起裝在一個盤子裏,交給旅店老闆.旅店老闆又把盤子給女傭人,叫她把盤子放在櫃廚裏小心保管.女傭人私下與一個士兵相戀.就在旅店老闆,三個軍醫和屋裏的人們都睡着了的時候,那個士兵來了,他向她要點東西吃.於是,女傭人把櫃廚打開,給他拿東西吃.她對他情意綿綿,竟忘了關上櫃廚的門.她與情人坐在牀邊,沒完沒了地聊了起來,把這世上任何事情都拋到了腦後,可就在這時候,貓悄悄地溜進來了,看到櫃廚的門敞着,於是叼起三個軍醫的手,心,眼睛跑了.那個兵吃完東西以後,女傭人開始收拾碗筷,當她去關櫥門的時候,發現老闆讓她看管的那隻盤子空了.她嚇了一跳,對她的情人說:"天啊!我該怎麼辦呢?手沒了!心和眼睛也沒了!明天早晨我可怎麼交差呀!"士兵說:"別擔心!我想辦法幫你渡過難關.外面絞刑架上吊着一個小偷.我去把他的手切下來.哪隻手呢?""右手!"女傭人說着,交給士兵一把鋒利的菜刀.士兵出去把那個可憐的犯人的右手砍下來,交給了女傭人.然後,他們又把貓抓住,把貓的眼睛剜出來.現在只缺個心了."你們不是剛殺了幾頭豬,把豬肉放在地下室裏了嗎?""嗯,是啊!"女傭人說."這就好了!"那個兵說着,就下到地下室裏去,把豬心拿上來.女傭人把這三樣東西一起放在盤子上,送進櫃廚裏.她的情人告別走了,女傭人也放心地去睡覺了. 第二天早上,三個軍醫起來,叫女傭人把那裝着手,心和眼睛的盤子拿過來.女傭人打開櫃廚,把泡子拿出來.第一個軍醫把小偷的手接上又抹上藥膏,馬上手就長在他胳膊上了.第二個軍醫把貓眼睛裝在眼窩裏.第三個軍醫把豬心裝進了胸膛.旅店老闆站在他們身邊,非常佩服他們高強的本領,說他有生以來還從來沒見過這樣的事情呢.他還說,遇見別人,一定好好宣揚他們.於是,他們三個人繳了店錢,又繼續旅行去了. 三個軍醫往前走啊走,安上豬心的軍醫總不和另外兩個軍醫一起走.遇到個角落,他就跑過去,像頭豬似的,用鼻子到處聞.另外的兩個人不管怎麼拉他的衣服,都一點兒也不頂用.他總是掙開,跑到那最骯髒的地方去.第二個軍醫的行爲也很奇怪.他揉着眼睛,對另外一個軍醫說:"夥計,這是怎麼的了?這不是我的眼睛啊!我怎麼什麼也看不見了?你們誰來扶我一下,別讓我摔跟頭!"就這樣,他們三個人非常困難地往前走,晚上,他們走進另一家旅店.剛一進大廳,就看到有一個財主正坐在角落的飯桌數錢呢.安上小偷手的軍醫,在財主身邊走過來,走過去,動了幾回胳膊.就在財主轉身之機,他把手伸到錢堆去,抓了一大把錢出來.另一個軍醫看見了說:"夥計,你幹什麼?不能偷東西呀!真不知羞恥!"安上小偷手的軍醫說:"唉!我無法控制自己,我的心不想偷,可手卻不聽指揮,非要抓錢不可!"後來,他們睡覺去了.躺下時天已漆黑了,伸手不見五指.可是那安上貓眼睛的軍醫突然醒了,喊那兩個軍醫起來:"老兄,快看啊!有好多老鼠在那裏亂跑呢,看見了嗎?"另外兩個軍醫起身看了看,什麼也沒看見.安上貓眼睛的軍醫說："我們都變了!旅店老闆沒有把我們的手,心和眼睛還給我們!我們得回去向他要!他欺騙了我們!"第二天早晨,他們三個人起身到第一次住宿的旅店老闆那裏去,說他們沒有得到自己的手,心和眼睛.一個人得的是小偷的手,一個人得的是貓的眼睛,另一個得的是豬的心.老闆說,這一定是女傭人的錯.於是,要叫她來.但是女傭人看到他們三人回來,早就從後門逃跑了,再也沒有回來.於是三個軍醫要老闆拿出很多錢來,要不就點火燒房子.老闆把現錢和能收上來的錢都拿出來讓他們帶走了.這些錢雖然夠他們用一輩子的,可是他們寧願討回自己的手，心和眼睛啊!
II. Exercise Choose the correct answer to the following questions. 1). What did the three surgeons think of themselves? A) They thought they know nothing about the art of surgery. B) They thought they had nothing to learn about the art of surgery. C) They thought they hadn't known enough to be great surgeons. D) They thought they just knew a little about the art of surgery. 2). How could the surgeons replace their hand, heart and eyes and make them heal? A) They were so great surgeons that they could operate on themselves. B) They asked a mysterious surgeon to help them. C) They had a kind of medicine to take.
D) The had a kind of ointment to smear on the wound. 3). How did the hand, heart and eyes get lost? A) The maidservant didn't close the larder door from beginning. B) The soldier stole them without being noticed by the maidservant. C) A dog snatched them when the maidservant sat there without a care in the world and with the larder door open. D) A cat snatched them when the maidservant sat there without a care in the world and with the larder door open. 4). What kinds of organs did the maidservant and the soldier change? A) The thief's left hand, the cat's eyes and the pig's heart. B) The thief's left hand, the dog's eyes and the pig's heart. C) The thief's right hand, the cat's eyes and the pig's heart. D) The thief's right hand, the dog's eyes and the pig's heart. 5). Which word has the same meaning with the word "cupboard" which is in the third paragraph? A) larder B) cup C) board D) box 6). What's wrong with the one who had the cat's eyes? A) He kept on l
