Many children are a great blessing;but a few good ones are a greater.
挥霍者和燕子
The Spendthrift and the Swallow
有一个年轻人，在很短的时间内就把祖辈留给他的东西都挥霍一空了，只剩下身上的一件外套。一天，他碰巧看到了一只提前从暖和的地方飞回的燕子，就误以为是春天到了，于是就把身上唯一的外衣也卖掉了。不久之后，气温骤然下降，冻得他无处躲藏，正好在路上看到冻死的燕子，便对他说道：“不幸的家伙！你为什么要提前回来呢？不仅害死了你自己，也把我连累了啊！”
不要根据单一的现象就下结论。
A Young Man，a great spendthrift，had run through all his patrimony and had but one good cloak left. One day he happened to see a Swallow，which had appeared before its season，skimming along a pool and twittering gaily. He supposed that summer had come，and went and sold his cloak. Not many days later，winter set in again with renewed frost and cold. When he found the unfortunate Swallow lifeless on the ground，he said，“Unhappy bird！ what have you done？ By thus appearing before the springtime you have not only killed yourself，but you have wrought my destruction also.”