THE GOOSE AND THE GOLDEN EGG

 There was once a Countryman who possessed¹ the most wonderful Goose you can imagine, for every day when he visited the nest, the Goose had laid a beautiful, glittering², golden egg.

 

The Countryman took the eggs to market and soon began to get rich. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the Goose because she gave him only a single golden egg a day. He was not getting rich fast enough.

 

Then one day, after he had finished counting his money, the idea came to him that he could get all the golden eggs at once by killing³ the Goose and cutting it open. But when the deed was done, not a single golden egg did he find, and his precious Goose was dead.

 

Those who have plenty want more and so lose all they have.

1 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

2 glittering   

a.闪闪发亮

参考例句：

• He has a glittering career ahead of him. 他前程似锦。
• He strove for the glittering prizes of politics. 他力争在政界取得辉煌的成绩。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。