The Tattooed Men

 Once there were two young men, very good friends, who were unhappy because neither of them had been tattooed¹.18 They felt that they were not as beautiful as their friends.

 

One day they agreed to tattoo² each other. One marked the breast and back of the other, his arms and legs, and even his face. And when he had finished, he took soot³ off the bottom of a cooking-pot and rubbed it into all the marks; and he was tattooed beautifully.

 

The one who had done the work said to the other:

 

“Now, my friend, you are very beautiful, and you must tattoo me.”

 

Then the tattooed one scraped a great pile of black soot off the cooking-pots, and before the other knew what he was about, he had rubbed it all over him from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet; and he [116]was very black and greasy⁴. The one who was covered with soot became very angry and cried:

 

“Why do you treat me so when I tattooed you so carefully?”

 

They began to fight, but suddenly the beautifully tattooed one became a great lizard⁵ which ran away and hid in the tall grass, while the sooty one became a crow and flew away over the village.

1 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

3 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

4 greasy   

adj. 多脂的，油脂的

参考例句：

• He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

5 lizard   

n.蜥蜴，壁虎

参考例句：

• A chameleon is a kind of lizard.变色龙是一种蜥蜴。
• The lizard darted out its tongue at the insect.蜥蜴伸出舌头去吃小昆虫。