X "The lord soon called his steward

 "The lord soon called his steward¹: 'Go

Bring in the men quick as ye may;

Give them the wages that I owe,

And, lest they aught against me say,

Range them along here in a row,

To each alike his penny pay;

Start with the last who standeth low,

And to the first proceed straightway,'

And then the first began to pray,

Complaining they had travailed sore:

'These wrought² but one hour of the day,

We think we should receive the more.'"

"'More have we served,' they muttered low,

'Who have endured the long day's heat,

Than these who not two hours toiled³ so;

Why should their claim with ours compete?'

Said the master: 'I pay all I owe;

Friend, no injustice⁴ shalt thou meet;

Take that which is thine own and go.

For a penny we settled in the street;

Why dost thou now for more entreat⁵?

Thou wast well satisfied before.

Once made, a bargain is complete;

Why shouldst thou, threatening, ask for more?"

"'What can be more within my gift

Than what I will with mine to do?

Let not thine eyes to evil shift,

Because I trusty am, and true.'

'Thus I,' said Christ, 'all men shall sift⁶.

The last shall be the first of you;

And the first last, however swift,

For many are called, but chosen, few.'

And thus poor men may have their due,

That late and little burden bore;

Their work may vanish like the dew,

The mercy of God is much the more."

"More gladness have I, herewithin,

Of flower of life, and noble name,

Than all men in the world might win,

Who thought their righteous deeds to name.

Nathless even now did I begin;

To the vineyard as night fell I came,

But my Lord would not account it sin;

He paid my wages without blame.

Yet others did not fare the same,

Who toiled and travailed there before,

And of their hire might nothing claim,

Perchance shall not for a year more."

Then more, and openly, I spake:

"From thy tale no reason can I wring⁷;

God's righteousness doth ever wake,

Else Holy Writ⁸ is a fabled⁹ thing.

From the Psalter one verse let us take,

That may to a point this teaching bring:

'Thou requitest each for his deed's sake,

Thou high and all-foreknowing King.'

If one man to his work did cling

All day, and thou wert paid before,

Most wage falls to least labouring,

And ever the less receives the more."

1 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

2 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

3 toiled   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• They toiled up the hill in the blazing sun. 他们冒着炎炎烈日艰难地一步一步爬上山冈。
• He toiled all day long but earned very little. 他整天劳碌但挣得很少。

4 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

5 entreat   

v.恳求，恳请

参考例句：

• Charles Darnay felt it hopeless entreat him further,and his pride was touched besides.查尔斯-达尔内感到再恳求他已是枉然，自尊心也受到了伤害。
• I entreat you to contribute generously to the building fund.我恳求您慷慨捐助建设基金。

6 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

7 wring   

n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭

参考例句：

• My socks were so wet that I had to wring them.我的袜子很湿，我不得不拧干它们。
• I'll wring your neck if you don't behave!你要是不规矩，我就拧断你的脖子。

8 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

9 fabled   

adj.寓言中的，虚构的

参考例句：

• For the first week he never actually saw the fabled Jack. 第一周他实际上从没见到传说中的杰克。
• Aphrodite, the Greek goddness of love, is fabled to have been born of the foam of the sea. 希腊爱神阿美罗狄蒂据说是诞生于海浪泡沫之中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》