根據阿拉伯游牧部落貝都因

人的傳說，有位阿拉伯人和

他的駱駝正在跨越沙漠。夜

晚降臨後氣溫變得很低。阿

拉伯人掛起帳篷，並把他的

駱駝綁好，就去睡了。

According to a Bedouin

fable, an Arab and his

camel were crossing the

desert. Night came and

the temperature dropped.

The Arab put up his tent,

tied his camel to it, and

went to sleep.

The temperature dropped

further, and the camel asked

the Arab for refuge from the

cold. The Arab was

adamant. ―There is only

room in the tent for one!‖

The camel was quiet for

a few minutes, but soon

asked again. ―Please,

Master! Just my nose. If I

could just put my nose in

your tent, it would keep me

from freezing out here.‖

The Arab reluctantly

agreed.

不久氣溫降得相當低，駱

駝便向阿拉伯人求助取暖。

阿拉伯人態度堅定的說：

「帳篷裡只容得下一個

人！」

駱駝安靜了幾分鐘後，很

快便再次問道：「主人啊，

求求你！只有我的鼻子，

只要我能把鼻子放進帳篷

內的話，我就不會感到那

麼冷了。」

阿拉伯人很不情願的答應

了。

The camel’s nose

became warm, but after a

while the temperature

went down even more.

The camel woke the Arab

and asked, ―Please, can I

just put my forelegs in the

tent? They are very cold!‖

Again the Arab

reluctantly agreed. ―Only

your forelegs, nothing

more!‖ So the camel

nudged his forelegs into

the tent and they became

warm.

駱駝的鼻子開始感到溫暖

起來，但過了一段時間後，

天氣變得更冷了。駱駝便

吵醒阿拉伯人和問他說：

「請讓我把前腿也伸進帳

篷內吧，我的腿好冷喔！」

阿拉伯人再次很不情願的

答應了。「好吧，但只限

於你的前腿，就此而已！」

所以駱駝便把牠的前腿伸

進帳篷內，而牠的前腿也

開始感到溫暖起來了。

After some time, the

camel woke the Arab

again. ―Master, I must put

my hind legs in the tent.

Otherwise I fear that they

will freeze and I won’t be

able to finish our journey

tomorrow. What good is a

camel with frozen hind

legs?‖

再過一段時間後，駱駝又再

次吵醒阿拉伯人說：「主人

啊，我一定得把我的後腿也

伸進帳篷內。不然的話，我

怕我會凍死，那明天我們便

無法完成我們的旅程了。一

隻後腿凍壞了的駱駝有什麼

用呢？」

So the Arab agreed once

more, and the camel moved

his hind legs in. But since

there was only room in the

tent for one, the Arab was

forced to move out into the

cold, where he barely

survived the night.

阿拉伯人又再次同意， 駱

駝把牠的後腿也伸了進去。

但因帳篷裡只能容納一個

人，所以那阿拉伯人最後

被迫得離開帳篷，而差點

就被凍死！

道德上的妥協就像 那隻駱

駝一樣。剛開始似乎有點

理由－－通常只是有些小

小真理或有事實根據的想

法而已。但你若接受那想

法，類似的想法很快的就

會愈來愈多，並接管你整

個的思緒。因此，千萬別

讓那駱駝把鼻子伸進你內

心的帳篷吧！

Moral compromise is like

that camel. It just needs a

small opening to get

started—usually a thought

that seems to have some

basis in truth or reason—

but if you entertain that

thought, pretty soon it and

a whole lot more like it

move in and take over.

Don’t let the camel get its

nose inside your tent.

Arab – 阿拉伯人

Camel – 駱駝

Desert – 沙漠

Tent – 帳篷

Nose –鼻子

Forelegs – 前腿

Hind legs – 後腿

Moral compromise – 道德上的妥協

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