Otkriće jednog mudraca: Bajka za one koji uče engleski jezik

(A Wise Man's Discovery: A Fable for English Learners)

¹  U davna vremena, živio je jedan mudrac u Donjoj Zemlji. On i njegovi susjedi su izgradili nove kuće i započeli novi život.

¹ A long time ago, there was a wise man living in the Low Country. He and his neighbors had built new homes and started a new life.

²  Njihova prva zima u Donjoj Zemlji je bila teška zato što mnogi od njih nisu završili svoje kuće ili skupili svoju ljetinu prije zime. Kada je proljeće konačno stiglo, oni su znali da ne samo da su morali zasaditi svoju ljetinu, nego da takođe izgrade žitnicu da uskladište dolazeću žetvu.

² Their first winter in the Low Country was difficult because many had not finished their houses or harvested their corps before winter. When spring finally came, they knew that they must not only plant their crops, but they must also build a granary to store the coming harvest.

³  Puno su razgovarali o žitnici. Kada su živjeli u Gornjoj Zemlji, bilo je dovoljno da je izgrade tako da bude dovoljno jaka i da spriječi Kozu da uđe unutra. U Donjoj Zemlji su shvatili da je potrebno da vode računa i o Medvjedu, Jelenu i Losu. Zato što je Medvjed bio moćan, žitnica mora biti veoma jaka.

³ They talked much about the granary. When they lived in the High Country, they only needed to build it strong enough to keep Goat out. In the Low Country, they knew they also needed to consider Bear, Deer, and Elk. Because Bear was powerful, the granary must be very strong.

⁴  Jedna stara čelična cesta je prolazila pored njihovog sela. Nekada je velika mašina koja je puštala paru, koristila ovu cestu, ali to više nije bio slučaj. Postojala je jedna ogromna željezna kutija na točkovima, udaljena od sela pola sata hoda uz čeličnu cestu. Svi su se složili da ako bi tu kutiju mogli dogurati do sela, mogla bi služiti kao bezbjedna žitnica. Čak ni Medvjed ne bi mogao otvoriti jaka željezna vrata.

⁴ There was an old steel road that passed by their village. The large steam-breathing machines that once used this road no longer needed it. There was a huge iron box on wheels about a half hour's walk up the steel road from the village. All agreed that if the box could be pushed to the village, it could serve as a safe granary. Even Bear could not open the strong iron doors.

⁵  Tako su ljudi pokušali dogurati željeznu kutiju do sela. Ali ona je bila tako teška da su je jedva mogli pokrenuti. Svi ljudi su radili veoma teško. Posle mnogo napora, oni su gurnuli kutiju tek toliko koliko je duga ljudska šaka i onda su se morali odmoriti. Dva dana su gurali i odmarali se. Gurali i odmarali se. Zatim su gurali i sve duže se odmarali. Konačno, svi su bili iscrpljeni. ''Bilo bi manje rada,'' rekli su, ''izgraditi žitnicu u selu nego pomjeriti željeznu kutiju.'' 

⁵ So the men tried to push the iron box to the village. But it was so heavy that they could barely make it move. All the men worked very hard. After much effort, they had pushed the box only as far as the length of a man's hand before they needed to rest. For two days they pushed and rested. Pushed and rested. Then they pushed and rested some more. At last, they were all exhausted. "It would take less work," they said, "to build a granary in the village than to move the iron box."

⁶  Nova žitnica je bila izgrađena u selu. Držala je hranu tokom dvije zime. A onda je došla suša. Polja su slabo rodila žitom. U jesen, u šumi je pronađeno nešto malo plodova, jer je Medvjed uzimao skoro sve za sebe. Jelen i Los su jeli sve što je preostalo. Ipak, zbog toga što su ljudi bili pažljivi i teško radili, u žitnici je bilo dovoljno hrane da im traje tokom zime.

⁶ A new granary was built in the village. It held food during two winters. And then the drought came. The fields produced little grain. In the fall, few berries were found in the forest because Bear was taking almost everything for himself. Deer and Elk were eating all that was left. Still, because the people had been careful and worked hard, the granary held enough food to last them for the winter.

⁷  Onda, jedne noći prije nego što je Medvjed utonuo u zimski san, razbio je vrata od žitnice. Pojeo je mnogo hrane. Nakon što je Medvjed otišao, Jelen i Los su takođe napunili svoje trbuhe.

⁷ Then one night, just before Bear was ready to go to sleep for the winter, he smashed the granary door. He ate much of the food. After Bear left, Deer and Elk also filled their bellies.

⁸  Tokom hladne i teške zime, kada je svako bio gladan, mudrac je ponovo razmišljao o željeznoj kutiji na čeličnoj cesti. Zaključio je da zasigurno mora postojati način da se kutija pomjeri u selo. Da li je bilo moguće da je problem bio u tome što su ljudi zastajali da se odmore svaki put nakon što su tek malo pomjerili željeznu kutiju?

⁸ During the cold, hard winter, when everyone was hungry, the wise man thought again about the iron box on the steel road. Certainly, he decided, there must be a way to move it to the village. Was it possible that the problem had been that they had stopped to rest each time after moving the iron box only a short distance?

⁹  U rano proljeće naredne godine, mudrac je imao plan. Poveo je sa sobom četiri mlada čovjeka do željezne kutije na točkovima.   Svaki čovjek je vodio svog magarca.

⁹ Early the next spring, the wise man had a plan. He took four young men with him to the iron box on wheels. Each man led his donkey.

¹⁰  Ljudi su najprije vezali dugačko uže za prednji dio željezne kutije. Potom su posjekli jedno visoko drvo kao za stub i postavili ga uspravno. Bacili su uže preko vrha stuba. Konačno, privezali su teško kamenje za kraj užeta. Mudrac je znao da je uže vuklo željeznu kutiju čak iako se još nije pomjerala. Potom, mudrac je upregao magarce tako da su i oni takođe mogli vući željeznu kutiju. Konačno, mudrac i četiri mladića su gurnuli najjače što su mogli. Željezna kutija se polako počela pomjerati.

¹⁰ The men first tied a long rope to the front of the iron box. Then they cut a tall tree for a pole and stood it upright. They threw the rope over the top of the pole. Finally, they fastened heavy rocks to the end of the rope. The wise man knew that the rope was pulling on the iron box even though it was not yet moving. Next, the wise man harnessed the donkeys to the iron box so that they could also pull. Finally, the wise man and the four young men pushed as hard as they could. The iron box slowly began to move.

¹¹  Ali plan mudraca je bio drugačiji od plana seljana ranije. On i mladići se nisu zaustavili da se odmore. Umjesto toga, čak i pošto je teško kamenje doseglo do zemlje, ljudi su nastavljali gurati željeznu kutiju.

¹¹ But the wise man's plan was different from the villagers' plan before. He and the young men did not stop to rest. Instead, even after the heavy rocks had reached the ground, the men kept pushing the iron box.

¹²  Željezna kutija na točkovima je učinila ono što je mudrac očekivao. Što su duže gurali, željezna kutija se brže pomjerala. Oni nisu morali teško raditi da je održe u kotrljanju kada se jednom počela pomjerati.

¹² The iron box on wheels did just what the wise man thought it would. The longer they pushed, the faster the iron box moved. They did not need to work as hard to keep it rolling once it began to move.

¹³  Mudrac je znao da ako bi svi ljudi u selu radili zajedno, mogli bi preseliti željeznu kutiju u selo. On je znao da bi svi oni trebali raditi veoma teško da bi postigli da se željezna kutija počne pomjerati. Onda kad se jednom počela pomjerati, neki su se mogli odmarati dok su drugi mogli gurati. Bez zastajanja, mogli bi polako premjestiti željeznu kutiju u selo.

¹³ The wise man knew that if all of the village men would work together, they could move the iron box to the village. He knew that they would all need to work very hard to get the iron box to start moving. Then once it was moving some could rest and others could push. If they did not stop, they could slowly move the iron box to their village.

¹⁴  Sledeće godine, njihova hrana bi bila zaštićena od Medvjeda.

¹⁴ The next year, their food would be safe from Bear.

¹⁵  Ako počinješ učiti engleski jezik uz pomoć Spoken English Learned Quickly, znaš da je učenje svakog jezika teško. Možda ćeš raditi teško dvije ili tri sedmice, i izgledaće kao da se ništa ne dešava. Međutim, učiti da govoriš engleski jezik je veoma slično guranju vagona na željezničkoj pruzi. U početku će zahtijevati mnogo napora. Ali ako nastaviš raditi, vidjećeš sve više i više napretka.

¹⁵ If you are beginning to study English with Spoken English Learned Quickly, you know that learning any language is difficult. You may work hard for two or three weeks and it will seem like nothing is happening. However, learning to speak English is much like pushing a heavy car on a railroad track. It will take much effort at first. But if you keep working, you will see more and more progress.