邀请

Invitation

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said, “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?” they asked, “No,” she said. “he’s out.” “Then we cannot come in,” they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. “Go and tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a house together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know.

One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!!” he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come in and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!”

“Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman went out and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.”

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?”

The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, Wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”

【助读词汇】

◇heed vt. 注意或听从（劝告等）

【参考译文】

邀请

一个女人走出家门看到三个长着白色长胡须的老人坐在她家的前院里，她并不认识他们。她说：“我想我不认识你们，但是你们肯定饿了。请进来吃点东西吧。”

“你们家的男主人在家吗？”他们问道。“不在，”她说，“他出去了。”“那我们不能进去。”他们回答道。

傍晚，当她丈夫回到家，她告诉了他自己遇到的事。“去告诉他们我回来了，你请他们进来！”女人就出去请他们进屋来。“我们不同时进一栋房子，”他们回答道。“为什么？”女人想知道。

一个老人解释说：“他名叫财富，”他指着他的一个朋友说，然后他又指着另一个说，“他是成功，而我是爱。”然后他补充说，“现在进去跟你丈夫讨论下想让我们中间谁进屋。”

女人进屋去告诉了她丈夫老人的话，她丈夫非常高兴。“多好啊！！”他说，“既然是这样，让我们邀请财富吧，让他进来把我们家里装满财富！”

他妻子不同意：“亲爱的，我们为什么不邀请成功呢？”他们的儿媳在房子的另一头听着他们的谈话，她跳出来提出了自己的建议：“邀请爱不是更好吗？这样我们家就充满爱了！”

“让我们听儿媳的建议吧，”丈夫对他妻子说。“出去请爱做我们的客人。”

女人出去问三个老人：“你们谁是爱啊？请进来做我们的客人。”

爱站起来开始朝房子走去，另外两个人也站起来跟着他走。女人感到很意外，她问财富和成功：“我只邀请了爱，为什么你们也进来呢？”

老人们齐声回答道：“如果你邀请的是财富和成功，我们中间的另两个人就会待在外面，但是既然你邀请了爱，不管他去哪里，我们都会跟他一起去。不论哪里，只要有爱，那里就会有财富和成功！”

【人生启迪】

虽然说成功和财富对每个人都很重要，但去不是最重要的。多少次，当人们为了要成功，要追求财富，不择手段，到最后发现自己穷得只剩下钱了，孤身一人，特别凄凉。所以，让我们把爱放在心上，不要为了别的东西放弃爱！