Donkey’s Ears（驴耳朵）
The donkey’s ears of King Midas was a punishment and humiliation given by Apollo.
国王迈达斯的驴耳朵是阿波罗给他的惩罚和羞辱。
One day, there was a musical contest between Apollo and Pan, the god of woods, with Tmolus, the god of the mountain, acting as the judge.
一天，阿波罗和牧神潘举行了一场音乐比赛，请山神特摩洛斯做评委。
To the surprise and dissatisfaction of no one present, Tmolus declared Apollo the winner, but Midas, who just happened to be passing by from there, foolishly interfered, claiming that the decision was not right.
不出意料，特摩洛斯宣布阿波罗获胜。然而，就在这时，迈达斯碰巧经过这里，他愚蠢地插话，说比赛结果错误。
Apollo had just one explanation for this disagreement：“Boy, that man must have the ears of an ass.”To add insult to injury（雪上加霜）, Apollo transformed Midas’ human ears into a pair of long, grey hairy ears of a donkey.
不出意料，特摩洛斯宣布阿波罗获胜。然而，就在这时，迈达斯碰巧经过这里，他愚蠢地插话，说比赛结果错误。
To hide those long ears from sight, Midas henceforward（今后） wore a specific kind of royal turban（头巾） in all the four seasons of the year.
此后，为了防止他人窥见自己的耳朵，迈达斯一年四季都戴着特殊的皇家包头巾。
However, it was impossible for him to hide the secret from his barber（理发师）, who had to swear an oath（誓言） of absolute secrecy, one which he was unable to bear.
然而，如何才能让他的理发师保守秘密呢？尽管理发师发誓绝不会说出去，但是这个秘密显然成了可怕的负担。
So, to get rid of his terrible burden,the barber dug a hole on a riverside one night, and whispered（窃窃私语的） into it, “King Midas has ass’ ears.”Filling the hole up carefully afterwards, the barber tiptoed（偷偷摸摸） away from it.
一天夜里，理发师跑到河边，挖了一个地洞，对着洞中悄悄说道：“迈达斯国王有对驴耳朵。”说完，他小心翼翼地把洞口填上，蹑手蹑脚地离开了。
In time, some reeds（芦苇） grew on top of this spot and the moment the first breeze ruffled them, they started murmuring（喃喃自语） Midas’ secret to the whole world：“King Midas has ass’ ears... King Midas has ass’ ears...”
过了一些日子，从那个洞口处长出了一些芦苇，第一缕微风吹过的时候，这些芦苇开始喃喃自语，将迈达斯的秘密昭告天下：“迈达斯国王有对驴耳朵……迈达斯国王有对驴耳朵……”
In English, both “donkey” and “ass” have derogatory（贬义） or insulting meaning. They are generally used to mean someone who is obstinate（顽固的）, stupid or silly.
英语中的donkey和ass都含有贬义或侮辱的意思，通常用来指顽固不化、愚蠢至极的人。
Interestingly, “donkey’s ears” has now become an idiom（习语） as in the following example：I’m so bored；I’ve been doing this job for donkey’s ears！Can you guess what it means?
有意思的是，“donkey’s ears（驴耳朵）”如今已经成了一个惯用语，例如：I’m so bored；I’ve been doing this job for donkey’s ears！你能猜到这是什么意思吗？
In fact, the word “ear” is homophonic（同音异义） to “year”. Word has it that donkeys tend to plod（辛勤工作） along slowly. They take a long time to complete a task or journey. Therefore, a donkey’s year takes a long time to elapse（流逝）.
事实上，这里的ear与year谐音。据说，毛驴干起活来非常缓慢，完成一项工作或一段旅程往往需要很长时间，因此，a donkey’s year自然就指漫长的时间了。
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