Cerita pendek bahasa Inggris tentang Kebaikan
Buku ini terbitan Balai Pustaka tahun 1982 kira-kira tiga dekade lalu.
Buku ini menurut saya sangat bagus karena isinya berbahasa Inggris dan memiliki banyak cerita pendek di dalamnya.
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Salah satu cerita pendek itulah yang kali ini akan saya sharingkan kepada para pembaca semua pada tulisan kali ini.
Sebelum itu, saya ingin menyampaikan bahwa membaca sebuah cerita pendek dalam bahasa Inggris selain bisa untuk belajar juga bisa memberi wawasan baru tentang nilai-nilai dalam kehidupan.
Ya, kebanyakan cerita jaman dulu menitikberatkan pada nilai-nilai kehidupan yang tidak hanya akan menambah vocabulary kita tapi juga jiwa sosial kita di masyarakat.
Jika di lihat dari sisi belajar bahasa Inggris sendiri, menurut saya tidak masalah kalau kita tidak mengerti semua kata yang ada di dalam teks sebuah cerita.
Itu wajar kok !Yang penting kita bisa memahami keseluruhan dari cerita tersebut atau menangkap ide pokoknya.
Tips kilat membaca bahasa asing kali ini adalah sebelum kalian membolak-balik kamus, coba baca terlebih dahulu cerita ini sampai selesai, selanjutnya barulah kalian cari kembali kata-kata mana saja yang belum kalian ketahui artinya.
Hal ini dilakukan agar kalian tidak kehilangan konsentrasi dengan alur cerita dan otak kalian belajar untuk menebak terlebih dahulu apa yang ingin disampaikan oleh cerita itu sendiri.
Nanti, di akhir cerita saya akan memberikan gambaran besar atau ringkasan dari cerita ini jadi walaupun banyak kalimat yang belum kalian pahami bisa dimengerti lewat kesimpulannya.
Balik ke cerita ini sendiri, sebenarnya ada beberapa cerita yang ada di dalam buku tadi ini (mungkin akan saya bagikan pada postingan yang akan datang).
Saya memilih cerita ini karena saya rasa cukup menarik dan berkaitan dengan perbuatan baik yang patut kita teladani.
Nah, berikut cerita bahasa Inggris nya
The Thief of Cathay
Many years ago in Old China, there lived a very fine official. He was honest and good and kind. Everyone loved him- old people, young people, children, the rich and the poor. Everyone who knew the man loved him.
One day his friends and his family had a birthday feast for him. It was his fiftieth birthday. On the day of the feast, the servants were busy all day long, making good things to eat, and getting the house ready for the evening feast. All day long the birthday gifts came, beautiful and costly gifts from rich people, simple gifts from the poor. All day long the family and servants were busy, and so they did not see a stranger enter the house. The stranger was a thief and he wanted to sreal some of the birthday gifts of the official. When no one was looking, he came into the house quietly and entered the great hall. When he came into the hall he looked around.
"Where can I hide?" he asked himself. Then he saw the great beam that went across the top of the hall.
"Ah, I can climb up on the beam and hide there," he said to himself.
So the thief quickly climbed up and hid himself by lying down on the beam. He looked down and could see the official opening all the beautiful gifts and he could see which were the costly and expensive ones.
"I'll have to wait till the feast is over and the guests are all gone," he said to himself, "then I can get down and take the gifts."
So the thief waited all day, lying quietly on the beam. At last, late the night, the feast was over and the guests were all gone. The official said goodbye to them and came back into the hall. As he entered, the thief on the beam moved a little bit, and the official saw his shadow moving in the floor. Then he knew that someone was hiding on the beam. He did not say anything, but valled a servant and said,
"Get a table ready for one more guest and bring the very best food.'
WHen this was done he said to the servant, " You can go now." And the servant left the room. Then the official turned toward the beam, looked up and said,
"Will the friend on the beam please come down now and have dinner with me?"
The thief was very surprised and a little bit afraid but he got down from the beam and sat at the table. He was ashamed and did not know what to say.
He was hungry because he had been on the beam all day. WHen they had finished their dinner, the official gave him a bag of money and said to him, "Please use this money wisely."
The he took the thief to the front door and said good night to him.
Many years passed by and on the eightieth birthday of the old official, his friends and family again had a birthday feast for him. All day the gifts came from his friends. They came from all over the city, to show how much the people loved the old official. Just before the feast in the evenint, one of the grandsons of the old official brought a special gift to him - a beautiful jewel, and said that it was from a stranger.
"He wouldn't tell me his name, Grandfather," said the young man. "He said you wouldn't know his name, but he'd like to see you."
"Let him come then," said his grandfather.
In a few moments the stranger came in. He seemed very glad to see the old man. The official asked what his name was.
"You don't know my name," said the stranger, " but you have been a true friend to me."
The the old official said, " I thank you, but I can't receive a gift if I don't know the name of the giver. If I don't know your name, I can't invite you to the birthday feast this evening."
Then the stranger said, " You don't know my name. You've never heard my name . But you have seen me and have already received me once as a guest in this home."
The old official was surprised. "WHen did I receive you? I don't remember that. I don't know you. I don't know your name."
The stranger smiled. "Perhaps," he said, "you'll remember me if I tell you how you invited me. Once a long time ago, you said to me "Will the friend on the beam please come down now and have dinner with me?"
"Oh, yes," said the official, "now I remember."
He remember the thief who had come to his birthday feast thirty years before to steal his gifts.
"Because you were good to that night." he continued the stranger, "I was surprised. Because you were kind, I was ashamed. Because you gave me a bag of money, I could start an honest business, and now I am a happy man with a happy family. Indeed you were a true friend to me that night and I come now to thank you."
The old official was very pleased.
"I'm glad," he said and shook the man's hand. "You must come this evening to the feast.
The stranger stayed for the birthday feast that evening, and of all the guests, he was the very happiest.
Kesimpulan cerita :
Dulu di Cina, ada seorang pejabat yang sangat baik dan dicintai banyak orang. Suatu hari teman dan keluarganya mengadakan sebuah pesta ulang tahun.
Tanpa mereka ketahui ada seorang asing yang menyusup ke dalam pesta tersebut dan berniat mencuri hadiah-hadiah berharga yang diberikan kepada pejabat tersebut.
Ia masuk dan bersembunyi di atas sebuah balok sambil menunggu para tamu pulang.
Setelah para tamu pulang, tanpa ia sadari sang pejabat mengetahui keberadaannya.
Alih-alih menangkap, sang pejabat malah menyuruh pelayannya untuk menyiapkan makan malam kepadanya.
Setelah makan, sang pencuri sangat terkejut ketika ia diberikan sekantong uang.
Tiga puluh tahun berlalu sampai akhirnya sang pejabat mengadakan pesta ulang tahun kembali.
Ia penasaran ketika cucunya membacakan kepadanya hadiah perhiasan yang menarik dari seseorang tidak ia kenal.
Pejabat tersebut tidak mengetahui nama dan mengenali orang tersebut.
Sampai akhirnya orang asing itu mengatakan bahwa dialah yang pernah menjadi tamu di acara ulang tahunnya berpuluh-puluh tahun silam dan memberinya sekantong uang yang yang ia gunakan untuk berbisnis dan sukses.
Sang pejabat pun akhirnya mengingat orang asing tersebut dan mengajaknya untuk bergabung di pestanya malam itu.
Nah itu tadi sebuah cerita pendek berbahasa Inggris yang tidak hanya bisa menambah perbendaharaan kata kita tapi juga menambah wawasan kita tentang pelajaran hidup terutama membuat sebuah kebaikan.
