A fox’s tail was caught in a trap. When he was trying to release himself, he lost his whole tail except the stump¹.

一只狐狸的尾巴被夹住了，当他试着脱身的时候，挣断了整条尾巴。

At first he was ashamed to see the other foxes because he had no tail, but he was determined² to face his misfortune. He called all the foxes to a meeting.

开始时，他看到其他狐狸的

When they had gotten together, the fox said that they should all do away with their tails.

时候感到很羞愧。后来，他决定面对这种不幸，就召集了所有的狐狸开会。

He said that their tails were very inconvenient³ when they met with their enemies.

大家到齐后，他极力劝说其他狐狸也割掉尾巴，说尾巴在遭遇敌人时很不方便，尾巴一点儿作用也没有。

He did not talk about any advantages of the tail. "You are right," said one of the older foxes, "but I don’t think you would advise us to do away with our tails if you hadn’t lost it yourself first."

可他没有说有尾巴的任何好处。一只老狐狸站出来说：“如果你没有失去你的尾巴，你是不会来劝大家都割去尾巴的。 ”

寓意:

有些人为了自己的利益而劝告他人，我们不能轻信他们的意见。