Shen Wenbao lived near the great lake Taihu. He was very kind. His whole family was gentle and kind. They released trapped animals whenever they could.

沈文宝住在太湖边。他是一个善良的人。他全家人都仁慈有礼，总是尽力解救被困的动物。

"Have you released those birds I bought from the hunters this noon?" Shen asked his wife.

"你把我中午从猎人那里买来的鸟都放走了吗?"沈问他妻子。

"Yes， I've let them all go，" she answered.

"是，我把它们全放走了。"她回答。

"That's wonderful，" Shen said. "Now they are free to fly wherever they please.They can fly in the sky or rest on a branch in the forest." Just thinking about it made Shen so happy that he beamed.

"很好，"沈说，"现在它们自由了，想去哪里都可以。它们可以在天空翱翔，也可以在林子里的树枝上栖息。"一想到这些沈就开心得微笑起来。

Most of the people in the area trapped and fished. Only the Shens were different. When their neighbors， caught some animals， the Shens always bought as many as they could and released them. Their neighbors thought for sure that the Shens were out of their minds. "Why waste good money on a bunch of birds? What good can it possibly do?"

这个地区的人们有设陷阱和渔猎的习惯。只有沈家与众不同。当他们的邻居们捕回动物后，沈家总是尽量买下它们来放生。邻居们认为他们都是疯子。"为一群鸟浪费钱，不知他们为什么这么做!能得到什么好处?"

"They're just simple minded， that's all." This is what most of the neighbors said.

"他们是傻瓜。"邻居们说得最多的就是这句话。

But one night， when everybody had gone to sleep except Old Man Li， who had insomnia¹， he heard voices in the street. When he looked out， he was so scared he fell over.

一天晚上，除了有失眠症的李大爷外，所有人都熟睡了。他听到街上传来奇怪的响声。他往外一看，吓得摔了一跤。

In the street， he saw two demons³ bringing an epidemic⁴. Now， of course， we say germs bring epidemics⁵. Maybe a germ is one kind of a demon². At any rate， germs are frightening to think about， and these demons Old Man Li saw sure were frightening to look at! In their hands， they carried dozens of little flags.

他看到街上有两个魔鬼带来了瘟疫。现在我们都知道，瘟疫是细菌造成的。但是细菌也许也可以看成是一种魔鬼。无论如何，细菌是很可怕的，李大爷看到的魔鬼看上去也很可怕。在他们手里，拿着许多小旗子。

One of the demons said， "One flag for each house， right?"

一个魔鬼问，"一家一面旗是吗?"

"That's right，" said the other demon， "But not that house there. That's the Shens' house. They have released lots and lots of captured animals， so we can't do anything to them."

"对，"另一个魔鬼说，"但是那一家不要插。那是沈家。他们放了许多被抓的动物，所以我们不能对他们怎么样。"

Within days， a terrible epidemic swept through the Taihu district. In less than a week， over half of the people there were dead.

几天后，一场可怕的瘟疫席卷了太湖地区。在一周内，超过一半以上的人都死了。

But the odd thing was that nobody in the Shen family got even a bit sick. His neighbors then knew that a good heart can earn good rewards. Shen Wenbao lived to a ripe old age and died peacefully， without any suffering.

奇怪的是沈家没有一个人得病。他的邻居们这时候才知道好心有好报。沈文宝活到了很老，安详死去，没有一点痛苦。