Unit 2 Reading

The king and the rice

国王和米

A long time ago, there was a king in India. The king's favourite game was chess.

很久以前，印度有一个国王。国王最喜欢的游戏是国际象棋。

One day, a wise old man came to the palace and the king challenged him to a game.

一天，一个聪明的老人来到王宫，国王向他挑战了一场比赛。

The king promised the old man, “You can have any prize if you win the game.”

国王向老人承诺：“如果你赢了这场比赛，你可以获得任何奖金。”

The old man said, “If I win the game, I'd like one grain of rice for the first square of the chessboard,

老人说：“如果我赢了这场比赛，我想要棋盘上的第一格一粒米，

two for the second, four for the third, and then double the amount for each of the rest of the squares.”

第二格两粒米，第三格四粒米，余下的每个格都要加倍的数量。”

“Is that all?” asked the king. “Wouldn't you like gold or silver instead?”

“就这些吗？”国王问“你不喜欢金或银吗？“

“No, just rice,” replied the old man.

“是的，只要米，”老人回答说。

The king and the old man played the game for a long time.

国王和老人用了很长的时间玩了一局。

Finally, the old man won. So the king ordered his men to collect a bag of rice.

最后，老人赢了。于是国王命令他的人去取来一袋米。

He put one grain on the first square, two on the second, and so on.

他在（棋盘上的）第一格放了一粒米，在第二格上放了两粒……

The king quickly realized the problem

国王很快意识到一个问题

-- even with all the rice in the country, he would still not have enough rice to put on all the squares!

——即使动用全国所有的大米，他也无法填满（整副棋盘上）所有的方格！