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A little boy almost thought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world because poliomyelitis made his leg lame and his teeth uneven and protrudent. He seldom played with his classmates; and when the teacher asked him to answer questions, he always lowered his head without a word. 一个小男孩几乎认为自己是世界上最不幸的孩子，因为小儿麻痹症使他腿脚行动不便，牙齿参差不齐。他很少跟同学们玩耍，老师叫他回答问题时，他也总是低着头一言不发。 One spring, the boy's father asked for some saplings from the neighbor. He wanted to plant them in the front of the house. He told his children to plant a sapling each person. The father said to the children, "Whose seedling grows best, I will buy him or her a favorite gift." The boy also wanted to get his father's gift. But seeing his brothers and sisters carrying water to water the trees bouncily, anyhow, he hit upon an idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So watering it once or twice, he never attended to it. 一年春天，小男孩的父亲从邻居家讨了些树苗，他想把它们栽在房前。他叫孩子们每人种一棵。父亲对孩子们说:“谁栽的树苗长得最好，我就给谁买一件最喜欢的礼物。”小男孩也想得到父亲的礼物，但是看到兄弟姐妹们快活地提着水去浇树，不知怎么回事，他萌生了一个想法:他希望自己栽的树苗早日死去。因此他浇水一两次后，就再也没去照管小树苗了。 | 
