2 The Cock and the Jewel
As a cock was scratching up the straw in a farmyard, in search of
food for the hens, he hit upon a jewel that by some chance
had found its way there. “Ho!”said he, “you are a very fine thing, no doubt, 
to those who prize you; but give me a barley-corn before all the pearls in the world.”
—— Aesop
scratch up v 挖起
straw n 稻草
hit upon v 找到
prize v 高度重視，珍視
中譯 公雞和寶石
一隻公雞正在農家院子裹扒開稻草給母雞找吃的。忽然，他發現一顆寶石不知怎的落在那兒。“哼！”公雞說：“對於賞識寶石的人來說，你倒是寶貝；但我現在情願要一顆麥粒，也不稀罕世上所有的珠寶。”
——伊索
原來如此！
此篇喻指一件對某人也許是無價之寶的東西，對另一人來說，也許一文不值。英語諺語A barley corn is better than a diamond to a cock.就是出自此篇。更常用的一句是：One man’s meat is another man’s poison.（對甲有利的對乙可能有害）。每個人的需要都不同，如果能得到對他來說最需要的東西，那比得到金銀財寶更有價值。
另一方面，表示某些人對寶物不懂欣賞，給了他們就是明珠暗投，對牛彈琴。英諺也有一句：cast pearls before swine.（向豬投珠是枉然）。
增值英語
…in search of food…
in search of解“尋找，尋求”。
He spent almost an hour in search of his notes.他花了差不多一小時尋找筆記。
They came all the way from the U.S. in search of their relations.他們從美國遠道來尋找親屬。
by some chance had found its way there.
by (some)chance解“碰巧”，“偶然”。
He met with his old friend in the street yesterday by (some) chance.昨天他偶然在路上遇到他的老友。
By (some) chance, I found the book under my pillow.碰巧我在枕頭下面找到那書。
to find one’s way to/into解“設法到達”、“找到了…的途徑”。
With the help of a policeman, the old man found his way home.得到警察的幫助，那位老人找到路回家。
The student has found her way to the solution for the sticky issue.那學生找到了難題的答案。
…no doubt…
no doubt解“無疑地”，同義詞為undoubtedly，doubtless；在口語中使用時，解“不用說”，“難怪”。
No doubt, she has changed her attitude towards learning.無疑，她已改變了對學習的態度。
No doubt, you know the story so well.難怪你對這故事非常熟悉。