An oyster that was very proud was talking with a fish. “Let's be friends and we can look after each other whenever the fisherman's net comes along,” the fish suggested.
The proud oyster replied, “I have a strong shell and I feel safe when I close my shell, for no harm can happen to me.”
“But when you close your shell, you may not know what is happening?” answered the fish.
Still the oyster boasted that he was perfectly safe and he needs no friends to warn him.
Suddenly, there was a great splashing sound and the oyster closed his shell and very quickly kept quiet.
“What could the splashing have been? Was it a net, or was the fish caught?” the oyster wondered. When at last the oyster opened his shell, he found himself in a strange place.
“Where am I?” He looked for the fish but it was no longer around.
Sadly, the oyster found he was at a fishmonger 's stall . A ticket on his back marked, “For Sale!”
一只高傲的牡蛎和一条鱼聊天。“咱俩做朋友吧，渔夫来撒网的时候也好有个照应。”鱼建议说。
高傲的牡蛎回答说：“我的外壳无比坚固，只要我闭紧外壳，我就安全了，没有什么能伤害到我。”
“可是你一闭紧外壳，不就不知道外面的情况了吗？”鱼问道。
牡蛎继续吹嘘说他安全得很，不需要谁来提醒他。
突然传来一阵水花溅起的巨响，牡蛎合上了外壳，赶紧闭上了嘴。
“那水花声是怎么回事？是撒网的声音呢，还是鱼被抓住了呢？”牡蛎琢磨着。终于，他张开外壳的时候，发现自己待在一个陌生的地方。
“我这是在哪儿？”他到处找那条鱼，可是鱼不见了。
可悲的是，牡蛎发现自己躺在鱼贩子的货摊上，背上还贴了一张票，上面写着：“牡蛎出售！”
-splash [splæʃ] v. 使(液体)溅起
-fishmonger [ˈfɪʃmʌŋɡə(r)] n. 鱼贩子
-stall [stɔːl] n. 货摊
莎士比亚在戏剧《一报还一报》(Measure for Measure )中这样写道：“一个骄傲的人，结果总是在骄傲里毁灭了自己，他一味对镜自赏，自吹自擂，遇事只顾浮夸失实，到头来只是事事落空而已。”