In former days, when all a man's limbs did not work together as amicably as they do now, but each had a will and way of its own, the members generally began to find fault with the belly for spending an idle luxurious life, while they were wholly occupied in laboring for its support, and ministering to its wants and pleasure; so they entered into a conspiracy to cut off its supplies for the future; the hands were no longer to carry food to the mouth, nor the mouth to receive the food, nor the teeth to chew it.
They had not long persisted in this course of starving the belly into subjection, ere they all began, one by one, to fail and flag, and the whole body to pine away. Then the members were convinced that the belly also, cumbersome and useless as it seemed, had an important function of its own; that they could no more do without it than it could do without them; and that if they would have the constitution of the body in a healthy state, they must work together, each in his proper sphere, for the common good of all.
昔日，人的四肢还不像现在这样友善合作，而是各揣各的小心思。渐渐地，他们开始找肚子的茬儿，嫌它游手好闲，生活奢侈无度。相比之下，他们几个却要拼命苦干供它吃喝，还得有求必应，供它享乐；于是，他们共谋未来要切断供给。双手不用给嘴巴递食物，嘴巴也不用接收，牙齿也不用咀嚼。
原本想着要把肚子饿到对他们俯首帖耳，可他们没坚持多久，甚至还没开始就一个个脸色苍白、浑身乏力，整个身体日渐消瘦。他们终于明白肚子虽然看上去是个累赘，百无一用，可是却发挥着自己重要的作用。他们离不了肚子，就像肚子离了他们也不行一样。要想体格健壮，他们必须合作，各司其职，一好百好。
-limb [lɪm] n. 肢
-amicably [ˈæmɪkəblɪ] adv. 友善地
-ere [eə(r)] prep. 在……之前
-cumbersome [ˈkʌmbəsəm] adj. 累赘的
万夫一力，天下无敌。