伊索寓言（学生版 插图本英文原版）

　　The Fables of Aesop have became one of the most enduring traditions of European culture，ever since they were first written down nearly two millennia ago. Aesop was reputedly a tonguetied slave who miraculously received the power of speech; from his legendary storytelling came the collections of prose and verse fables scattered throughout Greek and Roman literature. First published in English by Caxton in 1484， the fables and their morals continue to charm modern readers： who does not know the stories of the tortoise and the hare， and the boy who cried Wolf？.

　　Aesop，famous for his fables，was a slave who lived mid-sixth century BC，in Anciecnt Greece．The place of Aesop's birth was and still is disputed： Thrace，Phrygia，Egypt，Ethiopia，Samos，Athens，Sardis and Amorium all claimed the honor．Little is known about him from credible records，except that he was at one point freed from slavery and that he eventually died in Delphi．In fact，the obscurity shrouding his life has led some scholars tu deny his existence altogether．