When George Washington was quite a little boy， his father gave him a hatchet①. It was bright and new， and George took great delight in going about and chopping② things with it.
One day， he ran into the garden， and there he saw a tree which seemed to say to him， “Come and cut me down！”
George had often seen his father’s men chop down the great trees in the forest， and he thought that it would be fine sport to see this tree fall with a crash③ to the ground. So he set to work with is little hatchet， and， as the tree was a very small one， it did not take long to lay it low.
Soon after that， his father came home. “Who has been cutting my fine young cherry tree？” he cried. “It was the only tree of this kind in this country， and it cost me a great deal of money.” He was very angry when he came into the house. “If only I knew who killed that cherry tree，” he cried， “I would—yes， I would—”
“Father！” cried little George. “I will tell you the truth about it. I chopped the tree down with my hatchet.”
His father forgot his anger. “George，” he said， and he took the little fellow in his arms， “George， I am glad that you told me about it. I would rather lose a dozen cherry trees than that you should tell one falsehood④.”
① hatchetn. 短柄小斧
② chopv. 砍，劈，斩
③ crashn. 撞击声，爆裂声
④ falsehoodn. 谎言，说谎
乔治·华盛顿和他的斧子
当乔治·华盛顿还是个小孩子的时候，他的父亲给了他一把斧子。这把新斧子闪闪发亮，乔治非常喜欢带着它四处走动，用它砍东西。
一天，他跑进花园，在那里他看见一棵树，那棵树好像在对他说：“来吧，来砍倒我吧！”
乔治经常看见他父亲的工人们在森林里把大树砍倒，他想，看着那棵树轰隆一声倒在地上，一定是一种非常有趣的游戏。于是乔治就用他的小斧子砍了起来，由于这棵树很小，所以没用多长时间他就将它砍倒了。
过了不久，他的父亲回家了。“谁砍了我那棵可爱的小樱桃树？”他喊道，“这是本地唯一的一棵这种树，是我花了很多钱才买回来的。”他进屋的时候非常生气。“一旦我发现是谁砍了那棵樱桃树，我就要——，是的，我一定要——”
“父亲！”小乔治喊道，“我告诉您是怎么回事儿。是我用我的那把斧子把树砍倒了。”
他父亲不再生气了。“乔治，”他说，把这个小家伙搂在怀里，“乔治，你能够把事情告诉我，我非常高兴。我宁愿失去一棵樱桃树，也不愿意听你说一句谎话。”