Long, long time ago, there lived a very fancy king. The king changed his clothes 12 times a day. He really liked to show off to his subjects. "My clothes are the best in the world."
One day, two tailors planned a trick.
“Why don´t we teach that stupid and extravagant king a lesson? He doesn´t even worry about his starving people.”
“That´s right! He thinks he´s the best.”
The two men went to see the king.
“Oh, the world´s most marvelous king! We have brought the most beautiful cloth in the whole world. However, not everyone is able to see the cloth. Those that tell lies and have bad hearts are not able to see this fine cloth.”
After the king heard those words, he became very interested.
“Could there really be such a cloth? If I can make clothes out of those cloths, my clothes will be the best in the whole world. Hurry up and show me the cloth.”
The king began to get more and more greedy.
The tailors pretended that the cloth was real, as they showed it to the king.
The king and the fine-spoken subjects could not see anything before them. But, none of them could show that they could not see it. The king and his fine-spoken subjects just looked at each other. Then, the tailor quickly spoke in an arrogant manner. “Well, is there no honest man here? How can you look at this beautiful cloth and not praise it?”
Among the subjects, one of them made a flattering comment out loud. “Wow! This is the first time that I have seen such a wonderful cloth.”
All the subjects tried to be the first to praise the cloth. Then, the king was amazed with the beauty of the cloth, too.
在很久很久以前，有一个非常奇特的国王。他每天要换12次衣服。他热衷于向臣民炫耀自己的新衣：“我的衣服是世界上最好的。”
有一天，两个裁缝计划着骗点钱。
“我们为什么不给那个毫不关心民生疾苦的国王一点教训！”
“对，他只考虑他自己。”
两人随后便面见国王。
“哦，世界上最伟大的国王！我们为您带来了全世界最漂亮的布料。但是，不是每个人都能看见布。那些说谎和有坏心眼的人都看不到这种精细的布料。”
国王听罢非常感兴趣。
“真的有这样一块布吗？如果能用这些布制成衣服，那我的衣服不就是世界上最好的衣服。赶紧把布给我瞧瞧。”
国王变得越来越贪婪了。
给国王看的时候，裁缝便假装布是真实存在的。
其实，国王和大臣们什么也看不到。但是，他们谁也没有说出来。国王和大臣只是互相看了看。然后裁缝说到：“难道这里没有诚实的人吗？怎么看到这么美丽的布而不赞美呢？”
话音刚落，有一位大臣开始出声赞美：“这是我第一次看到这么神奇的布料！”
所有的大臣接连不断地称赞开来。然后，国王也表现出对布料的惊讶。
重点词汇：
fancy adj. 奇特的
show off 炫耀
subject n. 臣民
tailor n. 裁缝
extravagant adj. 奢侈的
starving adj. 饥饿的
marvelous adj. 非凡的
pretend v. 假装
arrogant adj. 傲慢的
flattering adj. 谄媚的
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