Proverbs Related to Animals.

"When the cat's away,..."

Rose and James are parents to two teenage children. When they are away on Friday nights, the children always take advantage ( aprovechan ) of their parents’ absence by having a party with their friends. You know what people say: When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

Last week, Rose declined a promotion at work, as she thought it would have been too difficult. Her bosses were a bit disappointed (decepcionados ) because they had given her the chance ( la oportunidad) to improve (mejorar) but she couldn’t be persuaded to take the job. As the Managing Director said, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”.

James owns (es el dueño de) a software company, and refused to give his best programmer a pay rise,(aumento de sueldo ) even though he made a lot of profit for the company. Soon he left and the new worker was not as good, so the company lost a lot of clients. Everyone told James that he had “killed the goose that lays the golden egg” because he sacrificed future benefits to save money in the short-term.(corto plazo)

Their daughter, Nathalie, recently broke up (rompió) with her boyfriend Charles. Her mother comforted   (consoló) her by saying “there are plenty more fish in the sea”. In other words, if that relationship hadn’t worked, there would be more opportunities to find other boyfriends. Meanwhile, her brother Peter has decided not to see his ex-girlfriend again because she had given him a lot of headaches in the past and he’s afraid that she would cause a lot of trouble again. He decided it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.

English Proverb	Spanish Equivalent
1. When the cat’s away, the mice will play. [Cuando el gato está fuera, los ratones juegan.]	I. Cuando el gato duerme, bailan los ratones.
2. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. [Puedes llevar a un caballo hasta el agua, pero no puedes hacer que beba.]	II. Puedes darle un consejo a alguien, pero no puedes obligarlo a que lo siga.
3. Kill the goose that lays the golden egg. [Matar al ganso que pone el huevo de oro.]	III. Matar a la gallina de los huevos de oro.
4. There are plenty more fish in the sea. [Hay muchos más peces en el mar.]	IV. Hay mucho más donde elegir.
5. Let sleeping dogs lie. [Deja que los perros que duermen sigan durmiendo.]	V. Mejor no  despertar la fiera.

Now it is time for the proverb test.  For each situation find the most suitable proverb from the ones that have appeared in the article ! 

1.          The children at school always have fun when the teacher is absent.

2.          The parents did not wake up the baby in case she started crying.

3.          Monica was very sad as her boyfriend left her for her best friend.

Answers:

1. When the cat’s away, the mice will play 2.Let sleeping dogs lie 3-There are plenty more fish in the sea.