Many, many years ago lived an emperor（皇帝）, who thought so much of new clothes that he spent all his money in order to obtain them;

his only ambition（志向） was to be always well dressed.

He did not care for his soldiers, and the theatre did not amuse（娱乐） him;

the only thing, in fact, he thought anything of was to drive out and show a new suit of clothes.

He had a coat for every hour of the day;

and as one would say of a king "He is in his cabinet（内阁）,"

so one could say of him, "The emperor is in his dressing-room."

The great city where he resided（居住） was very gay;

every day many strangers from all parts of the globe arrived.

One day two swindlers （骗子）came to this city;

they made people believe that they were weavers（织布工）, and declared（宣告） they could manufacture（制造） the finest cloth to be imagined.

Their colours and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionally（异常地） beautiful,

but the clothes made of their material possessed（拥有） the wonderful quality of being invisible（看不见的） to any man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably（不可原谅地） stupid.

"That must be wonderful cloth," thought the emperor.

"If I were to be dressed in a suit made of this cloth I should be able to find out which men in my empire were unfit for their places,

and I could distinguish（区分） the clever from the stupid.

I must have this cloth woven for me without delay."

And he gave a large sum of money to the swindlers,

in advance, that they should set to work without any loss of time.

They set up two looms（织布机）, and pretended to be very hard at work, but they did nothing whatever on the looms.

They asked for the finest silk and the most precious gold-cloth;

all they got they did away with, and worked at the empty looms till late at night.

"I should very much like to know how they are getting on with the cloth," thought the emperor.

But he felt rather uneasy（不舒服） when he remembered that he who was not fit for his office could not see it.

Personally, he was of opinion that he had nothing to fear,

yet he thought it advisable（明智的） to send somebody else first to see how matters stood.

Everybody in the town knew what a remarkable（卓越的） quality the stuff possessed,

and all were anxious to see how bad or stupid their neighbours were.

"I shall send my honest old minister to the weavers," thought the emperor.

"He can judge best how the stuff looks, for he is intelligent（聪明的）,

and nobody understands his office better than he."

The good old minister went into the room where the swindlers sat before the empty looms.

"Heaven preserve us!" he thought, and opened his eyes wide,

"I cannot see anything at all," but he did not say so.

Both swindlers requested him to come near,

and asked him if he did not admire the exquisite（精致的） pattern（图案） and the beautiful colours, pointing to the empty looms.