蚂蚁和苍蝇正在激烈争辩他们中谁更重要。苍蝇先发言:“你能跟我比本事吗?祭祀时,我可先品尝神仙享用的祭品。我在祭坛间消磨时光,游遍所有神庙。我看厌了这一切时,就坐在国王的头上,还可尝到妇女纯洁亲吻的滋味。我不劳动,却能享受最好的东西,善良的乡巴佬啊,这样的事情你可有份?”
蚂蚁说:“和神仙一起吃东西确实是值得吹嘘的事,不过只有应邀而去才如此,不请自来只会令人讨厌。你侈谈什么国王以及妇女的亲吻,可是,我小心地储粮过冬时,却看见你在墙脚边吮食污垢。不错,你常去祭坛,可惜你去一回就给人撵一回。你不劳动,但正因如此,在需要时,你就一无所有。再说,你还吹嘘那些谦逊者耻于出口的事情。夏天你取笑我,冬天一来你就无话可说了。当严寒使你瑟缩冻僵致死时,我却可以在存粮充足的洞穴里安然过冬。我想我已把你那点傲气说得荡然无存了吧。”
Keys:
①T ②F ③F ④T
The Hare and the Tortoise
The hare was always laughing at the tortoise because he walked so slowly.
“I really don’t know why you bother to go at all.”she sneered!“By the time you get there it will all be over whatever it is.”
The tortoise laughed.“I may be slow,”he said,“but I bet I can get to the end of the field before you can.If you want to race with me,I’ll prove it to you.”
Seeing an easy victory the hare agreed and she bounded off as fast as she could.The tortoise plodded steadily after her.
Now it was at noon of a very hot sunny day and before long the hare began to feel a little drowsy.
“I think I’ll just take a short nap under this hedge,”she said to herself.“Even if the tortoise passes by I’ll catch him up in a flash.”
The hare lay down in the shade and was soon fast asleep.
The tortoise plodded on in the midday sun.
“No sign of the old tortoise,I see,even if I did have forty winks.”
Away she went,running through the low thick growth of grass and the growing corn,leaping ditches and brambles with ease.In a very short time she turned the last corner and paused for a moment to look at the place where the race was to end.There,less than a yard from the finish line was the tortoise,plodding steadily on,one step after another,drawing nearer and nearer to the end of the race.
With a great bound the hare streaked forward.It was too late.Though she threw herself panting over the line,the tortoise had been there before her.
“Now do you believe me?”asked the tortoise.But the hare was too out of breath to reply.
The slow and steady wins the race.
Exercises:
回答下列问题:
①Why did the tortoise decide to have a race with the hare?
②Who could run faster,the tortoise or the hare?
③Who won the race?Why?