1、34.Belling the Cat（把金令掛卜在貓身上）Once somemice were living in a farmhouse. They all met together and talked about the cat in the farmhouse.“ We can not stayhere long with that cat near us. She has eaten many of us. How can we keep her from killing us?” said one old mouse. Oneproud young mouse said, “ I

2、have a good idea. We never hear her when she comes. What do you say to hang a bell around her neck? Then we can hear her when she is coming. ” “ That is a splendid idea. Let us tie a bell around her neck. Now we can run away before she catches us, ” said another. Just then the old mouse stood up and

3、 said, “ Your plan is very fine, but who can hang a bell around the cat s neck? ” All the young mice were silent, and only looked at one another.The Bear and the Two Travelers（熊和U彳固旅客）Two men were traveling together through the wood. Then a dig bear suddenly appeared before them. One of them climbed

4、 up quickly into a tree and hid himself in the branches. The other wanted to climb up another tree, but there was no time to do so. The bear was just near him. So he fell flat on the groundand pretended that he was dead, for he knew that a bear will not touch a dead body. The big bear cameup to him,

5、 and smelled him all over. He lay as still as he could, held his breath and pretended to be dead. The bear examined him closely and walked slowly away. When the bear had gone, the traveler in the tree came down, and said, “ The bear looked as if he were talking to you. What did he whisper in your ea

6、rs? He replied, He gave me this advice: Never trust a friend who deserts you in time of need!.The Stag at the Lake（在湖遏的雄鹿）Onehot day a stag cameto a lake to drink, and saw his own shadow in the water. Howbeautiful myantlers are! But Im very sorry my legs are very thin and ugly, said he to himself. J

7、ust then he saw a lion coming toward him. He ran away as fast as fast as he could, and the lion could not catch him. Oh, howthankful I amfor mygood, long legs ! These legs have saved mylife, he said. But when he came to a thick wood, his antlers caught in the branches of a tree. He tried to free him

8、self from the branches, but he could not. At last the lion found the stag and caught him, and killed him.The Father and His Sons（父貌和他的IS 子便I）A father had three sons, but the brothers were always quarreling. Their father tried to makethem good fiends, and called all his sons to him. He showed them th

9、ree sticks and said,“ I want totalk to you. Take these sticks and tie them together. Then try to break the bundle of sticks. ” The oldest son tried with all his strength but he could not break it. Then the other two did the same, but neither of them could break it. “ Now,” said the father, “ untie t

10、he bundle and each of you take one stick an d try to break it. ” Either of them could break the stick easily. Then the father said, “ My sons, when the sticks are bound together, it is very strong, and you cannot break it. But when they are united, you can break each stick easily. Whenyou work toget

11、her and help one another, you can becomeas strong as the bundle. But if you only quarrel and do not stand together, you will be broken as easily as these sticks.”.The Farmer and the Snake （!夫和蛇）Onecold day in winter a farmer was working in his fields. Then he found a snake. It was stiff and nearly d

12、ead with cold. He said, “ oh, poor thing! Ill take it home.” At once he laidit near the fire, and got it warm. But as it grew warmand felt pleasant, it raised its head, sprang at the farmer and triedto b ite the kind man. “ You ungrateful creature! ” said the farmer. “ I cant keep you alive. ” So sa

13、ying, he killed the snake with a stick.The Ass in the Lions Skin（披著相幣皮的Once an ass found a lions skin on the road. He was very gladto get the skin. At once he put it on. He said to himself,“ nowcan go anywhere in the forest. I am the king of beasts. Well,I will frighten the timid animals.” He was ve

14、ry proud of th eskin, and went into the forest. Soon he met hares. When theysaw his face, they were all frightened and ran away. Then hemet a goat. She was frightened, too, and went away. At last hemet a fox. He tried to frighten the fox and cried out in a loud voice . But the wise fox said to him,

15、“ oh, you are not a real lion. You are an ass. You are braying, and not roaring. If you keep silent, you will frighten me. But I know you by yourvoice.Soon after that the owner of the skin caught the ass, and killed him.The Birds, the Beasts and the Bat （M 野默和蝙蝠）There was once a great battle between

16、 the birds and the beasts. The beasts won the battle. On their way home, one of the beasts met a bat. “ oh, you are a bird. Ill eat you“ up, ” said thebeast. “ no, no, ” said the bat. “ I amnot a bird. I ama mouse. Look at the fur all over my body, and at my mouth with its sharp teeth, ” and the bat

17、 safely ran away. A few days later there was a second battle. This time the birds won. When one of the birds found the bat, he sai d, “ you are a mouse. I must kill you. ” “ no, no, ” said the bat. “ I amnot a mouse. I ama bird. Look at my wings. After several battles between the birds and the beast

18、s, they were friends again. But they could not trust the bat. And the bat had to hide in dark places in the daytime. This is why a bat flies about only at night.（北凰和太隔）.The North Wind and the Sun One day in winter, the cold north wind was blowing hard. Then the sun began to shine from among the clou

19、ds. The north wind said to the sun, “ I am very strong. I am stronger than you.I am the strongest in the world. ” The sun said, “ No, no. You are not so strong as I. ” “ Well, I ll show you how strong I am,” said the north wind. Just then a traveler came along. He had a thick cloak on. “ I can maket

20、hat mantake off his cloak, ” said the north wind. And he blew and blew. But the traveler held his cloak closely about him. Then the sun said,“ Now I lltry. ” The sun began to shine upon him. It became warmer and warmer. The traveler said, “ Howwarmit is! ” and took off his cloak. “ Nowyou see I am s

21、tronger than you, Mr. North Wind, ” said the sun.The Fox and the Crane（狐貍和誨冒）Oneday a fox met a crane in the plain. The fox said to the crane, “ Hello, dear Crane! Will you come to dine with me? ” And the cran e said, “ Oh, thank you, I will. ” The crane went to his house. Whenthe crane sat at table

22、, she found only a very shallow dish before her. There was somesoup in the dish. The fox began to eat the soup easily. The crane tried to eat it, but she couldonly wet the tip of her long bill, and she had to leave mostof it. Then the fox said to the crane,“ Im very sorry. Youdont like soup, do you?

23、” But the crane said to the fox, “ Thank you for your nice soup, ” and went home. A few days later the crane invited the fox to dinner. When they sat at table, twolong-necked jars were put before them. In the jars was somemeat.The crane enjoyed the meat, but the fox could not reach it, for the mouth

24、 of the jar was very narrow. The fox could only lickthe mouth of the jar. The fox was muchashamedof his own folly, and hurried back to his house.A Clever Dog （一集: 明的狗）Mrs. Hellen had a very clever dog named Black. He often helpedher by going to buy bread. One morning she gave him a basketwith twenty

25、 cents in it and told him to go to the bakery andget two loaves of bread. He took the basket in his mouth andtrotted downthe street to the bakery. The baker wanted to teaseBlack. So he took the money and put it into the drawer, but heYoure a good dog.did not give him any bread. Black put down the ba

26、sket and began to bark. The baker laughed and patted him on the dead. He said,He took two loaves of bread and put theminto the basket. Black wagged his tail, picked up his basket and started for home. He walked proudly down the street. He carried the basket in his mouth. Everybody looked at him and

27、smiled.Piccola （HL 可拉）Once there lived in France a little girl. Her namewas Piccola. Her father was dead and her mother was very, very poor. On Christmas eve Piccola said to her mother, “ will Santa Claus come to our house tonight? ” her mother looked very sad and shook her head. At bedtime Piccola

28、pulled off her little wooden shoes and put them on the floor near the chimney she said to her mother, “ perhaps Santa Claus will come. ” In the night a little bird with a broken wing fell down the chimney and hopped into one of the shoes. Very early in the morning Piccola woke up. She jumped out of

29、bed and ran to look into her shoes. There she saw the little bird in one of her shoes. She picked u the shoe and ran to show her Christmas present to her mother, and, “ Santa Claus did not forget me. ”.Grace Darling （葛瑞?逵玲）One September morning there was a storm at sea and a ship was driven on a roc

30、k. It was broken in two by the waves and half of it was washed away. Some of the sailors clung to the other half. There was a lighthouse. On an island not far away grace darling and her father lived in the lighthouse. They saw the poor sailors clinging to the wreck. Grace said to her father,“ we mus

31、t try to save those men. ” “ it is on use, ” said her father. “ Wecannot reach them. ” Grace was not willing to give up. So she and her father started in a heavy rowboat. Grace pulled one oar and her father pulled the other, it was hard torow against the big waves. At last they reached the wreck and

32、took the poor sailors into their boat. They rowed back to the lighthouse with them and gave them warm food and dry clothes.In a few days the storm was over and the sailors want to their homes. They felt very grateful to Grace Darling and her father.Pandora （潘多娜）Long, long ago the people lied very ha

33、ppily in the beautiful world, and nobody was ever sick. At that time there was abeautiful little girl named Pandora. One day a fairy gave her a wonderful box. It was tied with a golden cord and the fairy madeher promise not to open it. Pandora and her littlefriend,Epimetheus, often looked at the box

34、 and wondered what was in it. For a long time Pandora kept her promise to the fairy, but at last she wanted to peep into the box. She untied the cord and lifted the lid a very little. Then hundreds of bad littlefairies cameout. They stung Pandora and she fell screaming on the floor. They stung Epime

35、theus, too. Then they flew out ofthe door and stung all the children in the world. By and byPandora heard a little voice. It said,“ let me out and I willhelp you. ” She opened the box and out flew a beautiful little fairy. She told Pandora that her namewas hope. She kissed her and Epimetheus and mad

36、e them well. Then she flew away to help the other children. To this day, when people are sick and unhappy, the good little fairy, hope, comes to comfort them.An Ill-Natured Neighbor（一彳固壤心的郝居）An ill-natured, jealous peasant saw his neighbors getting avery good harvest. As he was unable to be glad of

37、his neighbors blessing from God, he devised the way how to destroy hisneighbors happiness. To attain his purpose he caught a fox, tied a lighted torch to its tail and drove it in the direction of his neighbor s fields. Seeing the fox reached the field, it changed its direction, and began, to hiss am

38、azement, plunging into his own fields where the grains had almost been ripe. A few minutes had passed before all his fields were enveloped in volumes of flames. He sorrowed, lamented, rushing about in his neighborhood, and devised to lay the blame at his neighbors door. But as his neighbor had been

39、believed to be very honest since ages ago, and, on the contrary, he had been reputed as an ill-natured man, none could place any confidence in his words. A misdeed only leads one to a snare set for others.A Miser Man（一彳固守時奴）A very stingy man who had no pleasure but that of making money sold his all,

40、 namely, his place and fields, and forged all the money he received into a mass of gold, and buried it in the ground. Every day he visited the spot, which wasone of his daily greatest pleasures. Then a man who occasionally came to the neighborhood saw this miser digging up the earth with joy. When t

41、his neighbor went there and dug the earth, he found a buried treasure, to his great astonishment. He resolved to run off with it outright. Whenthe miser cameto the spot the following day, he found his treasure missing, to his great amazement. It furious agony and desperation, he cursed God and man t

42、earing his hair like a mad man. When a pedestrian asked his of his bitter sorrow, the miser told his story in great detail, butthe passenger comforted and consoled him, saying, “ You need not cry over your loss of treasure. I think your loss is notso great as you think. Bury in that place a stone of

43、 the same size in place of your mass of gold, and regard it as your lost one. You will hardly tell the difference the two, because, as far as you are concerned, gold is all one with a stone in point of utility. ” Happiness does not consist in owning money, but in reasonable using of it.The Hare and

44、the Tortoise（野兔典 HH）Onefine hot bay Mr. Hare met with Mts. Tortoise. Mr. Hare said to Mrs. Tortoise: “ What a slow walker you are! You cannot run so fast as I, to be sure! ” “ Well, my friend,let us run a raceand see which of us will win. Let us run up to the top of that hill, ” said Mrs. Tortoise.

45、“ All right! ” said Mr. Hare. Sothey started a race. Mrs. Tortoise walked with a slow, steady pace, up to the top of the hill. She never stopped a moment. But Mr. Hare ran, almost flying like an arrow. On the way he often stopped to eat grass. When he went halfway up the hill, he lay down for a nap,

46、 saying, “ If Mrs. Tortoise passes by me, I can easily catch up with her. ” Whenhe awokeand looked around, he could not see her. Then he ran up the hill as fast al he could, and at the very top, he found Mrs. Tortoise at rest. She hadwonher success. “ Slow and steady wins the race. ”* ” Slowand stea

47、dy wins the race. ”.The Dog and His Shadow （狗和他的影子）A dog who was crossing a river with a piece of meat in his mouth happened to look over the side of the bridge saw his own shadow in the water. The foolish dog took his own shadow for another dog with a piece of meat larger than his own, and let go h

48、is own meat so that he could attack the other dog and get his meat from him. Of course he lost his own meat by this, for it sank to the bottom and he was not able to get it back. Then he saw that the other dog had lost his piece, too. And he went sadlyhome. *Grasp all, lose all.The Fox and the Crow（

49、狐貍奧Once upon a time a crow stole a piece of cheese, and flew with it to a tree. She sat on a branch of the tree and began to eat it. Just at that time a fox was passing by and saw her. He was hungry and wanted the cheese. “ I want to have that piece of cheese for my dinner, ” he said to himself; “ b

50、ut how can I get it? I cannot climb the tree. ” “ Good morning, Mrs. Crow, good morning, ” said Mr. Fox. “ How beautiful your feathers are!Your voice must be as beautiful as your feathers are. Just sing one song for me. After that I will call you the Queenof Birds. ” Mrs. Crow was much delighted, and began to sing “ Caw! Caw! Caw!” Downfell the sly fox wanted. And without waiting to hear the rest of the song, Mr. Fox picked it up quickly, and away with