浪漫的英语爱情故事

The Little Match Girl

It was snowy and dark on a new year’s Eve. Many people were getting together in their warm homes. A poor little girl was still walking in the streets with no shoes. There were some matches in her hand.

“ Matches! Matches!” the little girl cried in a low voice. No one heard her when they were passing by. She didn’t sell any matches and no one gave her a coin. The wind was blowing strongly and the snow was falling down on her long hair. She felt cold and hungry.

Lights were shining from every window. But the little girl was afraid to go home without selling one box of matches, because her father would beat her. “ Ah, a burning match may warm me up!” she thought. She lit three

matches. When the matches were burning , she saw a warm stove, a delicious roast goose and a beautiful Christmas tree. But all these disappeared when the flames went out. Then she lit a fourth match. A kind old woman was standing there.

“ Grandmother ! ” cried the little girl, “ Take me with you.” Her grandmother held the girl in her arms.

On the morning of the new year, the girl was lying against the wall, dead.

Mozart—the Wonderful Boy

Do you know Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? The great composer, Mozart, started writing music when he was just a little boy. Here’s a story about Mozart when he was a child.

Father Mozart used to give his daughter, Nannerl , music lessons on the piano. And little Wolfgang Mozart was in the room . He watched and listened to every note his sister played . One day ,when her lesson was over ,he asked ,” May I have a lesson, papa?”

“Your are too little！“said Father Mozart.

When Father Mozart and Nannerl, left the room, little Wolfgang went up to the piano and pressed the keys. He smiled. The music sounded beautiful. Father Mozart heard him and came to see him. Wolfgang was playing well without any help. Father Mozart decided to give his little boy music lessons. Soon Wolfgang played as well as his big sister, Nannerl. He learned so quickly that his father was very happy. But when Wolfgang started to write music by himself, Father Mozart was very surprised .No one could believe that a little boy of five could write such beautiful music. He was an amazing child, a born musician.

The monkey and the moon

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One day, a little monkey is playing by the well. He looks in the well and shouts : “Oh! My god! The moon has fallen into the well!”

An older monkeys runs over, takes a look, and says, “Goodness me! The moon is really in the water!” Another older monkey comes over. He is very surprised as well and cries out，“The moon is in the well.”

A group of monkeys run over to the well . They look at the moon in the well and shout: “The moon did fall into the well! Come on! Let’s get it out!”

Then, the oldest monkey hangs on the tree up side down with his feet on the branch . And he pulls the next monkey’s feet with his hands.

All the other monkeys follow his suit. And they join each other one by one down to the moon in the well.

Just before they reach the moon, the oldest monkey raises his head and happened to see the moon in the sky. He yells excitedly “Don’t be so foolish! The moon is still in the sky!”

The little match girl

It was a Christmas Eve with heavy snow. A little girl was selling matches on the street. \

But no one looked at her. She had lost her parents a few days ago, and she was selling matches without a coat in the cold weather. She didn't even sell one box. The girl was so hungry that she couldn't even open her mouth.

Then, a carriage came close to her. Trying to keep away from the carriage, she slipped and fell on the ice, and she lost her shoes. She had to walk on the snowy street with bare feet. Over a window, she saw a family gathered under a warm and bright light. They seemed so happy. The snow began to fall more heavily. \

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was frozen hard. Even though she was hungry and felt pain in her feet, she couldn't go back home because she couldn't sell any matches. \on the street looked very happy holding each other's arms. But no one bought the girl's matches. \her hands and feet, but it only made her hungrier. \is it so cold today? I have to skip my meal today because I couldn't sell any of these matches.\ She lit a match to warm up her body. Even though it was a small light, it made her a little warmer. She felt as if she was sitting right next to a fireplace. \kept lighting matches. Suddenly, a table full of delicious food came up in front of her. \ As she lit another match, a Christmas tree appeared. \ She lit the last match. Then, her grandmother appeared. \me.\the sky. The next day, she was dead and found in the street. \girl, Maybe she tried to warm herself with these matches. Tut, tut.\People felt pity for the girl and buried her in the ground in the sunlight.

The wolf and the lamb

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Once upon a time a wolf was lapping at a stream. When he looked up, he saw a lamb drinking a little lower down.

\’s my supper,\catch it.\water?\because it runs down from you to me.\

\time last year?\months old.\

\’t care,\your father.\

狼与小羊

从前，一只狼在溪流喝水，看到一只小羊在下游喝水。“那是我的晚餐，”狼想，“我要找一个借口吃掉他。”于是，他恶狠狠地对小羊说：“你怎么敢搅浑浊了我的水？”“我没有，先生，”小羊回答说，“我在下游喝水，怎么能搅浑浊你喝的水呢？”“那么，”狼见此计不成，又说道，“你去年的今天为什么说我的坏话？”“不可能，”小羊说，“我现在才只有六个月大。”“我不管，”狼说，“如果不是你，就是你的爸爸。”说完，他就冲向小山羊，把他吃掉了。

寓意: 当一个坏人想为自己所做的坏事寻找借口时，他不会在乎这个借口是否恰当。

1.THE COCK AND THE FOX

It is evening. An old cock is sitting in a tall tree. A fox comes to the tree and looks up at the cock

\

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\

\riends now. Let?s be friends, too. Please come down and play with me.\

\is something over there.\

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\ \

\

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\friends now. \

\don?t know that yet. \

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2. WHO IS FASTER?

T - Tortoise H - Hare

T: Hello, Mr. Hare!

H: Oh, it?s you, Mr. Tortoise. What are you doing? T: I?m running.

H: Running? Ha ha! You can?t run. Your legs are too short! T: Of course I can.

H: My legs are longer than yours. I?m sure I can run faster than you. T: Don?t be so sure.

H: Well then, let?s run to the tall tree over there. Let?s see who gets there first. T: All right. H: Ready? Go!

(Mr. Tortoise goes very slowly. Mr. Hare runs much faster. In a minute he comes to a small tree.)

H: Where?s Mr. Tortoise? Aha! There he is. He?s far behind me. How slow he is! I?m much faster. Mmm, it?s hot! Ahh, here?s a tree. Let me have a rest under it. It?s so nice and cool.

(Soon he is asleep.)

(Mr. Tortoise comes up. He looks at Mr. Hare and goes on.)

H(waking up) : Ah, what a good sleep! Now, where?s Mr. Tortoise? Where is he? I don?t see him. (Runs to the tall tree.)

T(sitting under the tall tree): Why, hello, Mr. Hare! How are you? You?re very fast, aren?t you? H: Yes, but ...

T: But, I?m here first. Now who is faster, you or me? H: Oh! ...

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3.THE ARTIST

Long, long ago there lived a king. He loved horses. One day he asked an artist to draw him a beautiful horse. The artist said, \waited. He waited and waited. At last, after a year he could not wait any longer. He went to see the artist himself.

Quickly the artist brought out paper and a brush. In five minutes he finished

drawing a very beautiful horse. The king was angry. \five minutes, yet you kept me waiting for a year. Why?\

\with me, please.\the king saw piles and piles of paper. On every piece of paper was a picture of a horse. \artist said.

4.\

More than one hundred years ago there was a great French scientist with the name Ampère.

One day, Mr. Ampère went out for a walk in the street. There were a lot of people and much noise there. But all this was nothing to him. He was thinking of a math problem. He had no paper with him. How could he work it out?

Just then, he saw a blackboard in front of him. He ran up to it at once. He took out a piece of chalk and wrote his problem on the blackboard. Then he started to work on it. The blackboard moved a little, but he did not notice it. The blackboard moved on. Mr. Ampère moved with it. The blackboard started to move faster and faster. Mr. Ampère could not keep up with it any longer. He stopped to have a look.

What did he see? Why, the \a carriage!

5.A WAY OUT

A French student went to London for his holiday. He thought: \English. I think people can understand me.\

One morning he went to visit the Science Museum. At noon he was tired and

hungry. He went to the nearest restaurant and sat down at the table. He wanted to have a cup of tea and some eggs. Soon the waiter came up to him and asked, \you, sir?\

\around him, but nobody was eating eggs.

Then he saw a magazine on the table next to him. There was a picture of a cock on its cover. He showed the picture to the waiter. \ \

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\ \

\ \

\ \

\tea, please.\

6.TWO FRIENDS AND A BEAR

One day two young men were going through the forest. One said to the other, \ I?ll stay with you and help you.\at you.\

They walked on.

After a while there was a great noise. It was a big bear. The young men ran away quickly. One of them got up into a tree. But the other was fat and could not climb up. So he threw himself at the foot of the tree. He thought to himself, \that I am dead.\

Soon the bear came near. The bear looked at the fat young man, then it put its nose down and smelled him. The young man held his breath. The bear thought he was dead, so it went away.

The man in the tree came down. With a smile he asked his friend, \mouth so near to your ear. What did it say to you?\

The friend answered, %ust your friend. He ran away from you when you needed his help most. Remember: A friend in need is a friend indeed.?\

7.THE STORY OF LITTLE GAUSS

One afternoon some boys made a lot of noise in class. The teacher got angry. He kept them in the classroom after school. He told them to add all the numbers from 1 to 100 together.

The boys took out their exercise-books. All of them began to write the numbers down except one boy. He was new in the school. He looked out of the window for a few minutes. Then he wrote a number in his exercise-book and put up his hand. \ The teacher and the other boys were very surprised. \

The boy took it to the teacher. The answer was right, so the teacher had to let the boy go home.

The next morning, the teacher asked the boy, \quickly?\

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\answer quickly. Soon I found it. You see, if you add 100 to 1, you get 101, and 99 and 2 is 101. 98 and 3 is 101 too, and when you reach 51 and 50, you have 101 fifty times. That is 5050.\

After this, when the teacher gave the class exercises to do, he gave this boy

different exercises. The boy?s name was Karl F. Gauss. When he grew up, he became a great scientist.

8.THE MONKEY AND THE CROCODILE

One day a little monkey was playing in a tall tree by the river. A crocodile was swimming slowly near the bank with her baby. She looked around for some food. Suddenly she saw the monkey. \hought. She then turn to her son, \

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\climb trees.\

\a way.\

The baby crocodile thought hard. Then he had an idea. He swam near the tree and shouted, \

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\lots of bananas on them. I?ll take you there on my back.\

\ck.

Soon they were in the middle of the river. Suddenly the crocodile went down under the water. When he came up again, the monkey was all wet. \The monkey cried. \

\heart.\

The little monkey was clever. \ \

\ want you without your heart.\The crocodile turned and swam back to the bank.

Soon they reached the bank. The monkey jumped off the crocodile at once, picked up a big stone and quickly climbed up the tree. The crocodile waited for the monkey to come down again. As he was waiting, he suddenly heard a voice from above:

\

The crocodile looked up. The monkey was hanging from the tree by his tail and laughing.

?Here?s my heart. Come up and get it. Don?t keep your mother waiting…You

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can?t come up? Well, catch!?

With these words, he threw the big stone at the crocodile.

9. MISS EVANS

Have you ever heard the story about Miss Evans? It is a true story. Maybe many people have read about it.

One afternoon in April 1912, a new ship set off from England to American on its first trip. It was one of the largest and finest ships at that time and on it were over 2,200 people.

It was cold, but the trip was pleasant and people were enjoying themselves. The next day was even colder. People could see icebergs here and there.

It was night. Suddenly the man on watch shouted, \Iceberg ahead!\

It was too late. The ship hit the iceberg and came to a stop. There was a very big hole in the ship and water began to come inside. Slowly the ship started to go down. People had to leave the ship. Women and children were the first to get into the lifeboats. Suddenly a woman shouted. \that boat. I must go with them! Please!\

There was no room here, someone shouted back. The children heard their mother and began to cry.

A young woman was sitting near the poor children. She stood up. Here, she shouted. Take my place! I?m not married and I have no children.

She got out and the thankful mother joined the children in the lifeboat.

Soon after that, the ship went down. More than 1,500 people lost their lives. Among those was the young woman.

Who was she? Her name was Miss Evans and she was going home to Boston. But nobody knew more about her than that.

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\ \

\

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\ go. They are only dogs. And dogs are our friends now. \

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\

10. THE ARAB IN THE DESERT

An Arab was walking alone through the desert when he met two men. The men looked worried. It seemed that they had lost something. The Arab went over to them. “Have you lost one of your camels?” he asked them.

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“Yes,” they said.

“Was he blind in the right eye and lame in the left foot?” asked the Arab. “Yes, he was.”

“Had he lost a tooth and was he carrying corn?” “Yes,” said the men. “Please tell us where he is.”

“I don?t know where he is,” said the Arab. “I?ve never seen such an animal.” “Did someone tell you about him?” “No.”

The two men looked at each other in surprise. They could not believe the Arab?s words. Finally, they came up close to him, took hold of him, and shouted: “Where?s the animal? And what have you done with our goods?”

The Arab insisted that he had never seen the camel. At last the men took him before a judge. They said that the Arab had stolen their camel.

“I?ve never seen their camel,” insisted the Arab. “But I?m a man of the desert, and I?ve learned to look carefully at everything I see. This morning I saw the tracks of a lost camel. I knew this because there were no man?s tracks near those of the camel. I also saw that the camel must be blind in the right eye, because he had only eaten the grass on his left side and had not touched the grass on his right. The animal was lame because with one foot he left a track much lighter than any of the others. He had lost a tooth, because wherever he ate grass, there was always a small space left untouched. I also found groups of ants near the tracks of the camel. They were pulling pieces of corn. From these facts I was able to tell what goods the animal was carrying.”

The judge and the two men were satisfied with what the Arab had said. Together the four men set out to look for the lost animal.

11. EDISON’S BOYHOOD

Thomas Edison was born in 1847. When he was a child, he liked to find out how things worked. One day when he was five, his father saw him sitting on some eggs, and asked what he was doing that for. Tom did not reply. Instead, he asked his father why he was not able to hatch chickens while hens could.

Young Tom was in school for only three months. During those three months, he asked a lot of questions. Most of them had nothing to do with his lessons. His teacher did not know why the boy had so many strange questions. He told Tom?s mother that Tom was not bright and was not worth teaching. His mother took him out of school and taught him herself. The boy read a lot. He became very interested in science.

By the time he was ten, he had already built a chemistry lab for himself. He planted vegetables in his garden and sold them to buy what he need for his lab.

Once his mother was ill and she sent for a doctor. The doctor said she needed an operation at once. But it was night and the lamp in the room gave poor light. Edison thought hard. Finally he had an idea. He collected all the lamps in the house and put them and put then on a long table. Then he placed a big mirror behind them. Now there was enough light, so the doctor could operate. Edison?s mother was saved.

At the age of twelve, Edison began selling newspapers on a train. When he was free,

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he printed a newspaper and sold copies to the railway workers.

One day in August, 1862, Edison saw a little boy playing on the tracks at a station. A train was coming near quickly, and the boy was too frightened to move. Edison rushed out and carried the boy to safety. The boy?s father was so thankful that he taught Edison how to send messages by railway telegraph. Edison soon became very good at it and later he left home to work in different cities. This gave him a start in life. At that time he was just a boy of sixteen.

12.THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE

Once upon a time there was an old fisherman. He went fishing very early every morning, but he never cast his net more than four times a day.

One morning, he went out early to the sea. He cast his net for the first time, and drew in the body of an animal. He cast it a second time, and drew in an old basket full of sand. He cast it a third time, and drew in a lot of stones. It seemed he would have nothing to take home that morning.

Day had now broken, and he cast his net for the last time. After some time, he began to drew the net in. He found it was very heavy. But there were not any fish in it. Instead he found a jar with a lid. He shook the jar, but could hear nothing. So he took off the lid and looked inside. He could see nothing. After a while a light smoke came slowly out of the jar. Then little by little, the smoke grew heavier and thicker until finally it turned into a terrible Genie!

“Get down on your knees,” said the Genie, “for I’m going to kill you.” “Why? Didn’t I set you free from the jar?”

“That’s why I’m going to kill you, but I’ll let you choose how you’re going to die.”

“But why?”

“Listen, and I will tell you my story.”

“I was one of the spirits in heaven. But I did not want to obey Solomon’s orders. So one day, he put me in this jar and threw it into the sea.

“During the first hundred years of my stay in the sea, I made a promise that if anyone set me free I would make him very rich. But no one came. During the second hundred years, I promised that if anyone set me free I would show him all the treasures in the earth. But still no one came. During the third hundred years, I promised that if anyone came to set me free, I would make him king over the earth.

“Still no one came. Then I became very angry, and decided that if anyone should set me free I would kill him at once. Now you have come and set me free. So you must die, but I will let you say how you want to die.”

The fisherman was not frightened. He said: “Since I must die, I must. But before I die, answer me one question.”

“All right, but be quick.”

“Were you really in the jar? You are so big and the jar is so small that it could hardly hold one of your feet.”

“Of course I was in the jar. Don’t you believe me?”

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“No, and I won’t until I’ve seen you in the jar with my own eyes.”

When he heard this, the Genie changed again into smoke. Slowly the smoke went back into the jar. When all of it was in the jar, the fisherman quickly put the lid on and threw it back into the sea.

13. LOOK CAREFULLY AND LEARN

My friend Carl will never forget a certain professor. This professor taught him chemistry at the university. He was an ordinary-looking little man with thick glasses, but he had a strange way of making his classes lively and interesting. And the lessons he taught were not easily forgotten.

Carl remembers one of his first lessons from this professor. After the students were all in the chemistry lab, the professor brought out three bottles. One was filled with kerosene(煤油), one with castor oil, and one with vinegar. “Now watch carefully,” said the professor. “Pay attention to everything that I do.”

He then filled a cup with some of the kerosene, some of the castor oil and some of the vinegar. As the students watched with fascination, he mixed the three together. After that, he held up one of his fingers and showed it to the class. He then dipped it into the cup. After a few seconds he took his finger out. “Now watch,” he said. “Remember, you must do everything that I do.”

He put a finger in his mouth and sucked it. He nodded with a smile. Then he handed the cup around the class of students. Each student dipped a finger into the mixture and sucked it. Each immediately made a face. The mixture tasted horrible.

When the cup was at last returned to the professor, he shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry,” he said to the class, “but none of you watched carefully enough. Yes, I sucked a finger, but the finger I put into my mouth was not the one I had dipped into the cup.”

It was their first important lesson as students of chemistry and they never forgot it.

14. THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

Once upon a time there were six blind men who lived in a village in India. Every day they went to the road nearby and stood there begging. They had often heard of elephants, but they had never seen one, for , being blind, how could they?

One morning an elephant was led down the road where they stood. When they heard that an elephant was passing by, they asked the driver to stop the beast so that they could have a \ Of course they could not look at him with their eyes, but they thought they might learn what kind of animal he was by touching and feeling him. For, you see, they trust their own sense of touch very much.

The first blind man happened to place his hand on the elephant's side. \\

The second grasped one of the elephant's tusks and felt it. \\

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The third happened to take hold of the elephant's trunk. \said. \

The fourth opened both his arms the closed them around one of the elephant's legs. \blind you are!\

The fifth was a very tall man, and he caught one of the elephant's ears. \person must see that this elephant isn't like any of the things you name.\a huge fan.\

The sixth man went forward to feel the elephant. He was old and slow and it took him quite some time to find the elephant at all. At last he got hold of the beast's tail. \are!\fan. Any man with eyes in his head can see that he's exactly like a rope.\

Then the driver and the elephant moved on, and the six men sat by the roadside all day, quarrelling about the elephant. They could not agree with one another, because each believed that he knew just what the beast looked like.

It is not only blind men who make such stupid mistakes. People who can see sometimes act just as foolishly.

15. THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

Many years ago there lived an Emperor, who cared more for fine new clothes than for anything else. He had different clothes for every hour of the day.

One day two cheats camt to see the Emperor. They called themselves weavers and said that they knew how to weave cloth of the most beautiful colors and designs in the world. They also said that the most interesting thing about the cloth was that clothes made of it would be invisible to anyone who was either stupid or unfit for his office.

\put them on, I shall be able to find out which men in my empire are unfit for their offices. And I shall be able to tell who are wise and who are foolish. This cloth must be woven for me right away.\

The Emperor gave the cheats some gold in order that they might begin their work at once. So the two men set up two looms and pretended to be working very hard. They asked for the most beautiful silk and the best gold thread. This they kept for themselves. And then they went on with their work at the empty looms until late into the night.

After some time had passed, the Emperor said to himself, \wonder how the weavers are getting along with my cloth.\their offices could not see the cloth. Though he believed that he ought to have nothing to fear for himself, he wanted someone else to look at the cloth first.

The Emperor thought a while and decided to send his old Prime Minister to see the cloth. He thought the Prime Minister a wise, honest man who was more fit for his office than anyone else. So the old Prinme Minister went into the hall where the cheats were working at the empty looms.

\But he was careful not to say so.

The men who were pretending to weave asked him to come closer. They pointed to the empty looms and asked him if he liked the design and the colors.

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The poor old Prime Minister opend his eyes wid wider, but he could see nothing on the looms.

\that I could not see the cloth.\

\ most beautiful!\will tell the Emperor how wonderful they are.\

The Emperor was pleased by what the Prime Minister told him about the cloth. Soon after, he sent another official to find out how soon the cloth would be ready. The same thing happened. The official could see nothing, but he sang high praise for the cloth. When he got back, he told the Emperor that the cloth was beautiful indeed.

All the people in the city were now talking about this wonderful cloth which the Emperor had ordered ro be woven for so much money.And they were eager to know how wise or foolish their friends and neighbors might be.

16.THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES(Continue)

Now at last the Emperor wished to go himself and see the cloth while it was still on the looms. He took with him a few of his officials, including the old Prinme Minister and the official who had already been there.

As soon as the weavers heard the Emperor coming, they pretended to work harder than ever, though they were not weaving a single thread through the empty looms.

\the cloth magnificent?\said the official and the Prime Minister. \a splendid design! And what colors!\they said, while pointing to the empty looms. They thought that everyone else could see the wonderful work of the weavers though they could not see it themselves.

\horrible! But I mustn't let anyonek now.\

\

The officials could see no more than the Emperor, but they all shouted, ‘Beautiful! Excellent! Magnificent!\made of this splendid cloth for the coming great procession.

They Emperor nodded. He cried hard to pretend to share in the pleasure of his officials and gave each of the weavers a medal.

The night before the procession, the two men had their lights burning all night long. They wanted everyone to see how hard they were workingon the Emperor's new clothes. At last they cried, \ Then the Emperor arrived with his hgh officials.

\of the mirror,\

The Emperor was then undressed, and the cheats pretened to dress him in his new clothes. The Emperor turned from side to side in front of the mirrior.

\fit! What a splendid design! And what colors!\

\

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nice fit?\And he turned again in front of the mirror, in order to make the others think he was looking at his new clothes.

\ And so the procession began.

The Emperor walked in the middle of the procession, through the streets of the city. And all the people standing by and those at the windows cried out, \clothes are! What a perfect fit!\

No one dared say that he could not see the Emperor's new clothes. Suddenly a little child's voice was heard:\ \

\ What the child had said was whispered from one to the other.

\

The cry was taken up and soon everyone was noddng and saying,\ON!\

The Emperor heard the cries. He felt very silly, for he knew that the people were right. But he thought, \

So the Emperor held his head higher than ever. And the two officials who were following him took great trouble to hold up higher the train of the robe that wasn't there at all.

17. NAPOLEON'S THREE QUESTIONS

A story is told about a Swede who wanted to join Napoleon’s Grand Army. One evening some of Napoleon’s soldiers were drinking together when a young Frenchman brought friend to their table. He expained that his friend was a Swede and knew no French, but this Swede admired Napoleon so much that he wanted to join the French army and fight for him.

The soldiers looked up and saw a tall young man with blue eyes, a friendly face, strong arms and broad shoulders. They like him at once.

The officers saw that he was just the right sort of man, so they accepted him and he became one of Napoleons soldiers. His new friends smoothed away the difficulties. He fought bravely in many battles and gained their respect. However, his knowledge of French remained very weak, because he was not good at learning languages, but this did not prevent him from fighting hard. Several yaears later, word came that Napoleon himself was coming to inspect them, and the Swede was warned that the great man world probably ask him some question. There was some difficulty in expaining this to the Swede, but when at last he understood he became very anxious. “The Swede won’t understand the questions.” One of the Frenchmen said, “What can he do?”

It was well know that Napoleon always asked the same three questions, I and usuall in the same order. The first question was, “How old are you?” The second was, “how long have you been in my army?” And the third was, “Did you serve in either of my last two campaigns?” The Swede could not possibly remember all these words and so his friends decided to teach him only the answers in their proper order. They gave him a lot of practice. Whenever possible, one of them would stop him, make him stand at attention, and ask him the three questions. “How old are you?” he would demand, and the Swede would answer, “Twenty-three, sir.” Then his

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friend would ask, “How long have you been in my army?” and the Swede would answer, “Three years, sir.” To the third question, “Did you serve in either of my last two campaigns?” the Swede would answer with pride, “Both, sir!”

For many days this practice continued. The Swede would walk about, saying to himself, “Twenty-three, sir. Three years, sir. Both, sir!” Before the day of the inspection, his friends were satisfied. He knew his answer. There ought to be no trouble.

Napolen arrived. Stading in front of the straight lines of soldiers, he looked at them with great satisfaction. Then he began to walk along the lines, smiling sometimes, and saying a few word here and there. The Swede stood quite still, except that his lips moved slightly. He was still practicing.

Napoleon suddenly caught sight of the tall soldier and realized at once that he had never seen him before. He stopped in front of the Swede. For some reason, this time the great man began with the second question.

“How many years have you been in my army?” he demanded. “Twenty-Three, sir,” said the Swede clearly and well.

Napoleon was surprised. He look at tall man and asked, “How old are you then?” “Three years, sir,” replied the Swede quickly.

Napoleon was astonished. “Either you are mad, or I am,” he declared. “Both, sir!” cried the Swede proudly.

18. THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL

A long time ago the tiny country of Switzerland was ruled by Austria. But the Swiss did not take their fate lying down. Every week there was a rebellion somewhere, and the Austrian soldiers were kept busy hurrying from one town to another in order to put down the rebellions. The town of Altorf was particularly trouble some.

The emperor of Austria finally decided to teach the Swiss a lesson. He sent a special governor to Altorf, a man named Gessler, who would rule with a firm hand.

One of Gessler's orders required all Altorfers to bow before him. Anyone who refused to bow was thrown into prison. Although most of the people bowed to Gessler, they spat into the dirt as they did so. So Gessler decided to get even tougher. He placed his hat on a pole in the marketplace and ordered the Altorfers to bow before it whenever they passed.

One day, William Tell, a famous hunter, came to Altorf with his little son. He saw that ten soldiers were attationed beside the pole. He knew about the order, and he knew why the soldiers were there, but he would have none of it.

Holding his head high, he walked past the pole and the soldiers as if they didn't exist. Immediately the soldiers surrounded him and his son, saying:\ \

\

\

\show you whose order it is,\said the soldiers, and they led the father and son to Gessler.

Even before the cruel governor himself William Tell did not bow. He held his son's hand firmly to be sure that the boy did not bow either.

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\

\ Gessler turned red with anger. He then thought of a plan to punish William Tell.

\a hunter,\he said. \see how good you are.\Picking an apple from a tree overhead, he turned to a soldier and said, \place this apple on his head.\arrow.

The people who had gathered around gasped at the cruelty of the order.

Without saying a word, William Tell drew two arrows. He looked at his son, one hundred paces away with an apple on his head. The soldiers had him stand with his back to his father. \ The boy turned around and faced his father.

William Tell studied the two arrows, selected one, and placed it in his bow. Slowly he raised the bow, pulled back the cord, and after taking careful aim, let the arrow fly. It split the apple in half!

The people raised a shout of joy. William Tell turned and looked calmly at Gessler. \

\you.\

The story of the bravery of William Tell and his son quickly got round throughout Switzerland. It filled the hearts of the Swiss with pride and courage, and it was not long before the whole country rose up and drove the Austrian soldiers from their homeland.

19.I HAVE SUNG ALREADY

Once a rich woman invited Martin Brown, a famous singer, to her house. She wanted him to sing for her friends. But she didn’t invite him to have dinner with them. She told him to eat downstairs with the servants.

The singer was surprised. But he said nothing and went downstairs. After the meal he stood up and said to the servants: “Now, my good friends, I shall sing for you.”

Of course, the servants were quite pleased. He sang them several songs. There was no piano in the room, but he didn’t mind. When they asked for more, he sang more.

At nine o’clock the rich woman asked the singer to come up to the sitting-room. When he came in the guests were all seated and waiting for the concert.

“We are ready now, Mr Brown,” said the woman, “you may begin.” “Ready for what?” asked the singer.

“For your songs of course,” she answered.

“But I have sung already,” said Mr Brown, “and I can’t sing twice in one evening.”

“You have sung already!” said the rich woman in surprise. “But when? And where did you sing?”

“Just now, downstairs.”

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“Impossible!” she cried.

“But it’s quite true, madam,” said the singer. “I sang for the people after I had supper with them, you know.”

And with a polite “Good night”, he left the rich woman’s house.

20.THE PIANO CONCERT

A young woman in a small German town was going to give a piano concert. Her posters said she was a pupil of Franz Liszt, the great Hungarian pianist.

This was not true.

One day the woman learned that Liszt himself was in town. Now people would find out and she would never be able to give a concert again. What should she do?

Finally she went to see the famous man himself. She told him everything. Her parents were dead and she was alone. She had to make a living. She decided to give piano lessons to rich children. But who would send their children to an unknown young woman? So she told people Franz Liszt was her teacher.

“I believe you,” Liszt said. “You’ve done wrong, but I can see you are truly sorry about it. That’s enough. Now let me hear you play.”

The young woman was shy at first. But then she saw Liszt smiling. It made her feel better. Now she wasn’t afraid any more. She started playing. She put her heart into it and she played wonderfully. Liszt was quite pleased.

When she finished, she turned to look at Liszt. There was a smile on his face. She could see he was pleased. Then Liszt gave her some advice. After he finished, he said, “Now you really are my pupil. Go ahead with your concert. And you can add a note to the posters. Say that your teacher himself will be there. He will play the last piece.”

21.PORTRAIT OF A TEACHER

The night before last, just before dinner, while my father was looking through the evening paper, he suddenly let out a cry of surprise. Later he explained:\least twenty years ago. But can you believe that my first teacher, Mr. Crossett, is still living? He is eight-four years old and yesterday the Department of Education gave him a medal for having completed sixty years of teaching. Sixty years! Can you imagine it? He gave up teaching only two years ago. He lives in Deleville, which is only about an hour's ride from here. Henry, tomorrow is Saturday. Let's drive over there and say hello to him.\

The next afternoon my father and I drove over to Deleville to see Mr. Crossett. Everyone in the town knew him so we had no trouble in finding his house. When he came to the door, my father recognized him at once though, of course, he was now a very old man.

\ Mr. Crossett looked at us curiosly.

\

My father told him his name - Albert Borden, the year in which he had studied, and the name of the school.

The old man dropped his head and began to murmur my father's name. Suddenly he looked

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up.

\ \

Later my father and Mr. Crossett talked for about half an hour of things and persons they remembered in the school. The old man's hands shook constantly, and he explained to my father how this shaking had begun two years before, and how he had been forced to give up his teaching because of this. Otherwise he would still be working, because his heart and soul were still in the schoolroom with his students. He went to a closet and after a moment brought out package, marked with name and date. Out of the package he drew a paper and gave it to my father. It was marked with my father's name and with the month and the year. It was one of my father's own copybook exercises! Mr. Crossett thus kept a record of all his old students. My father read the exercise and tears came to his eyes.

On the way home my father told me of an incident that took place on his first day at school in Mr. Crossett's class. During the course of the lesson Mr. Crossett noticed that one of the students looked sick and feverish. He walked to the student's desk and put his hand on the child's forehead. While his back was turned another student in the class got up from his seat, and began to make faces just to make the other students laugh. Mr. Crossett turned rapidly and glared at the student. \with the lesson. After a while he put down his book, looked at the students in silence for several minutes, then said:

\You should study hard and be good students. I do not want you simply to promise me with words that you will be good. I want you to show me with your hearts that here we are all part of own big family. I want to be proud of you.\

At the moment the bell rang announcing the end of the class. One by one the students got up from their seats and left the room quietly. The boy who had made faces, however, went up to Mr. Crossett's desk and in a trembing voice said: \

Mr. Crossett patted him affectionately on the head and said:

\

The tiger and the monkey

A long time ago, there was an tiger.

He did not often go to look for food himself.

Every day he made one of the smaller animals bring him something to eat. One morning the tiger was very, very hungry.

He said to a monkey, “I’m hungry, Monkey. Go and bring me a fat pig.” “I can’t do that, Mr. Tiger.” said the monkey. “There’s another tiger in the forest. He’s younger and stronger than you are！ He told me not to bring you anything.”

“What!” shouted the tiger. “Another tiger? Show me that beast. I’ll speak to him.”

“Come with me, Mr. Tiger,” said the monkey. “You’ll see yourself.”

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Then the monkey took the tiger to a big river.

“Look into the river,” said the monkey. “There he is! Look at his big teeth. Isn’t he bigger than you?”

“Grr…! So you told Monkey not to bring me anything！ Grrr … I’ll kill you! “Grr…”

With these words the tiger jumped into the river. He did not come out again.

“Ha,ha, ha! Goodbye, Mr Tiger,” said the monkey and he went away.

The Fox and the Goat

An unlucky fox fell into a well, it was quite deep, so he could not get out by himself.

A goat passed by. He asked the fox what he was doing in the well.

“Oh, have you not heard?” said the fox,” There is going to be a great drought, so I jumped sown to get some water. Why don’t you come down here too?”

The goat believed his words, and jumped down into the well.

But the fox immediately jumped on the goat’s back and up to the edge of the well .

Good---bye, friend.” said the fox. “Remember next time don’t trust the advice of a man in difficulties.”

A Fox, a Wolf and a Lion

Long, long ago, a fox and a wolf became good friends. They always played together just like two brothers,

One day they caught a chick. The fox was so polite that he gave it all to the wolf for dinner.

“NO, no, no,” said the wolf, “you are my younger brother. You can have it first.”

Just then a lion came before them suddenly.

The wolf said quickly, “King Lion, I know you will come here, so I get a chick for your supper.”

The fox said politely, “I know only a little chick is to a little for King’s evening meal, so l bring a wolf to you besides the chick.”

Kitty goes fishing

*Flying, flying, little bird. Flying, flying, little bird. Beautiful, beautiful, little bird. Beautiful, beautiful, little bird.

Bird: A little lake! How beautiful! Mummy: It?s sunny. Let?s go fishing. Kitty: Ok.

They walk to the lake. They walk to the lake. Kitty: Oh, the lake! How beautiful!

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Mummy: Let?s begin. Kitty: Ok.

*Fishes, fishes, one, two, three. Fishes, fishes, four, five, six. Fishes,fishes, seven,eight, nine. Fishes, fishes, there are ten.

Dragonfly: Fly, fly ,fly, a dragonfly. Fly, fly, fly , a dragonfly. Kitty: Look, a dragonfly. How beautiful! I?ll catch it. Dragonfly: Run, run, run. Kitty: Stop, stop, stop

Dragonfly: Goodbye, kitty. Kitty: oh, she?s gone.

Mummy: Come on, kitty! A big fish! Kitty: Oh, how big! I?ll fish again.

*Fishes, fishes, where are they. Can you tell me where they are. Fishes, fishes, there they are. Someone is swimming in the lake.

Butterfly: Fly, fly ,fly, a butterfly. Fly, fly, fly , a butterfly. Kitty: Look! A butterfly! How beautiful! I?ll catch it. Kitty: Stop, stop, stop.

Butterfly: Run, run, run. Goodbye, kitty! Kitty: oh, she?s gone.

Mummy: Come on , kitty! A big fish! Kitty: oh, how big!

Mummy: Pay attention, kitty!

*Pay attention, Pay attention, Pay attention, Kitty. *Kitty: Yes, Mummy! Yes, Mummy! I?ll fish again. Dragonfly: Kitty, kitty, let?s play. Kitty: No, I?m fishing.

Butterfly: Kitty, Kitty, let?s play. Kitty: No, I?m fishing.

Kitty: Mummy, Mummy. Look, a big fish! Mummy: Good! Kitty. How nice! How nice! Kitty is very happy.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a village near the forest. Whenever she went out, the little girl wore a red riding cloak, so everyone in the village called her Little Red Riding Hood.

One morning, Little Red Riding Hood asked her mother if she could go to visit her grandmother as it had been a while since they'd seen each other.

\So they packed a nice basket for Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother. 2

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When the basket was ready, the little girl put on her red cloak and kissed her mother goodbye.

\\the way and please don't talk to strangers! The woods are dangerous.\\3

But when Little Red Riding Hood noticed some lovely flowers in the woods, she forgot her promise to her mother. She picked a few, watched the butterflies flit about for awhile, listened to the frogs croaking and then picked a few more.

Little Red Riding Hood was enjoying the warm summer day so much, that she didn't notice a dark shadow approaching out of the forest behind her... 4

Suddenly, the wolf appeared beside her.

\muster.

\Riding Hood replied.

Then she realized how late she was and quickly excused herself, rushing down the path to her Grandma's house.

The wolf, in the meantime, took a shortcut... 5

The wolf, a little out of breath from running, arrived at Grandma's and knocked lightly at the door.

\Come in, come in! I was worried sick that something had happened to you in the forest,\granddaughter.

The wolf let himself in. Poor Granny did not have time to say another word, before the wolf gobbled her up! 6

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The wolf let out a satisfied burp, and then poked through Granny's wardrobe to find a nightgown that he liked. He added a frilly sleeping cap, and for good measure, dabbed some of Granny's perfume behind his pointy ears.

A few minutes later, Little Red Riding Hood knocked on the door. The wolf jumped into bed and pulled the covers over his nose. \\

\Do come in, my dear,\7

When Little Red Riding Hood entered the little cottage, she could scarcely recognize her Grandmother.

\Your voice sounds so odd. Is something the matter?\

\point. 8

\What big ears you have,\to the bed.

\

\What big eyes you have,\\

\What big teeth you have,\quivering slightly.

\to chase the little girl. 9

Almost too late, Little Red Riding Hood realized that the person in the bed was not her Grandmother, but a hungry wolf.

She ran across the room and through the door, shouting, \Wolf!\could.

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A woodsman who was chopping logs nearby heard her cry and ran towards the cottage as fast as he could.

He grabbed the wolf and made him spit out the poor Grandmother who was a bit frazzled by the whole experience, but still in one piece. 10

\sobbed Little Red Riding Hood, \or dawdle in the forest again.\

\You've learned an important lesson. Thank goodness you shouted loud enough for this kind woodsman to hear you!\

The woodsman knocked out the wolf and carried him deep into the forest where he wouldn't bother people any longer.

Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother had a nice lunch and a long chat.

Tinding the Mother小蝌蚪找妈妈英文版

The little tadpoles saw some ducks were playing with their mother.They remembered their mother.（小蝌蚪们看见小鸭在和妈妈玩，想起了自己的妈妈。） Where is our mother? I don’t know.（我们的妈妈在哪里？我不知道。） They went to ask Mr shrimp.（它们去问虾公公）

Excuse me! Did you se my mother?（打搅一下！您见过我们的妈妈吗？） Your mother’s eyes are very big.（你们的妈妈大眼睛）

The little tadpoles saw the fish, They thought she was their mother.（小蝌蚪们看见鲤鱼以为是自己的妈妈。）

Mum, mum. No. Your mother has four legs.（妈妈，我不是。你们的妈妈是四条腿。） The little tadpoles saw the salamander.（小蝌蚪们看见了大鲵。）

Mum, mum. No. Your mother dresses in green.（妈妈，我不是，你们的妈妈穿绿衣服。） The little tadpoles saw the tortoise dressed in green, and they shouted. （小蝌蚪们看见了乌龟穿着绿衣服就喊了起来。）

Mum, mum. No. Your mother has no tail. （妈妈，我不是，你们的妈妈没有尾巴。） At this moment the frog came over.（这时青蛙游过来了。）

Oh! Dear! I am your mum. But why don’t we look alike?（噢！亲爱的！我是你们的妈妈。那么，我们怎么和你不一样呀？）

The frog said to the tadpoles.（青蛙对小蝌蚪说）

Mum, mum. When you grow up we’ll look alike. （妈妈，等你们长大了就和我一样了。）

At last, they found their mother.（最后，小蝌蚪们终于找到了自己的妈妈） Mum, mum. Oh! My dear babies.（妈妈，我亲爱的孩子们）

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A Beautiful Rooster

(Rooster - woodpecker - bee - frog - horse)

Scene 1

Long long ago, there was a rooster who thought he was the best looking rooster around. He liked to show it off, too.

Scene 2

One day ,the rooster went out, he said，“I?m the greatest rooster around! I am sure there

is no other rooster as great as me. Hey, Woodpecker with the long beak! Let?s see who?s better looking!”

The Woodpecker answered: “I?m sorry but I'm busy. I have to catch all these worms

in the old tree. See you later! ”

“Oh,See you” Said the rooster.

Scene 3

The rooster saw many beautiful flowers. There is a honey bee flying (among) the flowers.

Rooster: “La la la la la la. Hey, Honeybee with eyes like drums! Let's see who's better

looking!”

Bee: “I'm sorry but I'm busy. I have to make some honey from the fruit trees. Bye!” Rooster: “Oh, Bye”

Scene 4

The rooster walked to the pond.There is a green frog on the lotus leaf.

Rooster: “La la la la la. Hey, Green frog! Let's see who's better looking!”

Frog: “I'm sorry but I'm busy. I have to catch all the bad insects on the farm. I'll see

you later!”

Rooster: “Everyone was so busy! What?s wrong?”

Scene 5

Since everyone was too busy to talk with Rooster, he went to old Mr. Horse to complain.

Rooster: “Mr. Horse, why doesn't anyone want to see who's better looking?”

Horse: “Hmm, Listen carefully! If you want to know who?s really beautiful, you have

to find out (whether) that person helps others or not.”

Rooster: “Huh...”

Scene 6

Rooster suddenly felt (embarrassed) by his (behavior.) He made up his mind to help others from then on.

Scene 7

The next day, he woke up early in the morning and yelled, “(Cockle doodle doo!)”

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He tried to help people wake up in the morning.

How a Colt Crossed the River

One day, a colt took a bag of wheat to the mill.

As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river. The colt could not decide whether he could cross it. Looking around, he saw a cow grazing nearby. He asked, \

river?\knee high.

the colt was crossing the river when a squirrel jumped down a tree and

stopped him. The squirrel shouted, \drowned just yesterday in the river.\home to consult his mom.

He told his mom his experience on the way. His mother said, \always listen to others. You'd better go and try yourself. Then you'll know what to do.\

Later, at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again. \dangerous!\

\carefully.

On the other side of the river, the colt realized that the river was neither as shallow as the cow said nor as deep as the squirrel told him. You see, real knowledge comes from practice. 小马过河译文

一天，小马驮着麦子去磨坊。

当他驮着口袋向前跑去时，突然发现一条小河挡住了去路。小马为难了，这可怎么办呢？

它向四周望了望，看见一头奶牛在河边吃草。小马问道：“牛阿姨，请您告诉我，这条河我能趟过去吗？”奶牛回答说：“水很浅，刚到膝盖。”

小马正准备过河，突然丛树上跳下一只松鼠，拦住它大叫道：“小马，别过河！你会被淹死的。昨天，我的一个伙伴就在这条河里淹死啦！”小马不知如何是好，于是决定回家问问妈妈。

小马把路上的经历告诉了妈妈。妈妈说：“孩子，光听别人说是不行的，你自己亲自去试一试，就知道答案了。”

小马回到河边，刚要下水，松鼠又大叫起来：“小马，你不要命啦？”小马说：“让我自己试试吧。”它一面回答一面下了河，小心地趟了过去。原来河水既不像老牛说的那样浅也不像松鼠说的那样深。 这下明白了吧，实践才能出真知。 The Wolf and the Lamb 狼与小羊

WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He

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thus addressed him:\Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, \feed in my pasture.\Again said the Wolf, \drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me.\the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, \though you refute every one of my imputations.\

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

一只小羊在河边喝水，狼见到后，便想找一个名正言顺的借口吃掉他。于是他跑到上游，恶狠狠地说小羊把河水搅浑浊了，使他喝不到清水。小羊回答说，他仅仅站在河边喝水，并且又在下游，根本不可能把上游的水搅浑。狼见此计不成，又说道：“我父亲去年被你骂过。”小羊说，那时他还没有出生。狼对他说：“不管你怎样辩解，反正我不会放过 你。”

这说明，对恶人做任何正当的辩解也是无效的。

The Little Ugly Duck

No one knew why there was a more egg in the ducks' nest. When other small ducks came out from eggs the one kept still. At last, an ugly little duck came out, but it looked rather different, with different color, different body. So other small ducks kicked him out of the team and always laughed at him, calling him ugly duck. What's more, other animal didn't like him ,either , they all baited the little ugly duck. Finally the little ugly duck left his nest, stayed lonely. Once he saw the beautiful swans flying in the sky, how he wished that he could be that beautiful. Day after day, the little ugly duck grew up. Once he came to a swag to drink, what he saw in the water shocked him, who was it? It was as beautiful as the swans he had seen. Oh, it was the little ugly duck himself, actually he was a beautiful swan, he flied into the sky and joined his real friends.

Si Maguang breaking water vat

Once upon a time, four children, three boys and one beautiful giril, played games in the garden. They played the very funny games friendly there. The games was called hide and found. One of them had to find out all the others in any corner of the garden. During the games, one boy wanted to hide in a very secret place in order to be found difficult. He decided to hide in a very big jar. In his memory, the jar was empty. He ran toward to it and climb up onto the edge of the jar. But very unluckily, he fell into it. Beyond his expected, the jar was full of water. At that moment, his feeling was very bad. He could do nothing rather than to cry loudly. All the other friends heard the cry, they ran there for help. When they were there, the boy, who fell in the jar already became quietly. The children guessed how to save their friend. But the question was that all of them were not tall enough to reach the edge of the jar. In the very moment, the boy in the jar certainly dies except some one can take him out of the jar。One of the boy was very smart,

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he saw a big stone between two tree, he went fast rather then ran to there and picked up the stone. Then he stroked on the bottom of the jar, the water went out. After 5 minutes, the jar was empty, the boy was saved. He made a great thing, he fell very happy than smiled, he was called Si Maguang.

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