第14课

Lesson Fourteen

A Pony Crosses the River

1.An old horse and a foal lived in a stable.

2.One day, the old horse said to the foal: “Now that you have grown up, can you help mom with something?”

3.The foal said excitedly: “Why not?

4.I am willing to do anything for you.”

5.The old horse said happily: “Great, carry this half bag of wheat to the mill.”

6.The foal carried the bag and ran quickly toward the mill.

7.He ran and ran but suddenly came to a small river blocking his way. The river water was rushing by.

8.The foal was troubled and thought: “Can I cross the river?

9.If mom were here, I could ask her what to do. That would be great!”

10.But he was already quite far away from home.

11.The foal looked around and saw an old cow eating grass by the river. So he ran over to the cow and asked: “Uncle Cow, can you please tell me, am I able to wade across this river?”

12.The old cow answered: “The water is shallow, and it barely reaches my calves , so you can wade across it.”

13.Hearing his words, the foal immediately ran to the river to wade across it.

14.Suddenly, a squirrel jumped down from a tree and stopped him: “Foal, stop! Stop! You will drown yourself!”

15.Surprised, the foal asked: “Is the water very deep?”

16.The squirrel said seriously: “Indeed, it's quite deep!

17.Yesterday, one of my friends drowned in this river!"

18.The foal stopped right away, unsure about what to do.

19.He sighed: “Ah!

20.I'll go back home and ask Mom!”

21.The foal shook his tail a bit and ran back home.

22.His mother asked: “Why are you back?”

23.Embarrassed, the foal said: “There is a river blocking my way. And I…I can't get across it.”

24.Mom said: “Isn't that river very shallow?"

25.The foal said: “Yes!

26.Uncle Cow said so.

27.But the squirrel said the water was very deep, and one of his friends had drowned!”

28.Mom said: “So is the river actually deep or shallow?

29.Have you thought carefully about what they said?”

30.The foal lowered his head and said: “No…I did not.”

31.Mom said kindly to the foal: "My child, it is not enough to just listen to others. It won't work if you don't think for yourself and try it out.

32.Whether the river is deep or shallow, you will know once you try.”

33.The foal ran to the river again. When he was about to raise his front hoofs, the squirrel shouted: “What?

34.You are going to lose your life!”

35.The foal said: “Let me try it out!”

36.He went down into the river and waded carefully across to the opposite bank.

37.It turned out that the river was neither as shallow as the old cow said, nor as deep as the squirrel said.

生词表：

pony   小马

crosses   穿过

river   河

horse   马

live in 住在

stable   马棚

grown up 长大

help   帮助

excitedly   兴奋地

am willing to 愿

half bag of 半袋

wheat    麦子

mill   磨坊

carried   搬运(过去式)

quickly   飞快地

toward   向

ran   跑(过去式)

blocking   阻塞

troubled   困惑的

great   极好的

far   远

saw   看见(过去式)

old cow 老牛

grass   草

tell    告诉

wade    跋涉

says   说(第三人称单数)

shallow   浅的

barely   仅仅

reaches   到达

calf   小腿

wade   跋涉

words   话语(复数)

immediately   立刻

got ready to 准备

suddenly   突然

squirrel   松鼠

stopped   拦住

drown   淹死

surprised   吃惊地

deep   深的

seriously   认真地

indeed   确实

yesterday   昨天

friends   朋友 (复数)

drowned    淹死

right away 立刻

unsure   不知道

sighed   叹息

go back 回去

shook   甩动

tail   尾巴

why   为什么

embarrassed   难为情地

blocking   阻挡

shallow   浅的

also   也

deep   深的

drowned   淹死(过去式)

actually   实际上

thought   想

carefully    仔细地

lowered   降低(过去式)

kindly   亲切地

child   孩子

enough   足够

listen to 听

yourself    你自己

try    尝试

whether    是否

know   知道

once    一旦

raise   抬起

hoofs   蹄子(复数)

shouted   大叫(过去式)

lose   失去

have a try 试一试

carefully   小心地

opposite   对面的

bank   岸

turned out 结果是

shallow   浅的

described    描述

deep   深的

squirrel   松鼠

小马过河

1.马棚里住着一匹老马和一匹小马。

2.有一天，老马对小马说：“你已经长大了，能帮妈妈做点事吗？”

3.小马连蹦带跳地说：“怎么不能？

4.我很愿意帮您做事。”

5.老马高兴地说：“那好啊，你把这半口袋麦子驮到磨坊去吧。”

6.小马驮起口袋，飞快地往磨坊跑去。

7.跑着跑着，一条小河挡住了去路，河水哗哗地流着。

8.小马为难了，心想：我能不能过去呢？

9.如果妈妈在身边，问问她该怎么办，那多好啊！

10可是他离家已经很远了。

11.小马向四周望望，看见一头老牛在河边吃草，小马嗒嗒嗒嗒跑过去，问道：“牛伯伯，请您告诉我，这条河，我能蹚过去吗？”

12.老牛说：“水很浅，刚没小腿，能蹚过去。”

13.小马听了老牛的话，立刻跑到河边，准备蹚过去。

14.突然，从树上跳下一只松鼠，拦住他大叫：“小马！别过河，别过河，你会淹死的！”

15.小马吃惊地问：“水很深吗？”

16.松鼠认真地说：“深得很哩！

17.昨天，我的一个伙伴就掉在这条河里淹死的！”

18.小马连忙收住脚步，不知道怎么办才好。

19.他叹了口气说：“唉！

20.还是回家问问妈妈吧！”

21.小马甩甩尾巴，跑回家去。

22.妈妈问：“怎么回来啦？”

23.小马难为情地说：“有一条河挡住了去路，我……我过不去。”

24.妈妈说：“那条河不是很浅吗？”

25.小马说：“是啊！

26.牛伯伯也这么说。

27.可是松鼠说河水很深，还淹死过他的伙伴呢！”

28.妈妈说：“那么河水到底是深还是浅？

29.你仔细想过他们的话吗？”

30.小马低下了头，说：“没……没想过。”

31.妈妈亲切地对小马说：“孩子，光听别人说，自己不动脑筋，不去试试，是不行的。

32.河水是深是浅，你去试一试就知道了。”

33.小马跑到河边，刚刚抬起前蹄，松鼠又大叫起来：“怎么？

34.你不要命啦！”

35.小马说：“让我试试吧！”

36.他下了河，小心地蹚到了对岸。

37.原来河水既不像老牛说的那样浅，也不像松鼠说的那样深。