人教全日制普通高中英语（必修）高三UNIT11-3

In his youth, Han Xin was a cheerful young man. He always carded his sword, no matter where he went. One day, he went fishing. By the end of the afternoon, he returned home to sell the fish he had caught in the fish market. Now, this town was also the home to a band of wild and rude young fellows. They often caused problems to the citizens and travellers on the road. Seeing Han Xin carrying his sword and the fish he had caught that day, one of them stepped in front of Han Xin and started making fun of him. He teased¹ Han Xin saying, "As you are carrying a sword, you must be a brave man. If you are not afraid to die, take your sword and fight me. However, if you are afraid to die, then you must go on your knees and crawl² between my legs on all fours." All the guys laughed. Many people gathered around the young man and Han Xin. They were all waiting to see what Han Xin would do. After a while, Han Xin laid his sword on the ground, and put his basket down. He went down on his knees and moved on all fours under the young man's spread out legs. The action was shameful³. The people watching the scene started laughing. They all said that Han Xin was stupid and lacked courage. The story became widely known.
 
       Years later, Liu Bang⁴, who founded the Han Dynasty, asked Han Xin to serve as one of his generals. In times of peace, Han Xin took up the post of a high official back in his hometown. The bad guys who had made his life so miserable⁵ in his youth still lived there. On taking up his post, he called them to his office for some "business".
 
      Everyone remembered what these men had done to Han Xin in the past. When they arrived at his office, they were all afraid of what Han Xin would do to them, and what horrible punishment he was going to give them. When Han Xin heard of their arrival, he told his secretary to keep them around, while he ignored them to do other matters. By the end of the day, Han Xin called them into his office. He poured them some wine and asked them about the things that had happened in the town while he had been away. When they had finished, he just sent them home.

1 teased   

v.取笑，戏弄( tease的过去式和过去分词 )；梳理（羊毛等）

参考例句：

• He took a screwdriver and teased out the remaining screws. 他拿出螺丝刀把其余的螺丝卸了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt annoyance at being teased. 我恼恨别人取笑我。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 crawl   

vi.／n.爬行，匍匐行进；缓慢(费力)地行进

参考例句：

• We learn to crawl before we learn to walk.我们学会走路之前先要学会爬。
• She slowed the car to a crawl.她把车开得很慢。

3 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

4 bang   

n.巨响，猛击；vi.砰砰作响；vt.砰地敲，猛击

参考例句：

• Pack it up, you kids;or I'll bang your heads together!住手，你们这些小孩，再弄就揍你们！
• She fell and got a nasty bang on the knee.她摔倒了，膝盖猛撞在地上。

5 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。