英语听力精选进阶版 11260

21Aesop's Fables¹  

The Crow and the Pitcher²

By Tracey Hammett

This is the story of a pitcher and a crow, and a pitcher is a jug³, in case you didn’t know.

Old Mr Crow was a big black bird with a big black beak⁴ and he lived at the top of a tree.

He was a clever old creature. 

'There 's no problem you can ' t fix if you only take the time to think about it!' he would say. 

And over the years, Old Mr Crow had managed to solve lots of prob-lems…just through taking the time to settle his feathers and think.

When he wanted to feast on a juicy clam⁵ that was hiding inside its tightly shut shell, Mr Crow solved the problem by dropping the shell from a great height so it hit the ground and burst open. ' This clam sure tastes delicious! ' he cawed.

'Go, go Mr Crow, you're the smart-est bird we know! ' chirped⁶ the Sparrow Sisters.

Walnuts⁸ were even trickier⁹ for a crow to crack open, but Mr Crow solved that problem too.  'I'll let the cars that drive by do the work for me,' he cawed. Then he plucked a walnut⁷ from the tree and dropped it in the road, just by the cross-ing . A car drove over it and cracked the walnut open. When the traf-fic lights turned red and the traffic stopped Mr Crow hopped¹⁰ into the road and pecked up the tasty nut.

'Go, go Mr Crow, you're so clever don ' t you know! ' chirped the Spar-row Sisters.

Then one day Mr Crow came across a problem he thought he couldn' t solve.  

The weather had been hot and dry for weeks and all the water had dried up in the pond. Mr Crow was very thirsty. He flew for miles look-ing for water but wherever he went the streams and ponds were dry. 

Then, as he was flying by a farm house, he noticed a pitcher in the garden. 'Maybe that pitcher will have water in it,' he thought.      

So he flew down to look. There was a little bit of water at the bottom, not much, but enough for a crow. Mr Crow put his beak in eagerly…but the pitcher was tall and the water was shallow and his beak couldn' t reach.  

'I can see the water, but I can ' t drink it! ' he said to himself.  'And without the water I will die of thirst. This is a problem!'

Mr Crow settled his feathers and thought for a while…and as he was thinking, his black beady eyes spotted¹¹ a small stone… 'Hmm,' he thought,  'I  wonder if that stone can help me solve my problem?' 

Then he had an idea…he picked the stone up in his beak and he dropped it in the pitcher…this made the water in the pitcher rise, just a little.

'I need more stones,' thought Mr Crow. He flew around the yard searching for stones and, one by one, he dropped them into the pitcher. Each time the water rose a little but each time he dipped his beak in but it wouldn’t reach the water. 

Mr Crow worked all day…flying backwards¹² and forwards picking up stones and dropping them in… then at last, as the sun was set-ting, he looked into the pitcher and saw that he had almost filled it with stones. Now the water had risen high enough for his beak to reach.  

'Go, go Mr Crow, you're so clever don ' t you know! '  chirped the Spar-row Sisters

'A problem's not a problem if you take the time to think,' said Old Mr Crow as he settled down to drink.

1 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

2 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

3 jug   

n.(有柄，小口，可盛水等的)大壶，罐，盂

参考例句：

• He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐，保持着平衡往前走。
• She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。

4 beak   

n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻

参考例句：

• The bird had a worm in its beak.鸟儿嘴里叼着一条虫。
• This bird employs its beak as a weapon.这种鸟用嘴作武器。

5 clam   

n.蛤，蛤肉

参考例句：

• Yup!I also like clam soup and sea cucumbers.对呀！我还喜欢蛤仔汤和海参。
• The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子。

6 chirped   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 )

参考例句：

• So chirped fiber gratings have broad reflection bandwidth. 所以chirped光纤光栅具有宽的反射带宽，在反射带宽内具有渐变的群时延等其它类型的光纤光栅所不具备的特点。
• The crickets chirped faster and louder. 蟋蟀叫得更欢了。

7 walnut   

n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色

参考例句：

• Walnut is a local specialty here.核桃是此地的土特产。
• The stool comes in several sizes in walnut or mahogany.凳子有几种尺寸，材质分胡桃木和红木两种。

8 walnuts   

胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木

参考例句：

• Are there walnuts in this sauce? 这沙司里面有核桃吗？
• We ate eggs and bacon, pickled walnuts and cheese. 我们吃鸡蛋，火腿，腌胡桃仁和干酪。

9 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

10 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

11 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

12 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。