英语听力精选进阶版 11268

 

30Aesop's Fables¹  The Dog in the manger

By Sharri McGarry

It had been another busy day at the farm. Dog yawned. It was hot, hot, hot! And Dog was tired. He looked around for somewhere to snooze. The barn was shady and quiet. 

And in the barn there was a man-ger, and it was full of hay to feed the cows. Ah, yes! The manger was just the right place for a dog to sleep. It was soft and smelled of fresh hay and it was cool in the barn after the heat of the sun. 

Dog climbed into the manger and turned around – once…twice…three times – and curled himself into a nest of hay with his nose by his tail. 

At that moment, who should come into the barn but Bull and all the cows?

'Time for some dinner, my dears?' said Bull, stepping aside to allow his wives to go into the barn first. 

'Oh, thank you dear!' replied Queeny-cow, daintily strolling in at the head of the herd². 'You are such a gentleman! A nice munch³ of cool hay would be very nice – OH! 'She stopped when she saw Dog. All the cows stopped when they saw Dog. Dog didn' t open his eyes, but his ears pricked⁴ up like satellite dishes.

'Oh dear, said Queenie-cow, as 

Bull came up beside her. 'There appears to be a dog in the manger! '

'A dog? A dog?' blustered⁵ Bull. 

'What would a dog be doing in the manger? Dogs don’t eat hay! I say! 

I say, Dog! What are you doing in our manger?'

'Sleeping,' grunted⁶ Dog. 'Go away! '

'Well!' said Queenie-cow in a sulky voice. 'That's no way to behave in front of ladies!'

'You are not ladies – you are cat-tle,'  said Dog.  'That's what you are. '

'Well!' squeaked⁷ Queenie-cow, offended. 'I have never been spoken to in that way!'

'Hrmph!' snorted Bull. 'I must ask you to not speak to my wife that way. She's very delicate, you know! 

My dear,' he said to Queenie-cow, 

'Leave this to me! '

'Sir!'  he continued, lowering his head and displaying his very fine horns, 'I must ask you to leave the manger NOW!'

'Or else?'  asked Dog. He rose up on stiff legs, lowered his head and bared his teeth. 'OR ELSE? ' he barked.

Bull looked at the fierce dog and backed away in sudden confusion. 

'Alright! Alright! K..K..Keep your hair on! '

'Attack him! ' Queenie-cow encour-aged. 'Don’t be cowed!'

'I am cowed!' squeaked Bull, back-ing away towards the door.  'I have just remembered what my dear old mother always used to say to me! She said "Let sleeping dog’s lie! " Goodbye! '

And Bull lumbered⁸ out of the barn.

'Well!' said Queenie-cow.  'So much for him - we'll do this my way!' she said, turning smartly and wandering out of the door.

'Delusional⁹!' muttered Dog, watch-ing the cows nudging out of the barn door. 'Daft!' snorted Dog, turning around  three times in the hay. ' Dippy!' decided¹⁰ Dog, curling himself into a nest of hay with a groan¹¹ of contentment and shutting his eyes.

'DOG!' roared a man's voice. 

Farmer John stormed furiously in through the barn door.

'DOG!' he shouted angrily.  ' Get out of that manger at once, you selfish animal! There are silly cows milling everywhere they shouldn' t be! I've got cows in my kitchen! 

I've got cows in my car! And I've got a Bull hiding under my bed! 

Stop being a dog in a manger and go and round up the sheep!'

Dog jumped down from the hay and skulked¹² out of the barn with his tail between his legs. 

'Drat!' he sighed.  'It 's a dog 's life! '

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 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

3 munch   

v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼

参考例句：

• We watched her munch through two packets of peanuts.我们看她津津有味地嚼了两包花生米。
• Getting them to munch on vegetable dishes was more difficult.使他们吃素菜就比较困难了。

4 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

5 blustered   

v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹

参考例句：

• He blustered his way through the crowd. 他吆喝着挤出人群。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The wind blustered around the house. 狂风呼啸着吹过房屋周围。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 grunted   

（猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说

参考例句：

• She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page. 她只咕哝了一声，继续看书，不屑抬起头来看一眼。
• She grunted some incomprehensible reply. 她咕噜着回答了些令人费解的话。

7 squeaked   

v.短促地尖叫( squeak的过去式和过去分词 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者

参考例句：

• The radio squeaked five. 收音机里嘟嘟地发出五点钟报时讯号。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Amy's shoes squeaked on the tiles as she walked down the corridor. 埃米走过走廊时，鞋子踩在地砖上嘎吱作响。 来自辞典例句

8 lumbered   

砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• A rhinoceros lumbered towards them. 一头犀牛笨重地向他们走来。
• A heavy truck lumbered by. 一辆重型卡车隆隆驶过。

9 delusional   

妄想的

参考例句：

• You became delusional and attacked several people trying to escape. 你产生了错觉并攻击了许多人还试图逃走。 来自电影对白
• He is incoherent, delusional, suffering auditory hallucinations. 他出现无逻辑的，妄想的，幻听的症状。 来自电影对白

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 groan   

vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音

参考例句：

• The wounded man uttered a groan.那个受伤的人发出呻吟。
• The people groan under the burden of taxes.人民在重税下痛苦呻吟。

12 skulked   

v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Sir Francis Clavering made his appearance, and skulked for a while about the magnificent rooms. 弗朗西斯·克拉弗林爵士也出席了，他在那些金碧辉煌的屋子里遛了一会。 来自辞典例句
• He skulked around outside until the police had gone. 他窥探着四周，直至见到警察走开。 来自互联网