英语听力精选进阶版 11272

 

34Aesop's Fables¹  The Eagle and the Tortoise

By Kate Stonham

In a tumbledown cottage deep in the countryside lived Old Mrs Mum-bles. Every morning, she opened the kitchen door…and threw the remains² of last night’s dinner onto the grass. 

‘Three, two, one…bet I get there first!’ cried Racy Rabbit. 

All the animals that lived in the garden charged towards the food – all except Tod the very slow tor-toise. 

‘Wait for me…!’ he croaked³. But it was no good – Racy Rabbit, Fox and the birds were greedily tuck-ing into vegetable peelings and left over stew…and by the time Tod arrived,  there was nothing left.  

‘It’s not faaaaaair, he moaned. ‘I’ve only got short little legs and my shell is really heavy. I’m so slow I always get there last.’

‘Never mind, Tod,’ squeaked⁴ his friend, Milly Mouse. ‘Look, I’ve saved you a nice piece of lettuce⁵.’  

As Tod chomped⁶ away, he spotted⁷ a great Eagle soaring on the light breeze way up high. 

‘I wish I could fly like that eagle,’ he sighed. ‘Just imagine how fast and free I would be!’   

The next day, Tod poked⁸ his head from his shell – and nearly jumped out of it in surprise. For the eagle was standing⁹ on the grass, looking right at him.

‘Us eagles have very good eyesight you know’, she said in a rather raspy voice.  ‘I read your lips yes-terday. And I have come to grant you your wish. I

shall teach you to fly in the sky.’ 

‘Ohhh! Thank you, Eagle!’ cried Tod. ‘I’ll give you anything you want in return.’

‘Anything?’ asked the Eagle with a glint in her eye.

‘Yes, anything,’ replied Tod.  Tod gasped¹⁰ with excitement as the Eagle carried him high into the sky.  

Mountains and oceans and forests and castles were spread out below as far as he could see.  

‘I can fly!’  cried Tod with delight.

‘Now, there’s just the small mat-ter of my payment,’ said the Eagle.  

‘I’m rather partial to small, cud-dly creatures for my tea, so I’d like that little mouse you were talking too.’  

‘What?! But you can’t eat Milly – she’s my best friend,’ protested Tod. ‘But you promised to give me whatever I wanted,’ said the Eagle. 

‘Er, yes I know - but not Milly, pleeeease…’ pleaded Tod.  

There was a horrible silence.  Todd shivered in the cold wind and looked down. It was an awfully¹¹ long way to the ground…

‘Very well then,’ said the Eagle.  

‘You wanted to fly – so let’s see how you manage by yourself.’ And with that, she shook Tod off her back. 

‘Heeeeeeelp!’ cried Tod as he fell through the air. ‘You forgot to tell me how to do it!!!’ 

‘It’s easy, just flap!’ cried the now distant Eagle.

Tod flapped and flapped his little legs, but it was no use. Down he dropped like a very heavy stone.  

‘I don’t think I like flying after all…’ he gasped. ‘I’d much rather be back on the ground. The prob-lem is, the ground’s getting very close…very fast…! ’  

As the garden rushed up to meet him, Tod shut his eyes…then ever so slowly…opened them again… 

He had landed in a giant pile of let-tuce leaves.  ‘We thought we’d give you a soft landing just in case your flying lesson went horribly wrong,’ giggled¹² Racy Rabbit.  

‘Lucky for you, Old Mrs Mumbles¹³ had a big party last night, and threw out loads of left overs!’ add -ed Milly.  

That night, the animals celebrated¹⁴ with a feast. ‘Thanks for saving my life, guys,’ said Tod as he chomped on lettuce. ‘You know, I much pre-fer being slow and steady to flying all fast and whizzy. I even like my shell a bit more.’  

He pulled his little friend under his shell, and they munched¹⁵ to their hearts’ content till the sun came out again.

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 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

4 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

5 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

6 chomped   

v.切齿，格格地咬牙，咬响牙齿( chomp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He chomped his way through two hot dogs. 他呼哧呼哧地吃掉了两个热狗。
• The boy chomped his sandwich. 这个男孩大口嚼着三明治。 来自互联网

7 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。

8 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

12 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 mumbles   

含糊的话或声音，咕哝( mumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He always mumbles when he's embarrassed. 他感到难为情时说话就含糊不清了。
• When the old lady speaks she often mumbles her words. 这位老妇人说起话来常常含糊不清。

14 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

15 munched   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She munched on an apple. 她在大口啃苹果。
• The rabbit munched on the fresh carrots. 兔子咯吱咯吱地嚼着新鲜胡萝卜。 来自辞典例句