英语听力精选进阶版 11278

 

40Aesop's Fables¹  

The Boy who cried Wolf

By Rob² John

A young boy got a job with a shep-herd. 

‘Just keep your eyes open and 

look out for wolves’ said the shep-herd. ‘Wolves always try to eat my 

sheep. If you see one, ring this bell 

and shout out ‘ Wolf..!  Wolf..!’ Then 

we’ll come running with our guns. 

Can you do that, boy?’ ‘Don’t 

you worry Mr Shepherd³,’ said the 

boy. ‘Your sheep are safe with me.’

The boy took the sheep up into the 

hills and sat down with his bell. 

‘Don’t worry sheep,’ he said. ‘I’m 

here now. I’m in charge. You’ll be 

safe with me.’ 

All morning the boy sat in the grass 

looking for wolves. ‘I expect they’re 

hiding,’ he said to the sheep. 

That night the boy took the sheep 

back to the village. The shepherd 

counted his sheep and was very 

pleased. ‘Well done,’ he said. ‘All 

safe. Same again tomorrow?’ 

‘Yes s ir !’  said the boy. 

The next day was exactly the same 

as the first day. The boy took the 

sheep to the hills and sat down 

with his bell looking for wolves. 

There weren’t any. 

The boy noticed that the day felt 

very long. There was no-one to 

talk to...except sheep...and the 

sheep never talked back...they 

just ate grass...all day...

By the fifth day the boy was very 

bored with his job. He looked up at 

the mountains. Not a wolf in sight. 

He looked down at the bell and he 

thought : ‘Maybe I could just pre-tend there’s a wolf.’

So he picked up his bell...

...and rang it, shouting ‘Wolf...wolf...

...hurry... come quickly...there’s a 

big old wolf coming!’

Soon he could hear the sound of 

men running up the hill. ‘Where is 

it?’ said the shepherd. ‘Gone, ’ said 

the boy.

‘He just ran off.’ ‘Well done boy,’ 

said the shepherd. ‘You saved my 

sheep.’ The other men all patted 

the boy on the head and said 

how brave he’d been and what a 

good job he’d done. The boy felt 

so proud and pleased with him-self that he almost forgot that he’d 

made the whole thing up. 

A few days later he was bored 

again. ‘The only good day I had 

in this job was when I pretended 

there was a wolf,’ he told the 

sheep. ‘And I rang my bell and all 

the men came and told me what a 

good job I’d done. It was brilliant.’ 

He looked at his bell. And that’s 

when he decided⁵ to do it again.

He rang, he shouted and again the 

men came running. ‘Where is it?’ 

said the shepherd. ‘Gone,’ said the 

boy. ‘Ran away.’ This time the men 

didn’t say ‘well done’ and pat⁴ him 

on the head. This time they looked 

at the boy like they didn’t believe 

him. ‘There was a wolf, honest,’ he 

said. The men just walked back to 

the village without speaking.

Now the boy felt really sorry for 

himself. ‘They know I rang my bell 

when there was no wolf.’

Then out of the corner of his eye 

he saw a movement -  a big grey 

thing was coming down the hillside 

heading⁶ straight for the sheep. 

The boy rang his bell and he shout-ed. ‘Wolf...wolf...come quickly... 

...there’s a wolf ! ’

Down in the village the men heard 

the bell ring and just carried on 

working. 

‘Little fool,’ said the Shepherd. 

‘Does he really think we’ll fall for 

that again?’

The boy kept ringing his bell. 

There were tears in his eyes as 

he watched the wolf make a meal 

of one of the shepherd’s fattest 

sheep.

‘I rang my bell but nobody came,’ 

the boy told the shepherd that 

evening. 

The shepherd nodded ‘Nobody 

believes a liar⁷ ...even when he’s 

speaking the truth.’

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 rob   

v.抢劫；vi.抢劫，盗窃；vt.非法剥夺，使丧失，抢劫

参考例句：

• Two men formed a plot to rob the bank.两人制定了抢劫那家银行的秘密计划。
• They were scheming to rob the bank.他们在密谋抢劫银行。

3 shepherd   

n.牧羊者，牧师，指导者；v.看守，领导，指导

参考例句：

• The shepherd boy waited for his sheep to drink.牧童等羊喝水。
• The shepherd and his dog gathered in the sheep.牧羊人和牧羊狗把羊群赶到一块。

4 pat   

n.轻拍，拍打声；vt.轻拍，拍打；vi.轻跑，轻击；adv.适时，彻底；adj.油腔滑调的，恰好的，合适的

参考例句：

• Could you hear the pat?你能听到轻轻的拍击声吗？
• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。

5 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。

6 heading   

n.上标题，标题，起始字，方向

参考例句：

• The heading was in large letters.标题是用大号字母印刷的。
• He realized that he was heading in the wrong direction.他意识到走错了方向。

7 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。