英文短故事：The Lion and The Woodcutter

There once lived a lion, the king of the forest. He was always accompanied by a jackal and a crow. They followed him every where and lived on the remains¹ of his food. 

 

In a village close to the forest there lived a woodcutter. Everyday, he would go into the forest with his axe² to chop³ wood. 

 

One day as the woodcutter was busy chopping⁴ a tree, he heard a noise behind him. Turning around, he saw the lion looking straight at him, ready to pounce⁵. The woodcutter was a clever man. He quickly said, “Greetings… King of this forest. It is a pleasure to meet you." 

 

The lion was surprised. “A pleasure to meet me? Are you not afraid of me?" 

 

“I respect you a lot…lion. I was hoping to meet you. You see, my wife is an excellent cook. I wanted you to taste her dal and vegetables." 

 

“Dal? Vegetables? Don’t you know that I eat only flesh⁶?" asked the lion in surprise. 

 

“If you taste my wife’s cooking, you will stop eating flesh," said the woodcutter proudly. 

 

The lion was very hungry and he accepted the woodcutter’s food. 

 

“Good that the Jackal and the crow are not with me today," thought the lion. “They would laugh at me." 

 

The lion was surprised to find that the food was indeed very tasty. “I have never eaten such good food," he said. 

 

“You are welcome to share my food everyday, O king. But no one should ever know about our friendship. You must come alone." 

 

The lion promised. Everyday, the lion would eat lunch brought by the woodcutter and their unusual friendship grew to be stronger day by day. 

 

The crow and the jackal were anxious to know why the lion had stopped hunting. “We are going to starve to death if the lion does not hunt anymore," whined⁷ the jackal. 

 

“You are right," said the crow. “Let us try to find out what has happened to the lion." The next day they followed the lion from a safe distance and saw him eating the lunch the woodcutter brought for him. 

 

“So this is why the lion does not hunt anymore," said the jackal to the crow. “We have to get the lion to share his food with us. Then may be we can break his friendship with the woodcutter and the lion will start hunting his prey⁸ again." 

 

When the lion came back to his den⁹ that evening, the crow and the jackal were waiting for him. “My lord¹⁰, why have you forgotten us? Please let us all go hunting like we used to," pleaded¹¹ the crow and the jackal. 

 

“No! I have given up eating flesh, ever since I met a friend who changed me from my old ways," said the lion. 

 

“We would also like to meet your friend," said the crow. 

 

On the following day, the wood cutter was as usual waiting for his friend the lion. Suddenly, he heard voices. The woodcutter was a very careful and clever man. He immediately climbed a tall tree. In the distance, he could see the lion approaching. With him were a crow and a jackal. “With those two around, my friendship with the lion will not last very long," he said to himself. 

 

The lion came over to the tree and called out to the woodcutter, “Come down and join us. It is me your friend." 

 

“That may be so," called out the woodcutter. “But you have broken your promise to me. If those two can make you break a promise, then they can make you kill me also. You can forget our friendship."  

1 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。

2 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

3 chop   

n.厚肉片，排骨，砍，交换，戳记，商标；vt.剁碎，砍，切，割断；vi.砍，突然转向

参考例句：

• He struck off the branch with a single chop of the ax.他一斧子就砍掉了那根树枝。
• She cut down the seedling with one chop.她一刀就把小苗砍倒了。

4 chopping   

adj.波浪汹涌的，硕大强健的；削球；斩波；断续

参考例句：

• He was preparing fodder, chopping finely and mixing thoroughly. 他在准备饲料，把它切碎，拌好。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This fellow is always chopping and changing; he's very unreliable. 这个人反复无常，很不可靠。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 pounce   

n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意

参考例句：

• Why do you pounce on every single thing I say?干吗我说的每句话你都要找麻烦？
• We saw the tiger about to pounce on the goat.我们看见老虎要向那只山羊扑过去。

6 flesh   

n.肉；（供食用的）肉；果肉

参考例句：

• A fat man has much more flesh than a thin man.胖人较瘦人肉多。
• The flesh of the peach was sweet and juicy.桃子的果肉甜而多汁。

7 whined   

v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨

参考例句：

• The dog whined at the door, asking to be let out. 狗在门前嚎叫着要出去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted. 他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。 来自辞典例句

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

10 lord   

n.上帝，主；主人，长官；君主，贵族

参考例句：

• I know the Lord will look after him.我知道上帝会眷顾他的。
• How good of the Lord not to level it beyond repair!上帝多么仁慈啊，竟没有让这所房子损毁得不可收拾！

11 pleaded   

恳求，请求( plead的过去式和过去分词 )； 提出…为借口[理由]； （向法庭）陈述案情； （在法庭）申辩，认罪，辩护

参考例句：

• She pleaded with him not to go. 她恳求他不要离开。
• She wept and pleaded until he agreed to do as she wished. 她哭着恳求他，一直到他答应按她的愿望去做。