In the ancient times there was a king who wanted to find a swift horse that could cover a thousand 1i（half a kilometre）in one day and he was willing to pay one thousand pieces of gold for it．But for three years he was unsuccessful．A eunuch said to the king，“Please let me go and find such a horse for you．”
The king agreed to send him After three months the eunuch found a very swift horse but it was dead．He bought the horse's head for five hundred pieces of gold and returned to report to the king．“I want a living horse．”the king shouted furiously．“What is the use of a dead one？And you gave away five hundred gold pieces as well！”
“If a dead horse is worth five hundred gold pieces，”answered the eunuch，“what would a living one be worth？People everywhere will know that the king is willing to pay a great deal to buy horses．Good horses will soon appear．”
In less than a year，three fine horses were brought to the king．Exercises：
回答下列问题：
① How much would the king afford to buy a swift horse？
② How much did a dead horse cost？
③ Why three fine horses were brought to the king？ |