英文短故事：The Lion and The Hare

Once in a forest there lived a lion who was very proud of his strength. He would kill any animal which came in his way just for fun. All the animals in the forest were worried about their survival. 

 

“If the lion keeps this up, none of us will be left in the forest," said the bear.

 

“He kills much more than he really needs to," squeaked¹ the little hare. 

 

“We have to come up with something to stop this massacre," said the monkey. So they all joined together and went to meet the lion. 

 

“O king of the forest, we have come to make a small request," they all said to the lion. 

 

“Now what would that be?" asked the amused lion. 

 

“You are the king of the forest, but soon there will be no animals to rule over. So we beg you to stop this unreasonable² killing³ and we promise that one of us will come to you everyday for your food," pleaded all the animals with the lion. 

 

So from that day, the animals drew lots to decide on who was to go to the lion as his prey⁴. 

 

One day, the lots fell on the hare to visit the lion. All the animals consoled him and sent him on his way to meet his doom⁵. But the hare was a clever animal. He did not want to die at the hands of the cruel lion. He saw an old well on the way. It was very deep and was a danger for all the animals. He thought of a plan. 

 

The little hare went to sleep near the well all day. In the evening, he made his way to the lion's den⁶. The lion was terribly hungry by then and when he saw a tiny hare coming towards him, he became furious. 

 

“You little thing, how dare you come so late? How dare they send such a small animal? I will kill them all," the angry lion roared. 

 

“It is not my fault, O mighty⁷ lion. There were three other hares with me. But on the way here, another lion attacked us. I just managed to escape. The other three hares were eaten by that lion,"said the hare. 

 

“What? Another lion in my jungle? Take me to him immediately," said the lion in a fit of rage. 

 

The hare took the lion to the well and pointed⁸ it out to him from a distance. The other lion jumped out at us from inside the well when we tried to drink some water from the well. The lion rushed angrily to the well and peeped in. 

 

There inside the well he could see another lion glaring at him. What the foolish lion did not realise in his anger was that he was looking at his reflection. He roared angrily at the other lion. He heard an answering roar. 

 

It was only the echo of his own roar. But the lion thought that the other lion was challenging him. He jumped in and landed inside with a loud splash. And that was the end of the wicked lion.  

1 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

2 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 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。

5 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

6 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。

7 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。