國中-1
A
Working Gorilla
One day the oldest gorilla in the city zoo
died. The zookeeper couldn’t find a new gorilla, so he hired an out-of-work
mime to dress up in order to act like a gorilla. The mime was happy with his
new job. “This is the greatest job for me! The pay is good. I can sleep if I
want, and I can make fun of people. It’s great to be a gorilla!”
However, the crowd soon got bored of him.
Everyone was paying more attention to the newest animal in the zoo—the lion in
the next cage. The mime did not want to lose his job, so he climbed out of his
cage and swung from the top of the lion’s cage. This made the lion angry, but the
crowd just loved it. The next day the owner of the zoo gave the mime a raise.
He thought, “This sure is the best job ever.”
One afternoon, the mime was swinging over the
angry lion as usual. Suddenly, he lost his grip and fell into the lion’s cage.
The lion stared at the mime angrily and began to move toward him. The mime was
the most frightened ever. “I don’t want to die!” he thought. “But if I have to,
I want to die as a man, not a gorilla.” Then the mime started screaming, “Help
me! Help!”
With a loud roar, the lion quickly jumped on
the mime. “You are the biggest fool. Shut up, will you?” said the lion. “Do you
want to get us both fired?”
國中-2
Eat,
My Fine Coat!
Gordon has been working in his garden since
early morning. In the afternoon, the mayor came by and spoke to Gordon,
“Tonight I will have a dinner party with many important guests. Don’t be late!”
Gordon was happy to be invited by his friend, the mayor, but he had a lot of
work to do in the garden. So he kept working until sunset. Mud was all over his
clothes, and Gordon decided that he did not have enough time to clean up, so he
just ran straight to the mayor’s house.
Gordon wasn’t late for the party, but he was
panting and dripping with sweat. He was greeted by no one. The mayor saw
Gordon. But he didn’t say hello and sat Gordon far away from the most important
guests. Nobody spoke to him.
Before dinner was served, Gordon sneaked out
and hurried home. He washed himself from head to toe. He put on his best suit
and a brand new coat. He entered the mayor’s house. The mayor jumped up from
the table and said, “Welcome! Sit here, beside me!”
Finally, the main dish was brought in by the
servants. Gordon put it into his coat pocket.
The mayor surprisingly said, “What are you
doing?”
“I am feeding this fine guest!” Gordon said,
“I came in my gardening clothes, and nothing was said to me. I was ignored by everyone.
But in this coat, you make me the guest of honor. I was the same person both
times. Since the coat is your guest of honor, it must have some of this
delicious food!”
國中-3
I’d
Better Walk
An old farmer named Jim had to take some
wheat to the mill where he gets it ground into flour. He loaded four sacks full
of wheat onto his donkey.
His neighbor saw him far away and thought, “I
wonder where Jim is going. Let’s see if he can do me a favor.” He yelled, “Jim!
Are you going to the mill?”
“Yes, I’m on my way.” Jim answered.
“Could you take my wheat, too?” Jim couldn’t
refuse what his neighbor was asking. His donkey has been carrying his own four
sacks, so he had to take another donkey to carry his neighbor’s wheat.
Then another friend saw him and asked if Jim
could take his wheat, too. Jim agreed and so he took another donkey, and then
another neighbor came, and another. In the end, he has had nine more donkeys
loaded down with sacks of wheat. This has given him a total of ten donkeys.
Jim was riding his own donkey but he looked
ridiculous on the road with all those other ones too! He yelled at the other
donkeys all the way. It was hard to keep them all together. Jim decided to
count the donkeys. He counted only nine.
“Where’s my donkey? There should be ten!” Jim
was surprised when he found out one animal was missing. He got off his donkey
and counted again. This time there were ten. He got back on his donkey and
continued on his way.
On the way to the mill, Jim decided to count
the donkeys again. There were only nine again. He got off his donkey and
counted them again. This time, there were ten. Finally, Jim said, “I’d better
walk. Every time I ride my donkey, one is missing!”
