100个儿童英语小故事: Donkey and the Load of Salt 驴和它背上的盐

 

 

084 Donkey and the Load of Salt

Once upon a time, a salt merchant moved from place to place selling salt. One day, he was walking on a bridge over a stream with salt loaded on the back of a donkey. "Yo-ho! Yo-heave-ho!"

 Donkey and the Load of Salt

The donkey missed his step because he was too tired. "Splash!" The donkey fell into the water. The merchant set the donkey upright quickly. At that very same moment, the donkey realized his load became lighter¹ as the salt melted in the water.

So, the donkey fell down again on purpose. Now, all the salt melted, and his load became very light. The donkey returned home humming merrily. Without knowing the donkey's intentions, the merchant just thought he had bad luck.

The next day, the donkey arrived at the stream carrying salt. "Yo-ho! Yo-heave-ho!" The donkey remembered the incident yesterday. "Neigh! If I fall down in the water, my load will get lighter!' The donkey sunk down in the water on purpose.

Finally, the salt merchant realized the donkey's intentions. However, a lot of salt had already disappeared in the water. The salt merchant became angry.

Holding the donkey's behavior responsible, the salt merchant decided² to give him a hard time. First, he put a lump of light cotton into the salt bag and loaded it on the back of the donkey. 'What? It's weird³. Salt is too light today.'

The donkey could not suspect the salt merchant's trick. Again that day, the donkey fell down in the water intentionally⁴ when he arrived at the stream. Yet, the wet cotton lump became greatly heavy.

'Neigh! What makes it so heavy?' The donkey could not understand. The salt merchant said to the donkey groaning⁵ under a heavy load on his back, "You fool, donkey, you are caught in your own scheme." The donkey regretted that he tricked the merchant.

 

1 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

2 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。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

5 groaning   

adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
• The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着，无人救助。