There was once a shepherd boy who looked after sheep for all the people in the village where he lived．Every morning he collected the sheep from their owners and drove them out onto the hills to feed．Every evening he rounded them carefully up and brought them home again．Some days it was pleasant on the hillside and the time passed quickly．On other days the boy grew bored and restless with nothing to do but watch the sheep nibbling at the short grass from morning till night．One day he decided to amuse himself．“Wolf！Wolf！”he shouted at the top of his voice．“A wolf is taking the sheep！”
The villagers all came rushing out of their houses to help him drive the wolf away—only to find the shepherd boy laughing till tears rolled down his cheeks at the sight of their angry faces．The boy tried the same trick again and again and each time thevillagers rushed to his aid．Then，late one winter evening，just as the boy was thinking of gathering the sheep together to take them home，a wolf really came prowling around．He realized from the frightened baaing of the sheep that a wolf was coming．Peering into the gloom he saw a long，grey and vague shape creeping towards the flock．The shepherd boy was very frightened．The wolf looked very big in the half darkness and he had only his crook to fight with．Shouting“Wolf！Wolf！A wolf is taking the sheep！”at the top of his voice，her aced towards the village．This time，however，the villagers did not come running out of their houses to fight the wolf．One or two of them looked up from what they were doing to grumble at the noise but most of them shrugged and said：“He has played that trick too often．”
Before the boy could find anyone to help him，the wolf had run off with all the sheep．No one believes a liar—even when he tells the truth．Exercises：
回答下列问题：
①What did the boy do everyday？
②What did the boy do when he grew bored？
③What was the wolf like？
④What happened at last？
⑤What can you learn from the story？ |