小红母鸡的故事 第1章

Little Red Hen lived in a barnyard. She spent almost all of her time walking about the barnyard in her picketty-pecketty fashion, scratching everywhere for worms.She dearly loved fat, delicious worms and felt they were absolutely necessary to the health of her children. As often as she found a worm she would call “Chuck-chuck-chuck!” to her baby chicks.When they were gathered about her, she would distribute choice morsels of her tid-bit. A busy and devoted mother was she!A cat usually napped lazily in the barn door, not even bothering herself to scare the rat who ran here and there as he pleased.And as for the pig who lived in the sty—he did not care what happened so long as he could eat and grow fat. One day Little Red Hen found a Seed. It was a Wheat Seed, but Little Red Hen was so accustomed to bugs and worms that she /səˈpəʊzd/ this to be some new and perhaps very delicious kind of meat. She bit it gently and found that it resembled a worm in no way whatsoever as to taste /ɔ:lˈðəu/ because it was long and slender, a hen might easily be fooled by its appearance. Carrying it about, Little Red Hen made many inquiries as to what it might be. She found it was a wheat seed and that, if planted, it would grow up and when ripe it could be made into flour and then into delicious bread. It would be a daunting job for one hen working alone, but an easy one if all the animals worked together, then all could share in eating the bread. So she thought of the Pig—upon whom time must hang heavily and of the Cat who had nothing to do, and of the great fat Rat with his idle hours, and she called loudly: “Who will help to plant the Seed?” But the Pig said, “Not I.” And the Cat said, “Not I,” And the Rat said, “Not I.” “Well, then,” said Little Red Hen, “I will plant the seed myself.” And she did.