小学生五年级英语故事

To Pull up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow

Once upon a time, an old farmer planted a plot of rice. Everyday he went to the field to watch the

seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day. But still,

he thought they were growing too slowly. He got impatient with the young plants.

"How could the plants grow faster?" He tossed in bed during the night and could not sleep.

Suddenly he hit upon an idea. He had an idea not wait for daybreak. He jumped out of the bed and

dashed to the field. By the moonlight, he began working on the rice seedlings. One by one, he

pulled up the young plants by half an inch. When he finished pulling, it was already morning.

Straightening his back, he said to himself, "What a wonderful idea! Look, how much taller the

plants have grown one night!"

With great satisfaction, he went back home. He told his son what he had done in a triumphant tone.

His son was shocked. Now the sun had risen. The young man was heart-broken to see all the

pulled-up young plants dying.

People now use " Ba Miao Zhu Zhang" to describe the behavior of those who are too eager to get

something done only to make it worse. The idiom is a bit like the English proverb "Haste makes

waste" ------to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm.

拨苗助长

从前，有个农夫，种了稻苗后，便希望能早早收成。每天他到稻田时，发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。他等得不耐烦，心想：“怎么样才能使稻苗长得高，长很快呢?

想了又想，他终了想到一个“最佳方法”，就是将稻苗拨高几分。经过一番辛劳后，他满意地扛锄头回家休息。心想：明天稻苗长得一定更高了。隔天早晨．一早起身，他迫不及待地起去稻田看他的“成果”。哪知，他跑到稻田时，却看到所有的稻苗都枯萎了。

Sunday Seven

Long ago there were two hunchbacks. One was kind but the other was mean and spiteful. The two

hunchbacks cold not work in the village because everybody made fun of them; therefore they went

into the hills to cut wood. That is, the kind one cut all the wood since the mean and spiteful one was

very lazy and was always telling his companion;

"Ay!, how sick I am today. It is better if you go and cut the wood this week." His partner, being

kind-hearted, would go into the mountains and do all the work week after week.

One day, when the mean one had stayed at home as usual, the good woodcutter worked very hard

and was very tired. Since his house was far away, he decided to camp near a small spring. About

midnight, the woodcutter heard someone singing. At first he thought that somebody had camped near by but when he had listened to what was being sung, he realized that the voices he heard were

not human.

Very cautiously he arose and silently walked to the place where the singing came from. Imagine his

surprise when he saw a group of fairies singing and dancing around a blazing fire.

“Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday three,

Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday three.”

That was all the fairies sang, they repeated the same line over and over again. It seemed that it was

the only song they knew. The woodcutter then decided that he would talk to them. Naturally, as

soon as he heard them singing again, he went near the fire and the fairies saw him at once.

"What do you want, oh mortal?" asked the fairies. "Why do you come to bother us?"

"Because I can help you. Listen tome and you will see that your song will sound better this way."

Then he sang:

Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday three,

Thursday and Friday and Saturday six.

Oh! The fairies were filled with joy. They noticed then that the good woodcutter was a hunchback.

They told him to kneel down and with a magic wand touched his hump. Immediately it disappeared,

leaving him strong and strong.

3Magic change

神奇变化

Gaga is a little duck. He is small, dirty and ugly. His friends don’t like to play with him.

One day, Gaga walked behind his friends quietly(静悄悄地).But his friends did not want him. Gaga

was very sad and ran to the river and cried loudly(大声地)。

Just then, a big beautiful bird heard(听见)him crying and flew down(飞下来，落下来). She said,

“Please don’t cry. Tell me, what do you want? I can help you.”

Gaga told the truth(真相). The beautiful bird said, “OK, I can help you to become a good-looking

duck.” Then she took out a blanket and put it on the duck’s body. She said something which the

little duck didn’t understand. Then she took away the blanket. There stood (站立)a good-looking

duck.

Gaga was very happy. He thanked the big bird and quickly went to play with his friends.

4The Dog And The Shadow 狗和它的影子

A DOG, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in

the water, and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He

therefore let go his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog, to get his larger piece from him. He

thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because