Lesson 20 The Horse

1、The horse is a noble, useful animal. He is gentle, and willing to work. He is not made to destroy or to hurt, but to be of use to man.He never takes the life of any other creature for his food; for he feeds on grass, hay and corn.

2、You have seen that he cannot defend himself against the fierce wolf. He can run away, but the wolf can run too; and many fearful tales are told of the races for life between the horse and the hungry wolf.

3、The horse loves his master, and soon learns to know him. A story is told of a soldier who had a favourite horse, that never seemed so happy as when his master was on his back. Then he was all life, and full of spirit.

4、At last, in a fierce battle, the soldier was killed, and fell from his horse. When his body was found some days afterwards, the faithful animal was still standing beside it!

5、During that long time, the horse had never left the body of his master. Without food or water, he had stood over it, driving away the birds of prey.

6、Was he not a noble animal?

(206 words)

Exercises

Ⅰ. How well did you read?

1. [Note the fact] According to the passage, what do people think of the horse?

A. He is noble, useful, gentle, faithful and willing to work.

B. He is noble and gentle and faithful to his master.

C. He is a noble, and useful animal. And he is gentle, and willing to work.

2. [Note the fact] What does he eat?

A. Grass, hay and corn.

B. Other small animals.

C. Wolf and birds.

3. [Draw a conclusion] According to Paragraph 3-4, what can you learn from the story?

A. How faithful the horse is!

B. How brave the solider is!

C. How lively the house is!

Ⅱ. Read for words.

Choose one best paraphrase or Chinese meaning for the underlined words or expressions.

1. He is not made to destroy or to hurt, but to be of use to man. (Para. 1, line 3）

A. eat B. kill C. play

2. You have seen that he cannot defend himself against the fierce wolf. (Para. 2, line 1)

A. fight against B. take away C. catch 3. Then he was all life, and full of spirit. (Para. 3, line 3)

A. 忠心耿耿 B. 脾气温和 C. 活力十足

4. When his body was found some days afterwards, the faithful animal was still standing beside it! (Para. 4, line 2)

A. 善良的 B. 忠诚的 C. 勇敢的

Ⅲ. Writing practice.

Write a passage about what you know about the horse.

1. What kind of animal is the horse?

2. What food does he live on?

3. What can the horse do?

4. What animal can he not fight against?