堅強的蝸牛

◎供稿：彭沖

One day, a baby snail went up to his mother and asked, “Why was I born with a shell that grew so hard and heavy?” His mother said, “Because we don’t have bones to hold us up. We can only move slowly, so we need a shell to protect us.”

The baby snail asked again,“The caterpillar［毛毛蟲］has no1)bones, either, and she can’t move quickly. Why can she live without a shell?” The mother snail answered, “That’s because a caterpillar will become abutter fly［蝴蝶］. She can fly high into the sky. The sky can protect her.”

The baby snail had one more question, “But the earthworm［蚯蚓］moves like us. He has no bones and he won’t turn into a butter fly. Why doesn’t he carry a hard and heavy shell?” His mother said, “He can dig a hole and hide in the ground, and then the earth can protect him.”

The baby snail then cried, “We are so poor! We have no protection from the sky or from the ground!” His mother smiled at him, “That’s why we have a shell. My dear, imagine that if we don’t have the shells, what will happen to us? Hot sun willdry out［干透，變干］our bodies and we’ll have2)nowhereto sleep. What’s worse, we’ll die in the heavy rain. How terrible it is!We don’t depend on the sky or the ground for protection. We should depend on ourselves.”

據根短文內容 ,回答下列問題

1. Whom did the baby snail ask for help, his mother or father?

2. What will the caterpillar in the story become when she grows up?

3. Where can an earthworm hide?

4. How many questions did the baby snail ask?

5. Who should the snails depend on according to the story?

根據短文內容，選出最佳選項

6.The baby snail wanted to know ( ).

A. why he moved so slowly

B. why the earthworm dug a hole in the ground

C. why he had a hard and heavy shell

D. why the caterpillar didn't have bones

7. What was the baby snail similar to the caterpillar and the earthworm? ( )

a.They didn't have bones b.They didn't move so quickly c.They lived in the earth.

A. a-b B. b-c C. a-c D. a-b-c

8. The word "earthworm" refers to ( ).

9. From the story, ( ) can protect the caterpillar.

A.the ground B.the shell C.the butter fly D.the sky.

10.We can know ( ) from the story.

A. the baby snail was very poor B. the shell can protect the snail

C. the earthworm carried a hard shell D. the caterpillar was the snail'sfriend

重難點詞語

1) bone [b??n] n. 骨；骨骼 vt. 剔去……的骨；施骨肥于

語法：直接引語與間接引語

直接引語的定義

直接引語(Direct Speech)包括某人所說的確切的話，放在引號之間。

直接引語能準確地敘述當時發生的事情和所說過的話，不需要改變任何可能會用到的時態或代詞，只是別忘了“say”之前或之后的逗號和引號。

The waiter said, “The food will be ready soon.”

服務員說：“菜很快就好了。”

間接引語

間接引語(Indirect Speech)并不像直接引語那么簡單，但是一旦理解了句子結構和間接引語的規則，它的表達也很容易，并且它也是展示英語能力的好方法。

在間接引語中不使用引號，取而代之的是，我們在復述已經說過的話前加入連接詞“that”。

The waiter said that the food would be ready soon.

服務員說菜很快就好了。

此外，在使用間接引語時，有些情況下必須要改變時態。

一般現在時轉換為一般過去時。

She said that she played football.她說她踢足球。