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one early morning, an old gardener found his garden in a mess and lots of his flowers missing. he was so angry that he shouted,“who dares to mess up my garden？ who has done this？”
一天早晨，一个老园丁发现自己的花园里一片零乱，花儿也少了很多。老园丁很生气，他嚷道：“是谁把我的花园搞得一团糟！是谁干的！”

in order to protect his remaining flowers from being destroyed, he decided to lock the garden gate in the evening.
为了不让花儿再遭到破坏，老园丁便在夜里把栅门紧紧地关了起来。

the next morning, the old gardener discovered some of his flowers missing again. the angry old gardener decided to find out how that happened.
第二天一早，老园丁发现花儿又少了。气愤的老园丁决定要查个水落石出。

when night came, he sat quietly to watch his garden. soon he saw a tortoise moving slowly into the garden. once inside, it opened its mouth so wide that it took only one bite to swallow the whole flower.
到了晚上，老园丁静静地守在花丛中。这时，他看到一只乌龟慢慢地爬进花园里。乌龟进来后，张开大嘴，一口就把一朵花儿吃掉了。

the gardener shouted,“i've caught you this time！”
“这回我可抓住你了。”老园丁喊了起来。

the tortoise quickly said,“please forgive me！”but the old gardener shook his head,“no way.”“my kind lord, if you really want to punish me,”continued the poor tortoise,“i will not resist because i am the one that is guilty. but, no matter what you decide, please do not drown me in the water. it is too painful to die that way.”
乌龟哀求道：“饶了我吧！”但是老园丁摇着头说：“门儿都没有。”“仁慈的老先生，如果你非要处死我不可，”乌龟装出一副可怜的样子，“我也只好认命了，毕竟是我做了错事，理应受到惩罚。可是，你用什么方法处死我都行，就是别淹死我，因为淹死实在是太难受了。”

“since you have destroyed so many of my beautiful flowers, i must punish you！”said the old gardener and he immediately threw the tortoise into a lake next to his garden.
“你毁了我那么多漂亮的花儿，我必须惩罚你！”话音未落，老园丁就把乌龟扔到了花园旁的湖里。

after a while, the tortoise surfaced and swam about happily. the old gardener then realised that he had been tricked because the tortoise was not afraid of the water.
不一会儿，乌龟从湖里冒出头来，自由自在地游来游去。老园丁这才意识到自己被骗了，因为乌龟根本就不怕水。

单词注解
absorbed  [?b's?:bd]  adj.被……吸引住的；专心致志的；全神贯注的

starve  [?b's?:bd]    v.(使)挨饿；饥饿

plump    [pl?mp]    a.(指动物、人)圆胖的；丰满的

swallow  ['sw?l?u]  v.吃掉；吞，咽

resist  [ri'zist]  v.抵抗；对抗

painful ['peinfl]  a.疼的；痛苦的

实用句型
the king sympathized with the farmer and he instructed his prime minister to give the farmer a big sum of money.
国王听了，很同情这个农夫的处境，他命令首相给了农夫一大笔救济金。

who dares to mess up my garden？
是谁把我的花园搞得一团糟！

智慧点津
life is impermanent, wisdom is eternal.
生命无常，智慧永存。

a fall into the pit, a gain in your wit.
吃一堑，长一智。

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