In the forest， there is a lovely Little Cock with beautiful feather. But he is unhappy. One day， he is walking along the road. Then he meets Little Duck.

Little Duck（smiling）: Good morning， Little Cock! It is fine today. But why are you unhappy?

Little Cock（in a low voice）: Good morning. I am worried⁽¹⁾ because I have no friends.

Little Duck（smiling）: Oh， I see. I am very glad to be your friend.

Little Cock( glancing at⁽²⁾ him): You？Don’t you know you have a flat⁽³⁾ mouth？And I am beautiful. I don’t want to make friends with you.

Little Duck is very angry， but he says nothing and leaves. Later， Little White Rabbit comes.

Little White Rabbit（gently⁽⁴⁾）:Hello，Little Cock! What happened? You are unpleasant.

Little Cock（unhappily）: I am looking for my friends.

Little White Rabbit (very interested⁽⁵⁾): Wonderful! May I be your friend?

Little Cock(glancing at him): No! Your eyes are red; your tail is short; how ugly⁽⁶⁾ you look! I don’t want you to be my friend.

Little White Rabbit leaves very angrily. Then Little Pig comes.

Little Pig (standing upright⁽⁷⁾and saying confidently⁽⁸⁾): Little Cock， I want to be your friend.

Little Cock(glancing at him): You are so fat and your ears are so big like fans. Who would like to make friends with you？ Go away!

Little Pig wags⁽⁹⁾ his tail and leaves. Little Cattle， Little Monkey and Little Peacock shake their heads and leave， too. Little Cock stands lonely⁽¹⁰⁾ under a big tree. Suddenly he cries loudly.

Uncle Elephant(kindly): Little Cock， what happened?

Little Cock（sobbing⁽¹¹⁾）: Uncle Elephant， why don’t they want to be my friends?

Uncle Elephant(laughing): Oh， you just notice their shortcomings⁽¹²⁾，not their merits⁽¹³⁾. Will you come to my house tomorrow? I am sure they will play with you.

The next day， Little Cock comes to Uncle Elephant’s house very early. All the little animals are helping him move house⁽¹⁴⁾. Little Duck is tidying up⁽¹⁵⁾ the furniture with his flat mouth; Little White Rabbit is sweeping the floor with his short tail; Little Pig is carrying something with his fat body. Now Little Cock knows he is wrong.

Little Cock (very shyly): I am sorry， my dear friends.

I apologize⁽¹⁶⁾ to you all for what I did yesterday.

All the animals (saying loudly): Never mind! Little Cock， come on and work with us together.

All of them are working hard， singing and dancing， “Looking for friends， looking for friends， and my friends are in the forest…”

（1）worried 著急的，擔心的

（2）glance at 瞥

（3）flat 扁平的

（4）gently 溫柔的

（5）interested 感興趣地

（6）ugly 丑陋的

（7）upright 直立地

（8）confidently 自信地

（9）wag 搖擺

（10）lonely 孤獨的

（11）sob 抽抽搭搭

（12）shortcoming 缺點

（13）merit 優(yōu)點

（14）move house 搬家

（15）tidy up 整理

（16）apologize to sb. 向某人道歉

近義詞：

unhappy- unpleasant (不開心的)

sob- cry （哭）

gently- kindly （溫和的）

反義詞：

beautiful (漂亮的)- ugly（丑陋的）

leave （離開）- come（到來）

angrily （生氣地）- kindly （友善地）

shyly（害羞地）- confidently（自信地）

shortcoming （缺點）- merit （優(yōu)點）

cry ( 哭)- laugh （笑）