Once upon a time， there was a humble rabbit who had very good manners. One day， he went to a farmer’s garden to eat some vegetables. When his stomach was full he thought of leaving. Unexpectedly， he met a fox.

The fox was on his way back to the forest. In fact， he tried to steal a chicken but in vain. He was hungry！

When the rabbit saw the fox， he was very frightened. He quickly ran to a cave. Nevertheless， he felt that without permission he should not enter anyone’s home. “I shall greet the cave before I go in，” he thought. Thus， he said politely， “Dear Cave， how are you？ May I come in？”

The big snake inside was so pleased to hear the voice of the rabbit that he said， “Hurry up and come in！” At once the rabbit knew who was inside the cave. “Excuse me，” he said， “I think my mother is waiting for me at home. Farewell now！” The rabbit quickly turned and dashed off.

The big snake curled himself up in the cave， feeling very frustrated. He said， “Such a polite rabbit！ I shouldn’t have answered him at all.”

從前有一只兔子，他非常謙虛，待人處世也彬彬有禮。有一天，他到農(nóng)民的菜園里去摘菜吃。當(dāng)他把肚子填得脹鼓鼓的，正準(zhǔn)備離開時，卻出乎意料地遇到了一只狐貍。

這只狐貍正要返回森林。原本他是想到農(nóng)家院子里去偷只雞，結(jié)果卻一無所獲。他肚子餓極了！

兔子見到狐貍，心里一驚，連忙飛快地跑向一個山洞。他知道未經(jīng)許可不能隨便進(jìn)入別人的地方，“應(yīng)當(dāng)先跟山洞打個招呼?！蓖米酉?。于是兔子彬彬有禮地說：“親愛的山洞，你好??！我可以進(jìn)來嗎？”

洞里的蛇聽出這是兔子的聲音，真是喜出望外，便回應(yīng)道：“歡迎，快進(jìn)來吧！”兔子一聽聲音就知道洞里是誰了?！罢堅彛蓖米诱f，“我想我媽媽還在家里等我呢！再見！”兔子一拔腿，便跑得不見蹤影。

蛇在洞里縮成一團(tuán)，懊喪地說：“這只有禮貌的兔子，我真不該出聲??！”

Vocabulary

humble adj. 謙遜的；簡陋的

manners n. 禮貌（manner的復(fù)數(shù)形式）

stomach n. 胃；腹部；胃口

forest n. 森林

steal vt. 剽竊；偷偷地做；偷竊

frightened adj. 害怕的；受驚的；受恐嚇的

nevertheless adv. 然而，不過；雖然如此

frustrated adj. 失意的，挫敗的；泄氣的