An oyster that was very proud was talking with a fish. “Lets be friends and we can look after each other whenever the fishermans net comes along，” the fish suggested.

The proud oyster replied， “I have a strong shell and I feel safe when I close my shell， for no harm can happen to me.”

“But when you close your shell， you may not know what is happening，” answered the fish.

Still the oyster boasted that he was perfectly safe and he needed no friends to warn him.

Suddenly， there was a great splashing sound and the oyster closed his shell and very quickly kept quiet.

“What could the splashing have been？ Was it a net， and was the fish caught？” the oyster wondered. When at last the oyster opened his shell， he found himself in a strange place.

“Where am I？” He looked for the fish but it was no longer around.

Sadly， the oyster found he was at a fishmongers stall. A ticket on his back marked， “For Sale！”

一只非常驕傲的牡蠣正在和一條魚說話?！拔覀冏雠笥寻桑@樣，當(dāng)漁夫的漁網(wǎng)罩過來的時候，我們就可以互相幫助了?！濒~建議說。

驕傲的牡蠣回答說：“我有堅(jiān)硬的殼，合上殼之后我就安全了，沒有任何東西可以傷害到我?！?/p>

“可是，當(dāng)你合上殼時，你可能就不知道外面發(fā)生了什么事?！濒~答道。

可是牡蠣還是繼續(xù)夸耀自己是絕對安全的，不需要任何朋友來提醒它。

突然，傳來一聲巨響，濺起無數(shù)水花，牡蠣馬上合上殼，不作聲了。

“濺起水花的聲音是怎么回事呢？是漁網(wǎng)嗎，魚被抓住了嗎？”牡蠣想著。當(dāng)牡蠣最后打開殼的時候，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在一個陌生的地方。

“我在哪兒？”它找魚，魚卻不在它旁邊。

牡蠣悲哀地發(fā)現(xiàn)自己正躺在魚販子的攤位上，背上還貼著一張寫有“出售”字樣的標(biāo)簽。

Vocabulary

suggest v. 建議;提議

shell n. （蛋、堅(jiān)果、某些種子和某些動物的）殼

boast v. 自夸;自吹自擂

stall n. 貨攤，攤位，售貨亭