During the Spring and Autumn period， the state of Wu and the state of Yue were neighbors. But there were always wars between them.

During one war， Wu defeated Yue. Goujian（勾踐）， the king of Yue， was caught.

Fuchai（夫差）， the king of Wu， wanted to make Goujian lose face. He asked Goujian to do many hard work， like cutting wood and feeding horses as a servant. Goujian didn’t say anything. He just did what Fuchai asked him to do. When Fuchai got sick， Goujian even looked after him day and night.

Three years later， Goujian was set free. But Goujian would never forget the hard time. So he slept on brushwood every night and ate bitter gall before every meal. Goujian kept asking himself， “Did you forget the past three years？”

Goujian worked hard all the time. He worked with farmers and trained with soldiers. He made his people rich and his state strong. About ten years later， Goujian defeated Fuchai.

When we fail， we should not give up. We should learn from it and keep trying. With hard work and determination， we can still reach our goals.

Spring and Autumn period

春秋時(shí)期

neighbor /?ne?b?（r）/ n.鄰居

state of Wu吳國(guó)

state of Yue越國(guó)

defeat /d??fi?t/ v.打敗

was caught被抓

這里用的是一般過去時(shí)的被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)。被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)的基本格式是：be動(dòng)詞+動(dòng)詞的過去分詞，意為：被……?？捎糜谝话悻F(xiàn)在時(shí)、現(xiàn)在進(jìn)行時(shí)、一般將來時(shí)等。如：

I am asked to study hard.我被要求好好學(xué)習(xí)。

The house is being cleaned.房子正在被打掃。

He will be sent to a new school next year. 明年他將被送到一所新學(xué)校。

make Goujian lose face讓勾踐丟臉

make sb do sth，意為：讓（使）某人做某事。如：

He always makes me laugh.他總是使我笑。

Nothing can make him change his mind.沒什么事能讓他改變主意。

cutting wood and feeding horses砍木頭和喂馬

這里的動(dòng)詞cut和feed都用了-ing形式，因?yàn)榍懊嬗薪樵~like（像……）。介詞后面如果跟動(dòng)詞，要用動(dòng)詞-ing形式。如：

I’m interested in learning English.我對(duì)學(xué)英語(yǔ)感興趣。

Thank you for helping me. 謝謝你幫助我。

was set free被釋放。參考第5點(diǎn)講解。

brushwood /?br??w?d/ n.柴草bitter /?b?t?（r）/ adj.味苦的

gall /ɡ??l/ n.膽（汁）

kept asking himself不斷地問他自己

keep doing sth，意為：一直／持續(xù)做某事。如：

He kept eating during the party.宴會(huì)期間他一直在吃。

trained with soldiers和士兵一起訓(xùn)練

made his people rich and his state strong讓人民富有，讓國(guó)家強(qiáng)大

這里出現(xiàn)了make的另一個(gè)常用結(jié)構(gòu)：make sb/sth +形容詞，意為：使……變得……。如：

The news made him excited.這則新聞讓他興奮不已。

Doing sports can make us strong.運(yùn)動(dòng)可以使我們強(qiáng)壯。

determination /d??t??m??ne??（?）n/ n.決心

reach our goals達(dá)成我們的目標(biāo)