武太白·白话英语·总目录合集（2016-2020）
Introduction
The giant turnip brings fortune and good luck to the honest, but not to the cunning and mean.
上面是上图是用Word 2019检测出来的本故事文本适用年级信息。一般来说，中国学生的阅读能力比英美学生落后4-6年，按照最低值，4.7+4=8.7年级，相当于国内使用人教版统编英语教材的九年级学生。上海地区的小朋友七年级即可试读本故事。
The Tale of the Giant Turnip
A long, long time ago in a land that is now called Germany, there lived two brothers. The older brother was cunning and greedy. He made himself very rich. The younger brother was an honest and generous farmer. Although he worked very hard in his fields, he was always poor.
One day, the younger brother went to inspect his crop of turnips. There growing a row of ordinary sized turnips, he found an enormous turnip. Every day he inspected the turnip. And every day it grew a little bigger. It grew into a turnip larger than anyone had ever seen before. The farmer asked all the people in his village to help him harvest the turnip.
Finally, after a lot of effort, they managed to pull it out of the ground.
“It’s huge,” they said. “It's amazing,” they exclaimed. “What will you do with it?” They asked. All the while, the rich brother looked on and never said a word. An idea came into the younger brother's head.
“The turnip is too magnificent for us to eat, but it is a gift fit for a king.” He said.
The villagers helped him load the giant turnip onto his cart. And he set out for the king's palace. All along the way, people stared in wonder at the sight of the splendid turnip. The king and all his court turned out to receive the giant turnip.
They inspected it, they measured it, they tested it, and they tasted it. It was, without doubt, the most amazing gift the king had ever been given. The king was so pleased that he had a portrait painted of his daughter, the princess, the farmer, and himself with the turnip.
“What can I give you to thank you for your magnificent gift? The King asked the younger brother.”
“Thank you. Your majesty,” he replied, “but there is nothing I want in return for my gift.”
“Well,” said the king, “you are truly as kind hearted and generous as people say you are. I know, you lead an honest but poor life while your cunning brother is wealthy and mean. I will reward you with as many riches as your brother already has.”
The farmer rode back to his village. This time, his cart was loaded with more riches than he had ever dreamed of. The people waved happily as the honest, younger brother went past. He was pleased that he was now as wealthy as his cunning brother.
“Come to my house later to share my good fortune.” He said to them.
As soon as he returned to his humble home, the villagers gathered to celebrate, they ate and drank their fill and marveled the gifts from the king. The older brother came by.
“What's all this?” He asked.
The younger brother told him what had happened and invited him to join the party. The villagers celebrated late into the night, but the greedy brother could not bear to join them. He was jealous of his brother's good fortune. All he could think about was how to get a similar reward from the king. After a while he came up with a cunning plan.
Next day, the older brother loaded all his wealth onto his horses and his carriage and set off for the palace.
“If I give the king as many riches as my brother received, the king will certainly reward me with even more wealth.” He said to himself.
“Your majesty,” said the cunning brother, “I wish to honor you with all my riches. Please accept them from your most humble servant.”
“Thank you so much,” said the king. “But what should I give you in return? Let's see… I think I should give you something truly rare and amazing.”
The king ordered his servants to bring the gift he had decided upon. But when the cunning brothers saw it, he gasped and nearly fell over backwards. It was the roundest, largest, widest turnip ever known. It was the turnip his brother had grown.
All the villagers, and the honest brother came to admire the king's clever gift.
“What have I done?” Said the older brother as he hung his head in shame. “My cunning and greed have cost me all my riches. And I don't have a friend in the world. Now I am even poorer than my brother ever was.”
Do you think anyone took pity on him?
“武太白英语教学”公众号致力于英语启蒙到高中水平的英语学习、教学与教研内容，关注本站，获取每工作日高质量文章推送！
努力更新，期待打赏