武太白·白话英语·总目录合集（2016-2020）
Introduction
A selfish farmer loses his strawberries from a hole at the back of his cart. He later finds that sharing is great.
上图是用Word 2019检测出来的本故事文本适用年级信息，其中Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level=4.8。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，4.8+4=8.8年级，相当于国内使用人教版统编英语教材的八九年级学生。上海地区的小朋友六七年级即可试读本故事。
Who Took My Strawberries
Once upon a time, deep in the heart of a beautiful Italian countryside stood a small strawberry farm. It was the end of a long, hot summer. And on the farm, the fruit was ripe for picking. The countryside was full of activity. Neighboring farmers were plowing their fields and looking after their animals.
The strawberry farmer was happy as he looked over his own fields, thinking of the plentiful harvest. Then he saw some children from the nearby farms playing in his fields. Whenever they felt hungry, they ate a few of the delicious ripe strawberries. The farmer began to feel angry.
“The children are eating far too many of my strawberries,” he said to himself selfishly. “Those strawberries belong to me. I don't want the children to steal any of them.”
He decided to build a fence around his farm to stop the children getting in. Sure enough, when the fence was in place, the children stopped coming to eat the strawberries, but the birds came instead.
The greedy farmer didn't want to lose any of his strawberries to the birds either. He wanted to keep them all for himself. So, he put a net over his strawberry fields to stop the birds eating the fruit.
“Now my strawberries are safe from the birds and the children,” he thought.
That night, after he had gone to bed, the farmer couldn't put his mind at rest.
“Thieves could sneak in and steal my strawberries by moonlight,” he thought anxiously. The farmer lay awake for hours, worrying about his crop. He decided that the very next morning, he would pick the ripe fruit from the bushes and take it to the market to sell.
Bright and early, the next morning, the farmer picked the juicy ripe strawberries and loaded them onto his horse and cart. He set off through the forest as fast as his horse could take him.
By the time the farmer reached the market town, the morning sun was shining brightly. Other country folk were also beginning to arrive to sell their goods. The farmer drove his horse and cart through the gateway into the marketplace.
“First I’ll find a good spot,” he said to himself, “my sweet-smelling strawberries will sell quickly, every one of them.”
But when the farmer looked into his cart, he had a terrible shock. His precious strawberries had disappeared. Almost every one of them had gone.
The farmer was horrified. “What a catastrophe!” He exclaimed. “Who took my strawberries?”
In fact, no one had taken the farmer’s strawberries. One by one, they had fallen through a hole at the back of his cart. The faster he had urged his horse to run, the faster the strawberries had fallen to the ground.
The dismayed farmer turned his horse and cart around and hurried back along the path through the walls.
“I must find them,” he repeated to himself. “I must get my strawberries back.”
But all along the way, the strawberries had disappeared.
Some of his strawberries had been found by a family of hungry foxes. The farmer saw them enjoying the tasty fruit. In a nearby tree a mother bird fed the fresh strawberries to her young ones. The farmer climbed the tree and watched as the little birds ate greedily.
The farmer walked on, sadly. Passing a neighbor's house, he watched a mother share a plate full of his strawberries with her children. They sat around a table and laughed happily as they ate the delicious fruit.
As the farmer walked slowly back to his horse and cart, he thought about the happiness his strawberries had brought to the animals, the birds and his neighbors.
“It was lucky for them that there was a hole in my cart,” he thought. “Perhaps it was a good thing after all.”
Gradually the farmer began to feel happier about the loss of his strawberries. He realized that he had been selfish, not to want to share any of them.
The next day, the farmer saw an unexpected sight in his fields: his neighbors who had all enjoyed his strawberries the day before were coming to his house, bringing gifts of food and herbs in return for the fruit.
“Thank you.” “Thank you.” “Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful strawberries.” They all said.
The farmer was so surprised that he hardly knew what to say. He found himself inviting all the country folk to his house to share the gifts. All the neighbors gathered around his big table. They laid out the different foods and sat down together to enjoy the feast.
“What a lovely party.” said the farmer, feeling happy as he shared more of his freshly picked strawberries.
“It's so much fun to share.” And they all agreed.
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