橡树和芦苇

Once upon a time， there lived a huge oak tree. The oak tree was proud that it was the biggest and strongest in the world. “Despite any hardships， I can survive till the end. There is nothing as powerful as me.”

One day， a severe windstorm began. Watching the other trees fall down one by one， the oak tree was triumphant， “Ill be fine.”

However， the oak tree collapsed when the windstorm was blowing. Flowing on the water， the oak tree thought， “How did I end up like this？”

As it was swept away by the river， the oak tree passed a field of reeds. The reeds were standing there without being broken. “Oh， Mr Reed！ How did you survive the windstorm with your fragile body？” The oak tree envied the reeds.

One of the reeds kindly said to the oak tree flowing down， “Mr Oak Tree， you showed that you were the strongest in the world， right？ The windstorm brings down anything with an air of importance.”

“We never think highly of ourselves， but lower our heads when we come across a windstorm. If you had lowered your head without being so proud， you would have survived the rainstorm.”

从前，有一棵巨大的橡树。橡树觉得自己是世界上最大最强壮的树，因此非常骄傲。“不管是什么困难，我都能安然度过。没有什么比我更强大。”

一天，突然起了一场风暴。看着其他的树一棵一棵地倒下，橡树油然而生一种胜利感。“我会没事的。”

然而，橡树还是被风暴吹倒了。橡树随水漂流着，心想：“我怎么就这样结束了此生？”

当被河水冲走时，橡树路过了一片芦苇丛。那里的芦苇并没有被吹倒。“哦，芦苇先生！你这么脆弱，是如何躲过风暴的？”橡树很羡慕芦苇。

芦苇亲切地对漂流而过的橡树说：“橡树先生，你自夸是世界上最强壮的，对嗎？风暴会把任何趾高气扬的人打到的。”

“我们从来不会自以为是，当风暴来袭时，我们会谦卑地低下头。如果当时你低下头，你也会在风暴中存活下来。”

Vocabulary

proud adj. 骄傲的;自豪的

survive v. 生存;存活

collapse v. 倒下，昏倒

envy v. 羡慕;忌妒