The Frogs and the Ox

◎供稿：魏 瑋

An Ox came down to a puddle to drink water. He was great in size. He moved heavily in the water, and1)crusheda young Frog into the2)mud. The Frog died3)instantlyunder the4)pressure.The young Frog’s mother looked about everywhere to find him. When she could not find him anywhere, she asked the other young Frogs what had happened.

“A5)giganticmonster came and crushed the little brother with his6)massive feet!”said one of the Frogs.

“A big monster?” said the Mother Frog. She puffed herself up and said, “Was he as big as this?”

“No! He was much bigger than that!” they cried.The Mother Frog puffed herself up even more.“Was he as big as this?” she asked in surprise.

“He was much, much bigger than that!” the young ones answered again.

“Surely, he was not as big as this?” she asked again, puffing herself up with all her strength. But the young Frogs kept saying that the monster was much, much bigger than her. She continued to puff herself up,and in the end she puffed herself up so much that she7)burst.

Do not8)attemptthe impossible.

1) crush [kr??] v.擠壓

2) mud [m?d] n.泥

3) instantly ['?nst?ntli] adv.立刻

4) pressure ['pre??(r)] n.壓力

5) gigantic [d?a?'g?nt?k] ad.巨大的

6) massive ['m?s?v] adj.寬大的

7) burst [b?:st] v.爆炸, 破裂

8) attempt [?'tempt] v.嘗試

詞組加油站

look about 四處尋找

puff up吹氣使……鼓起來

in surprise 驚訝地

with all one’s strength 用盡某人的全力

in the end 最終

參考譯文

一頭牛來到水池里喝水。他體積龐大，在水里笨重地挪動著,踩到了淤泥里的一只小青蛙。這只青蛙在重壓下一下子就死掉了。小青蛙的媽媽四處找他,哪里也不見小青蛙的蹤影,她便問其他小青蛙發生了什么事情。

“一只巨大的怪獸來了,他用大腳把小弟弟壓死了！” 其中一只青蛙說。

“一只大怪獸?”青蛙媽媽問道。她吸口氣把身體鼓起來然后說：“怪獸有這么大嗎?”

“不!他要比那樣大多了!”青蛙們嘟嚷道。

青蛙媽媽把自己鼓得更大了。

“像這么大嗎?”她驚訝地問道。

“他要比那樣大很多很多!”小青蛙們再次回答。

“你們確定,他不是這么大?”她又問道,用盡全力把自己吹得更鼓了。但是小青蛙們一直說那只怪物要比她大得多。她繼續鼓著氣,最后,由于充氣太多,她把自己鼓爆了。

不要嘗試不可能的事情。

語法

as…as結構的用法要點

(1)基本用法

該結構的基本意思是“與……一樣”，其中接形容詞或副詞的原級，在否定句中，第一個as也可換成 so。如：

He doesn’t study as/so hard as his brother.他學習不如他弟弟努力。

(2)涉及數量或程度的用法

若涉及數量或程度，可用“as much+不可數名詞+as”和“as many+可數名詞復數+as”。如：

He doesn’t pay as much tax as we do/as us.他沒我們交的稅款多。

There are not as many restaurants as there were.現在餐館沒有過去多了。

(3)有關詞序的一點說明

其間接形容詞時，有時該形容詞還可修飾另一名詞，但這個名詞應帶有不定冠詞(注意詞序)。如：

I have as good a voice as you.我的聲音和你一樣好。

(4) 該結構的修飾語

根據情況可用 (not) nearly，almost，just，nothing like，exactly，not quite，half，oneten，twice，three times，30 percent等修飾，并且這些修飾語必須置于第一個as之前，而不能置于其后。如：

This room is twice as large as that one. 這個房間是那個房間的兩倍大。

You’re not half as clever us you think you are.你遠不是自己想象的那么聰明。

It took three times as long as I had expected.這件事比我預料的多花了兩倍的時間。