晓 燕／选注 (A Bulgarian Folktale保加利亚民间故事) A rich farmer had a big field of ripe(1) corn.
He asked a poor man from the village to reap his field.
“How long must I reap?” asked the poor man.
“Until(2)the light(3)in the sky sets ,” said the rich farmer , pointing up at the sky.
“And what will you pay me?”
“I willgiveyouasmall bag of flour(4)if you work well.”
The poormanagreed(5)and began to reap the rich man’s corn. He worked without rest. At noon he stopped and rested for a short time under a tree. He had only one slice(6)of breadfor lunch.
Then he took his sickle(7) and went back to work.
When the sun set, the tired poor man wiped(8) the sweat(9) fromhis face and said, “That’senough.”
“How is that?” said the farmer. “You have reaped only half the field.”
“But the sun has set and it is growing dark,” answered the reaper(10).
“The sun has set,” said the rich man.“But look at the sky, his sister, the moon, is now in the sky. She gives us light. You must reap until the moon sets too. Otherwise(11) I will not give you any flour.”
The poor man could not answer this argument(12). He went on with his work. He worked hard all night long(13),while the rich farmer lay down(14)under the tree and had a good sleep. The workman reaped the field from end to end.
“Now I’ll give you the flour，”said the rich man. “Go home, bring your bag , and come to my mill(15).My flour is there.”
So the poor man went home and came a little later with a big bag.
“Pour in(16) the flour!” he said.
The rich farmer opened his eyes wide and shouted,“Why did you bring such a big bag?”
“It’s the small bag’s big brother,” laughed the poor man.
“How can a small bag have a big brother?”said the farmer.
“Well, if the moon was the sun’s sister, a small bag could have a big brother, couldn’t he?”
This time the rich farmer couldn’t answer the poor man’s argument.He had to fill up(17)thebigbag with flour.
1.ripe成熟的
2.until直至
3.light光线（以前我们学过light，解释为灯，在这篇文章中，解释为光线）
4.flour面粉（同音字flower）
5.原形agree,同意
6.slice薄片
7.sickle镰刀
8.原形wipe，擦去
9.sweat 汗水
15.mill磨坊
16.pour in倒入
17.fill up装满
★选自辽宁少年儿童出版社宋韵声编译《经典民间故事》
同学们，我们在读故事的时候，要注意词汇的积累。比如，这一篇中的reap一词曾在我们读过的名为《斗智不如斗勇》的故事中出现过。那时，它是作为生词出现的，在这一篇中它就应该变成你的老朋友了，对不对？
难度系数：☆☆☆