A frightened Bird 驚弓之鳥

Once upon a time， the acher Geng Lei and the king of the state of Wei were standing at the foot of a tall tower. Looking up， they saw birds soaring in the sky.

Geng Lei said to the king“Sir， l can bring down a bird for you by using a bow with no arrow.” The king asked， “Can you achieve such a marvelous thing?” “Yes， sir.” replied Geng Lei.

After a while， a wild goose appeared from the east. Geng Lei merely drew his bow and brought down the bird without shooting an arrow.

“How could you do such a wonderful thing?” asked the king. “This is a wounded bird，” said Gang Lei. “How did you know that?” asked the king.

“It was flying very slowly and crying very sadly.” Geng Lei pointed out. “It flew slowly because its old wound still hurt. It cried sadly because it had lost its flock for quite some time. Its old wound had not yet healed and it was still very frightened. When it heard the sound of the bow it stretched its wings to soar up into the sky. That broke the wound and caused it to fall.”

從前，弓箭手更羸與魏王在一座高臺下，抬頭看見一飛翔的鳥。

更羸告訴魏王說：“我能用不帶箭的弓為你射下鳥?！蔽和跽f：“你射箭的本事能達(dá)到這種程度嗎？”更羸說：“可以?！?/p>

過了一會兒，一只雁從東方飛來，更羸用空弓把雁射了下來。魏王說：“你是怎么做到的？”更羸說：“這是一只受傷的鳥?！蔽和跽f：“你是怎么知道的？”

更羸說：“這鳥飛行緩慢而且叫聲悲切。飛行慢，是傷痛的緣故；叫聲悲切，是失群的緣故。傷口未愈合，害怕的心情還沒有平息。一聽到弦的聲音，使勁向上飛，傷口開裂就會使它落下來?！?/p>

① frightened

adj. 害怕的

② archer

n. 弓箭手

③ marvelous

adj. 了不起的

Exercises:

1. How could Geng Lei bring down a bird?__________________

2. How could Geng Lei tell that it was a wounded bird? _______________________________

3. What made the bird fall down?_______________________________

Keys： 1. He merely drew his bow. 2. It flew slowly because its old wound still hurt. It cried sadly because it had lost its flock for quite some time. 3. The sound of the bow.