五下第一单元课外成语故事扩展

Mere copycat / Dongshi Imitates Xishi

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a beauty in the State of Yue called Xishi. She often suffered from pains in her chest, and so she would often walk around doubled over and with her brows knitted. There was an ugly girl in the village called Dongshi who envied Xishi. Striving to emulate Xishi, she imitated her stoop, knitting her brows at the same time. She thought that this made her elegant, but in fact, it only made her more ugly. Later, this idiom came to be used to indicate improper imitation that produces the reverse effect.

The tiger and the fox

A tiger caught a fox in a forest, and was just about to eat it, when the fox said, 'You mustn't eat me. I was sent by Heaven to rule the animals. By eating me, you will violate the command of Heaven. If you don't believe me, just follow me to see whether the animals are afraid of me. The tiger agreed, and followed the fox as it walked around the forest. The animals all ran away when seeing them. The tiger thought they were afraid of the fox, so he let it go. He didn't realize that it was him that the beasts were really afraid of.This idiom means relyi

ng on another's power to bully（欺负）or frighten others.

The Tiger and the fox

One day, the tiger and the fox are talk ing. The fox says, ‘Do you believe that all the animals in the forest are scared of me not you?’ The tiger doesn’t believe and follows the fox to the forest. All the animals are very frightened when they see the tiger and ran away. The tiger is shocked and thinks that the animals are scared of the fox. The fox is very complacent because in fact it depends on the terror of the tiger to frighten the animals. This story tells us that don’t bully people by flaunting others’ powerful connections.

Belling the cat

Long long ago, there was a big cat in the house. He caught many mice while they were stealing food. One day the mice had a meeting to talk about the way to deal with their common enemy. Some said this, and some said that. At last a young mouse got up, and said that he had a good idea."We could tie a bell around the neck of the cat. Then when he comes near, we can hear the sound of the bell, and run away."Everyone approved of this proposal, but an old wise mouse got up and said, "That is all very well, but who will tie the bell to the cat?" The mice looked at each other, but nobody spoke.

The goose with the golden eggs

One morning a countryman went to his goose‘s nest, and saw a yellow and glittering egg there. He took the egg home. To his delight, he found that it was an egg of pure gold. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs. The countryman became more and more greedy. He wanted to get all the gold at once, so he killed the goose, when he looked inside, he found nothing in its body.

The young thief and his mother

A young man was caught stealing, and sentenced to death three days later. He wanted to speak with his mother before the execution. Of course this was granted. When his mother came to him, he said, "I want to tell you something." He said something but she could not hear. He whispered again, and when she came close to him, she put her ear to his mouth. He nearly bit off her ear. All the bystanders were horrified.

"It is to punish her," he said. "When I was young I began stealing little things, and brought them home to mother. "Instead of punishing me, she laughed and said, ‘It will not be noticed.‘ It is because of her that I am here today."

The miser and his gold

Once upon a time there was a miser. He hid his gold under a tree. Every week he used to dig it up. One night a robber stole all the gold. When the miser came again, he found nothing but an empty hole. He was surprised, and then burst into tears. All the neighbors gathered around him. He told them how he used to come and visit his gold.

"Did you ever take any of it out?" asked one of them. "No," he said, "I only came to look at it." "Then come again and look at the hole," said the neighbor, "it will be the same as looking at the gold."

The eagle and the arrow

An eagle was flying in the sky. As soon as it saw a rabbit, it swooped down on its prey. Suddenly it was hit by an arrow. It fluttered slowly down to the earth, and blood was pouring from the wound. When the eagle looked down, he found that the shaft of the arrow was feathered with one of its own plumes. I t cried.“We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.”

The fox and the lion

When the fox first saw the lion he was terribly frightened. He ran away, and hid himself in the woods. The second time, however, he came near the lion. He stopped at a safe distance, and watched him passing by. The third time they came near one another. The fox went straight up to the lion, and stayed the whole day with him. He asked the lion how his family was, and when they would meet again. They soon became good friends.

Little Red Riding Hood

Long long ago, there was a girl called Little Red Riding Hood. Because she was always in a red hat which her grandma sent to her. One day, her mother asked her to go to her grandma's home to send some food for her grandma. Because grandma was ill. So she started. She was very happy. At that time, a wolf came out and said" What are you going to do ?Little girl?""I'm going to see my grandma, she's ill.""What's that in your basket?""They are button, bread, drink and some other food!"Then the wolf said" Do you like flowers,? there are many flowers over there!"

Get on a gravy train 守株待兔

Once upon a time, there was a farmer. One day, while he was working in the fields, he saw a hare running into a tree stump accidentally and died of a broken neck. The farmer took the hare home and cooked a delicious meal for himself. That night he thought: "I needn't work so hard. All I have to do is wait every day by the stump to pick up the hare that runs into it." So from then on, he gave up farming, and stood by the tree stump waiting for the hare to come and run into it. But from then on, he never saw another hare run into the tree stump.

The clever cock

One morning a fox saw a cock. He thought, "This is my breakfast.'' He came up to the cock and said, "I know you can sing very well. Can you sing for me?'' The cock was glad. He closes his eyes and began to sing. The fox saw that and caught him in his mouth and carried him away. The people in the field saw the fox. They cried, "Look, look! The fox is carrying the cock away.'' The cock said to the fox, "Mr Fox, do you understand? The people say you are carrying their cock away. Tell them it is yours. Not theirs.'' The fox opened his mouth and said, "The cock is mine, not yours.'' Just then the cock ran away from the fox and fled into the tree.