四年级--英语课外阅读

I Don’t Want to Walk Home

Tom is a very old man. After dinner, he likes walking in the street. And he goes to bed at seven o’clock.

But tonight, a car stopped at his house. A policeman helps him get out. He tells Tom’s wife, “The old man couldn’t find his way in the street. He asked me to take him in the car.”

After the policeman leaves there, his wife asks, “Tom, you go to the street every night. But tonight you can’t find the way, what’s the matter?”

The old man smiles like a child and says, “I couldn’t find my way? I just didn’t want to walk home.”

Story 2:

Adding Feet to a Snake

One day, Mr. Lion holds a party. Many animals come and drink a lot of wine. At last there is a pot of wine. Who can drink it? They think out an idea and decide to have a match-Draw a snake. If you finish first, you can get it.

Soon Mr. Wolf finishes drawing. “Yeah, I’ve finished. I’m No.1,” he says. But he draws again and says, “Oh, let me add feet to my snake.” At the time, Mr. Gorilla also finishes. He takes away the pot of wine and drinks, and then he says, “That isn’t a snake. Snakes have no feet. I get the wine.”

Story 3:

Covering one’s Ears While Stealing a Bell

Mr. Wang thinks he is clever, but he always does foolish things.

One day he sees a beautif ul bell at the top of a door. “Oh! How nice! I will take it home.” He thinks, “What can I do?” After a while he has a “good” idea. “Aha! I have an idea now. I can plug my ears. Then I will not hear the ring when I take off the bell.”

Then he does so. But as soon as he takes off the bell, the owner opens the door. “What are you doing?” the owner says angrily.

Story 4:

Adding Eyes to a Dragon

Mr. Li is a good painter. One day he draws a beautiful dragon without eyes.

Mr. Zhou looks at the picture and s ays, “The dragon has no eyes. It isn’t a good picture.”

But Mr. Li smiles and says, “If I add eyes to the dragon, it will fly away.”

Mr. Zhou shakes head and says, “You are boasting. I don’t believe you.”

Mr. Li isn’t angry. He holds the paintbrush a nd adds eyes to the dragon. Woe! The dragon really flies

How a Colt Crossed the River

One day, a colt took a bag of wheat to the mill. As he was running with the bag on his back, he came to a small river. The colt could not decide whether he could cross it. Looking around, he saw a cow grazing nearby. He asked, “Aunt Cow, could you tell me if I can cross the river?” The cow told him that he could and that the river was not

very deep, just knee high. The colt was crossing the river when a squirrel jumped down from a tree and stopped him. The squirrel shouted, “Colt, stop! You’ll drown! One of my friends drowned just yesterday in the river.” Not knowing what to do, the colt went home to consult his mum. He told his mum his experience on the way. His mother said, “My child, don’t always listen to others. You’d better go and try yourself. Then you’ll know what to do.” Later, at the river, the squirrel stopped the colt again. “Little horse, it’s too dangerous!” “No, I want to try myself,” answered the colt. Then he crossed the river carefully. You see, real knowledge comes from practice.

Story 6:

The Fisherman and His Wife

Once, there was a fisherman. He had an ugly wife. They were poor.

One day, the fisherman caught a goldfish. But the goldfis h could talk, “Please let me go! I’ll reward you.”

“Ok, my God?” cried the fisherman, “Don’t worry. I have no wish to eat a talking fish.” So he puts it into the water.

The fisherman went home and told his wife about it. She became very angry. “How foolish you are!” she said, “Look at the hut. Go back to the sea and tell the fish to give me a cottage.”

So the fisherman went down to the beach.

“What’s the matter?” asked the fish.

“My wife wants to cottage.” said the fisherman.

“Don’t worry, she will have it.”

So the fisherman’s wife had her cottage.

But after a few days, she became tired of it. “Tell the fish to give me a palace.” she said. Then the fisherman went back to the beach again. And the fisherman’s wife had her palace.

But she soon got tried of it, too. “Ask the fish to be my servant, and I want to be a queen.”

This time, the fish got angry. It said nothing and swam away.

The fisherman waited and waited, but the goldfish didn’t come back. When he went home, he found his wife was back in their old hut.

The country mouse and the city mouse

Once there were two mice. They were friends. One mouse lived in the country; the other mouse lived in the city. After many years, the Country mouse saw the City mouse; he said, "Do come and see me at my house in the country." So the City mouse went. The City mouse said, "This food is not good, and your house is not good. Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have nice food to eat. You must come and see me at my house in the city."

The Country mouse went to the house of the City mouse. It was a very good house. Nice food was set ready for them to eat. But just as they began to eat they heard a great noise. The City mouse cried, "Run! Run! The cat is coming!" They ran away quickly and hid. After some time they came out. When they came out, the Country mouse said, "I do not like living in the city. I like living in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy, than to be rich and afraid."

Story 8:

One day, a little monkey is playing by the well. He looks in the well and shouts: “Oh! My god! The moon has fallen into the well!” An older monkeys runs over, takes a look, and says, “Oh, no! The moon is really in the water!” Then an old monk ey comes over. He is very surprised, too and yells: “The moon is in the well.”

A group of monkeys run over to the well. They look at the moon in the well and shout: “The moon did fall into the well! Come on! Let’ get it out!” Then, the oldest monkey hangs on the tree up side down, with his feet on the branch. And he pulls the next monkey’s feet with his hands. All the other monkeys follow his suit, and they join each other one by one down to the moon in the well. Just before they reach the moon, the oldest monkey raises his head and happens to see the moon in the sky, He yells excitedly “Don’t be so foolish! The moon is still in the sky!”

Story 9:

The lion and the fox

The lion once said that he was sick on his death bed. So he asked all the animals to come and listen to his last wishes. The goat came to the lion’s cave. He stood there and listened for a long time. Then a sheep went in. Before she came out, a rabbit entered to hear the last wishes of the king of beasts. But soon the lion seemed to recover, and went to the mouth of his cave. He saw a fox waiting outside. "Why don’t you come in?" asked the lion to the fox. "I beg Your Majesty’s pardon," said the fox, "I have seen many animals enter your cave, but none of them come out. Till they come out again, I prefer to wait outside."

Tom is seven. He goes to school every day. The school is near his home. So he goes there on foot and comes back home on time. But today he is late. His mother asks him,

“Why are you late today?”

“I was in the headmaster’s office.”

“Why did you go to the headmaster’s office?”

“Because my teacher asks us a questi on in class, and nobody could answer it, but me.”

“It’s good to answer the questi ons.”

“but the questions was ’Who put ink on my chair?’”