10.
阅读理解
Once upon a time, a hippo(河马) lived in a river next to a big tree.
One day, a bird came and nested(筑巢) in the tree. The songs of the bird filled the hippo with so much
envy (羡慕) that he couldn't think of anything else.
Every day he would think why he wasn't born to be a bird even though the bird
told him many times he was so lucky to be so big and such a good swimmer.
Finally, the hippo made up his mind that he
would come out of the river, climb the tree, and start singing. However, when
he tried to climb the tree, it was very clear that the hippo didn't have wings,
nor claws to climb with.
Realizing that he would never climb up the
tree, he angrily hit the tree until it came crashing to the ground. Then he
stepped onto the leaves of the fallen tree, and began singing.
Unfortunately, hippos can't sing, either. All
that came from his mouth were terrible noises, and when the other animals heard
these, they all came around to make fun of the hippo.
He was too ashamed of this. He also felt bad
about having knocked the tree over. He used all his strength to raise the tree
back up again, and looked it after until it completely recovered(康复).