Better Late than Never

供稿：龍 菲

“亡羊補(bǔ)牢,為時(shí)未晚”出自《戰(zhàn)國策·楚策》；“見兔而顧犬，未為晚也；亡羊則補(bǔ)牢，未為遲也?！北扔鞒隽藛栴}以后，及時(shí)想辦法補(bǔ)救，還不算遲。

There once was a1)shepherd.He2)bredmany sheep.In the daytime,he herded them outside;at night,he drove them into the sheepfold which was3)enclosedby hays and pegs.

One morning,the shepherd went to herd the sheep and found one sheep lost.He then found that the sheepfold had been broken,and the wolf must had stolen the sheep through the4)hollow.“You’d better repair the sheepfold and plug up the hollow as soon as possible.”the neighbor advised him.“The sheep has been lost.What’s the point of repairing the sheepfold?”He didn’t take the neighbor’s kind suggestions.

The next morning,he went to herd and found another sheep lost.The wolf had done it again.The shepherd now regretted for not taking his neighbor’s advice and not taking remediation in time.So he plugged up the hollow soon,and5)reinforcedthe whole sheepfold to make it more6)stable.From then on,his sheep didn’t get stolen any more.

詞組加油站

regret for… 為……感到悔恨

take remediation in time 及時(shí)補(bǔ)救

1) shepherd [??ep?d] n.牧羊人；牧師

2) breed [bri?d] v.飼養(yǎng)；養(yǎng)育

3) enclose [?n?kl??z] vt.把……圍住

4) hollow [?h?l??] n.洞；孔

5) reinforce [?ri??n?f??s] v.加固

6) stable [?ste?bl] adj.牢固的；穩(wěn)定的

從前有一個(gè)牧羊人，他養(yǎng)了很多羊。他白天放牧，晚上把它們趕進(jìn)一個(gè)用干草和木樁圍起來的羊圈內(nèi)。

一天早晨，牧羊人去放羊，發(fā)現(xiàn)羊少了一只。他發(fā)現(xiàn)羊圈破了個(gè)窟窿，他認(rèn)為一定是狼從窟窿里鉆了進(jìn)來，叼走了一只羊。鄰居勸他：“你最好盡快把羊圈修一修?！彼麉s說：“羊都已經(jīng)丟了，修羊圈還有什么意義？”他沒有接受鄰居的好心勸告。

第二天早上，他去放羊，發(fā)現(xiàn)羊又少了一只。他認(rèn)為一定是狼又來了。牧羊人很后悔沒有聽從鄰居的勸告，去及時(shí)采取補(bǔ)救措施。于是，他趕緊堵上窟窿，又把整個(gè)羊圈都加固了一番，羊圈比以前更加牢固了。從那以后，牧羊人的羊再也沒有丟過。

Fill in the blanks:

1._____sheep were lost before the shepherd reinforced the whole sheepfold.

2.The shepherd regretted for not taking_____________because another sheep had been stolen by the wolf.

Know More

戰(zhàn)國時(shí)期，越國的大商人范蠡曾對(duì)魯國商人猗頓說：“要想富裕，就要多養(yǎng)雌性的牛、馬、豬、羊、驢?！边@說明畜養(yǎng)牲畜已成為當(dāng)時(shí)致富的快捷方式。這一時(shí)期，已經(jīng)形成了農(nóng)區(qū)、牧區(qū)和半農(nóng)半牧區(qū)，家畜成為社會(huì)財(cái)富的象征。