In the time of the Yellow Emperor, there were no written words. People remembered things by tying knots(打结)in ropes and carving(雕刻)shapes on stone walls.
One day, the Yellow Emperor discussed a matter with a wise man named Cang Jie. Cang took out a piece of knotted rope, but he found it was rotten (腐烂的). It was impossible for him to remember the matter clearly. Then he turned to a stone wall, but he could hardly read the shapes on it because they were carved by another person.
"The ropes will be destroyed for some unknown reasons. And the shapes can only be read by a few people, "the Yellow Emperor said to Cang. "Can you come up with something better? "
Cang thought over the problem for days and nights. One morning after a heavy snowfall, he saw the footprints of some different animals. These footprints helped him recognize what animals passed by. Cang suddenly had an idea. He drew a tiger and a bear on the snow-covered ground. But soon, he found that this took too much time. He realized that he had to make the drawings easier.
All the shapes on the stone walls came into his mind. Cang kept making all kinds of shapes on the ground. He paid attention to drawing. To show the sun, for example, he used a circle with a dot in the middle. A half circle and a vertical line(垂直线)made up the moon. And three lines that are not straight were used to show water. These symbols shone brightly in the snow.
In the end, Cang created a whole set of symbols to help people remember things. People could easily understand these symbols. Since then, they have been able to write down their own history in this way.
The Castle(城堡)of Prince Llywelyn stood in the Welsh(威尔士的) mountains, next to a dark forest full of wild animals. . There were three things that he loved most in the world—his wife, his baby son and his dog, Gelert Gelert was a strong, brave dog. . It loved the baby boy and each night slept under his bed to protect him.
One day, the prince and his wife had to leave the castle early in the morning. The prince told the dog to look after the baby carefully while he was away. At the end of a long day, the prince and his wife returned to the castle . When the prince walked into the baby's bedroom, he saw that the walls were covered in blood, and he couldn't see the baby anywhere. Gelert was also covered in blood. The prince's first thought was that the dog killed the baby. Angrily, he quickly and killed the dog.
At that moment, he heard the baby crying. Then he saw his baby alive and well and sleeping under a blanket(毯子) . The dead body of a huge wild dog lay next to him. The wild dog tried to hurt the baby, and Gelert fought against it and killed it in the end. The prince realized that he made a terrible mistake. The prince buried(埋葬) Gelert under the castle wall .
⒈Put the phrases(A~E)to the blanks(1~5)in the passage.
A. so that people would always remember the brave dog B. took out his sharp knife C. as the sun was going down D. However, the prince led a happy life E. It followed the prince everywhere and listened to his every word |
⒉Read the passage and answer the questions.
Why was the forest dangerous?
Where did Gelert sleep every night? Why?
What order did the prince give his dog before he left?
What did the prince think at first when he saw the blood?
Why did the prince bury the dog under the castle wall?