An old woman had a cat. The cat was very old; she could not run quickly, and she could not bite, because she was so old. One day the old cat saw a mouse; she jumped and caught the mouse. But she could not bite it; so the mouse got out of her mouth and ran away, because the cat could not bite it.Then the old woman became very angry because the cat had not killed the mouse. She began to hit the cat. The cat said, "Do not hit your old servant. I have worked for you for many years, and I would work for you still, but I am too old. Do not be unkind to the old, but remember what good work the old did when they were young."

一位老妇有只猫，这只猫很老，它跑不快了，也咬不了东西，因为它年纪太大了。一天，老猫发现一只老鼠，它跳过去抓这只老鼠，然而，它咬不住这只老鼠。因此，老鼠从它的嘴边溜掉了，因为老猫咬不了它。于是，老妇很生气，因为老猫没有把老鼠咬死。她开始打这只猫，猫说：“不要打你的老仆人，我已经为你服务了很多年，而且还愿意为你效劳，但是，我实在太老了，对年纪大的不要这么无情，要记住老年人在年轻时所做过的有益的事情。

词汇学习：

old woman 老太太

quickly ['kwikli] 迅速地；不久；立即

bite [baɪt] 少量，小部分

mouse [maus]鼠

jumped [dʒʌmp]跳跃 （jumped是jump的过去分词形式,过去式形式）

caught [kætʃ]抓住

get out of 逃避；避免 （got out of]是[get out of]的过去式形式,过去分词形式）

mouth [maʊθ]嘴

ran away潜逃,失去控制

angry [ˈæŋɡrɪ]愤怒的

killed ['kild] 被*死的;被屠宰的

hit [hɪt] 打，击；打击

servant [ˈsɜːvənt] 仆人，雇工

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本文转载于小学英语（ID:xxyy100）