now i'm going to tell you a story that i heard when i was a little fellow and that i like better and better the more i think of it. for it's the same with stories as with many people; the older they grow, the nicer they grow, and that is delightful.

you have been out in the country, of course. there you must have seen a really old farmhouse with a thatched roof, where moss and weeds have planted themselves; a stork's nest decorates the chimney (you can never do without the stork); the walls are slanting; the windows are low (in fact, only one of them was made to open); the baking oven sticks out like a fat little stomach; and an elderbush leans over the gate, where you can see a tiny pond with a duck or ducklings, under a gnarled willow tree. yes, and then, of course, there's a watchdog which barks at everybody and everything.

well, there was a farmhouse just like that out in the country, and in it there lived two people, a farmer and his wife. they had few enough possessions, but still there was one they could do without, and that was a horse, which grazed along the ditch beside the highway. the old farmer used it to ride to town and lent it to his neighbors, receiving some slight services from them in return, but still it would be much more profitable to sell the horse, or at least exchange it for something that would be more useful to them.

but which should they do, sell or trade?

"you'll know what's best, father," said the wife. "it's market day. come on, ride off to town, and get money for the horse, or make a good bargain with it. whatever you do is always right; so be off for the market!"

编辑:Liuxuepaper.Com

作文地带知识拓展:

• 英语（English）属于印欧语系日耳曼语族西日耳曼语支，最早被中世纪的英国使用，并因其广阔的殖民地而成为世界使用面积最广的语言。英国人的祖先盎格鲁部落是后来迁移到大不列颠岛地区的日耳曼部落之一，称为英格兰。这两个名字都来自波罗地海半岛的Anglia。该语言与弗里斯兰语和下撒克森语密切相关，其词汇受到其他日耳曼语族语言的影响，尤其是北欧语（北日耳曼语），并在很大程度上由拉丁文和法文撰写。