英语是世界上通用的语言，而英语的学习是很枯燥的，想要学好英语不妨先从阅读英语故事开始。从英文故事中学习，提高英文水平。从故事中学习，学到人生的哲理。
There once was a proud heron. She thought she was the wisest and most beautiful heron in the world.
One morning, she stood a stream and looked into the water. She want to have a big, fat fish for breakfast. “There are a lot of fish here,” she said, “but they’re too small for me. I deserve only the biggest and the best!”
Just then, a bigger fish swam near the shore, but the heron still wasn’t interested. “I wouldn′t bother to open my mouth for such a small fish!” she said.
Then heron was that a big, fat fish would come soon. She waited beside the stream, but only small fish appeared.
As she waited, the sun rose into the sky. The water became warm and all the small fish swam away. The heron was hungry, but she could only find a tiny snail.
“I had so many choices before,” said the heron, “but I was too proud and hard to please.
Now I have nothing to eat at all.”
A Man and a Satyr having struck up an acquaintance, sat down together to eat. The day being wintry and cold, the Man put his fingers to his mouse and blew opon them. "What's that for, my friend?" asked the Satyr. " My hands are so cold," said the Man, "I do it to warm them." In a little while some hot food was placed before them, and the Man, raising the dish to his mouse, again blew opon it. "And what's the meaning of that, now?" said the Satyr. "Oh," replied the Man, "my porridge is so hot, I do it to cool it." "Nay, then," said the Satyr, "from this moment I renounce your friendship, for I will have nothing to do with one who blows hot and cold with the same mouse."
一个人与赛特偶然相识，坐在一齐吃东西。正值冬季，天气很冷，那人把手放在嘴边哈气。赛特问道“我的朋友，那是干吗？”这人说“我的手太冷了，这是为了取暖”。过了一会儿，热腾腾的食物端上来了，那人把碟子举到嘴边又吹了起来，赛特问“这又是干吗？”，那人说“哦，我的粥太烫了，我把他吹凉些”。赛特说“从此刻起，我要与你绝交，因为我不想和一个反复无常的人做朋友”。
A FOX one day fell into a deep well and could find no means of escape. A Goat, overcome with thirst, came to the same well, and seeing the Fox, inquired if the water was good. Concealing his sad plight under a merry guise, the Fox indulged in a lavish praise of the water, saying it was excellent beyond measure, and encouraging him to descend. The Goat, mindful only of his thirst, thoughtlessly jumped down, but just as he drank, the Fox informed him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested a scheme for their common escape. ”If,“ said he, ”you will place your forefeet upon the wall and bend your head, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards.“ The Goat readily assented and the Fox leaped upon his back. Steadying himself with the Goat's horns, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast as he could. When the Goat upbraided him for breaking his promise, he turned around and cried out, ”You foolish old fellow! If you had as many brains in your head as you have hairs in your beard, you would never have gone down before you had inspected the way up, nor have exposed yourself to dangers from which you had no means of escape.“
Nowadays, GEICO is a well-known insurance company. For many years, however, it was unnoticed. Other companies, like Allstate and Farmers, were more popular. Then GEICO tried something different; it got a new ad agency.
The owner of the agency, Billy Ray Childers, was from Virginia. Years ago, he had tried to start his own agency in Manhattan. But when New Yorkers heard his southern accent, they gave him the cold shoulder. Angry, Billy Ray returned to Virginia. Someday, he hoped to teach those New Yorkers a lesson.
He set up his new ad agency in Raleigh. Then he called up GEICO headquarters in New York. He told them that they could improve their sales if they used a gecko to advertise GEICO. They balked at first, but then approved his ad campaign. In the new commercial, the animated lizard said, ”I'm a gecko, not a GEICO.“ GEICO was originally going to do one TV commercial with the bright green lizard, and then retire it. But viewers, especially women, fell in love with the cute gecko. So GEICO decided to do a few more commercials. And then a few more.
The clever lizard with the British accent is now eight years old and stars in a new commercial every several months. It has made GEICO famous - almost as famous as the gecko itself!
Liz was excited. She was going to Asia with her mom. Neither of them had ever traveled out of the United States before. They were going to fly to Hong Kong. After staying in Hong Kong for three nights, they would travel on their cruise ship to Shanghai and Beijing.
“Beijing is inland, so we have to take about a two-hour bus ride to get there from the port. I forget the name of the port. Anyway, we're going to see the Great Wall, the Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. It’s going to be so cool!” she told her neighbor Jane.
From China, the cruise ship would go to Pusan in South Korea, and finally to Tokyo. From Tokyo, they would catch a flight back to Los Angeles.
“The trip is going to last three weeks. It's only going to cost us $2,800 each, IF we can control our urge to shop,” she laughed.
“I hope your trip is more fun than mine was,” said Jane. “I took a cruise to the Bahamas, but almost all the passengers got sick. I caught some kind of virus that made me throw up for almost three days. They gave us a discount that we could use on a future trip. Ha! No more cruising for me.”
“We've heard about those disasters,” said Liz. “Mom and I are going to be washing our hands every 30 minutes, and we're bringing surgical masks with us.”
Robert was a clever young man and got on well with his classmates .They all liked him and played with him though he often boasted .He was strong and often had sports .He hoped to join the army when he left the middle school .Bad luck !His leg was hurt in a traffic accident and he couldn’t walk .He had to go to his home village and help his father to manage the farm .He read a lot of books on farming and did well in it .He got much money and bought a few farms next to hs and ten years later he became the richest farmer in his village .
Once Robert net several friends in the capital .Some of them were famous in their country .They knew nothing about their lame friend .It made him unhappy and he asked them to visit his farm .They agreed and went there with him .They saw a beautiful house with a big garden when they got there .They found he had a lot of sheep ,pigs and cows .Robert and his family warmly received the guests from London .The next morning he took them to his farm .It was so large that they couldn’t see the other end and it surprised them all .
“It’ll take you two days to reach the other end of my farm by car !”Robert said happily .
“I think something is wrong with your cars !”one of the guests said with a smile .
Jerome turned off the TV. He had just watched a couple of "South Park" cartoons. "South Park" is an amusing series about elementary school kids living in a small town in Colorado.
The first cartoon was about Herman, who wanted to become strong and muscular. He asked his mother to buy a supplement that was advertised on TV. The supplement was actually nothing but sugar, but the TV ad promised that it would make you strong and muscular.
Instead, it made Herman very fat. Worse, Herman refused to believe that he had become fat. Even though all his friends were calling him Super Fat Boy, he told them that he was Super Muscle Boy. Finally, when Herman walked onto the stage to receive an award in the school auditorium, the stage collapsed. Then he realized that maybe he WAS super fat.
The second cartoon was about a dog that followed Lenny home. Lenny loved the dog until he found out it was gay. Then he hated the dog. But Big Al took Lenny to the city’s Home for Gay Animals. While there, Lenny decided that it was okay to be gay. When he got home, he hugged his dog and took it for a walk. He didn’t even mind when it sniffed other male dogs.
There are all kinds of animals in the sea. Look! They are coming. This is an octopus. The octopus is spraying ink. This is a shark. The shark has sharp teeth. This is a whale. The whale shoots water into the air. This is a sea turtle. The sea turtle has a hard shell. These are starfishes. The starfishes have five legs. These are angelfishes. The angelfishes have beautiful colors. This is a lobster. The lobster has strong claws. This is a jellyfish. The jellyfish has a soft body. They are different. But all of them live in the sea.
海里有什么动物？
在海洋里有各种各样的动物。 看！他们过来了。 这时一条章鱼，章鱼在喷墨。 这是一条鲨鱼，鲨鱼有锐利的牙齿。 这是一只鲸鱼，鲸把水喷射到空中。 这时一直海龟，海龟有坚硬的壳。 这些是海星，海星有五条腿。 这些是扁蛟鱼，扁姣鱼有美丽的花纹。 这是一只龙虾，龙虾有强壮的爪子。 这是一个水母，水母有一个柔软的身体。 他们各不相同，但他们都居住在海洋里。
During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC)， there were two famous senior officials in the State of Yue. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, ignored the advice of Fan Li and blindly launched an attack against the neighboring State of Wu. As a result, he suffered a disastrous defeat. The King of Wu caught him and had him as a slave. Fan Li persuaded him to endure humiliation, pretend to surrender and wait for an opportunity to avenge. Also, Wen Zhong paid many visits to the State of Wu, trying to help restore Gous confidence. Years later, Gou was set free. With the help of Fan and Wen, the State of Yue rapidly rehabilitated and later annexed the Wu
As they had made so much contribution, both Fan and Wen were awarded great riches. Gou Jian even offered half of the state to Fan. However, knowing Gou too well, Fan rejected and decided to live in seclusion. As a hermit, Fan wrote to his friend Wen. In his letter, Fan said, “When all the flying birds have been shot down, the good bow is put away; when all the hares have been bagged, the hounds are killed for food. I suggest you withdraw to avoid disaster.” Taking his advice, Wen pretended to be ill and stopped attending imperial court meetings. But it was too late. Gou Jian believed the slanderous gossip about Wen and ordered Wen to kill himself.
The tortoise saw an eagle flying in the air, then request the eagle taught him to fly. Eagle advised him, said he could not fly. Can the tortoise so pressing, eagle and caught him, fly to the high altitude, and then he let go. The tortoise fell on the rock, was cast sky-high.
This story shows that those who aim high, impractical person is bound to fail.
Two madmen were talking in the mental hospital, and one said, "I have decided to give my sister to you in marriage once we are out of here."
The other man said, "No, thank you. It cannot be so."
He asked, "Why？" The man answered ， "Because,according to our family tradition only relatives get married. We cannot marry an outsider."
The other man asked, "How come there is such a family custom？" He said, "You see, my grandmother married my grandfather. My mother married my father, my sister married my brother—in—law, and so on. How can I marry your sister？"
"I had another bad dream," she told her fiancé。 "It was about you again. You and your ex-girlfriend were kissing. I yelled at you to stop it. You looked right at me, and then you laughed at me! She laughed, too. Then you both went back to kissing. I tried not to watch, but when I covered my eyes, something pulled my hands away. I tried to leave, but my feet were glued to the ground. Finally, I woke up. Of course, it was very difficult to get back to sleep.
"I had to drive home from Las Vegas this morning. Its a wonder I didnt crash 50 times. Instead of seeing traffic in front of me, all I saw was you and her. I cant take any more dreams like this. Were going to have to break up. We can be friends, but just friends. That way, I wont be jealous anymore, and I wont have these bad dreams anymore."
"Why didnt you call me up and tell me about your dream?" he asked. "They say that the more you talk about bad dreams, the sooner youll stop having them."
She disagreed. She thought that the only solution was to break up and be just friends. She loved him, but these dreams had become so frequent that she was actually afraid to go to sleep. She was losing weight and having stomachaches from the stress.
He didnt know what to do. He wanted her to have pleasant dreams. He wanted her to have a life without stress. He wanted her to be his wife. This was it, she repeated; if she had just one more bad dream, they were through. He squeezed her hand, but said nothing.