(原版)澳大利亚语文第二册 LESSON 3
LESSON 3 TOMMY AND THE CROW
TOMMY AND THE CROW
I
dunce learnt teach-er school
flap-ping every-thing yel-low be-sides
feath-ers num-ber suit clev-er
1. "I will not go to school," said little Tommy; "I will stay in the bush and play all day long."
Just as he said this, he looked up into a tree, and saw an old crow sitting there, with a number of others.
2. "Here's a pretty fellow," said the crow; "he says he won't go to school; here's a pretty dunce!
What! you do not like work? said the crow again. "O you idle boy, you are worse than a bird! I build my nest, what do you think of that?"
3. "I dare say it is a very nice one," said Tommy, "but I should not like to live in it."
No, because you are only a boy, and not as wise as a crow, said his new friend.
4. "Do you know why a crow is wiser than a boy?" asked the crow.
No, said Tommy; "I thought boys were wiser than crows."
5. "You thought!" said the crow; "a great deal you know about it. Can you build a house for yourself, pray?"
No, said Tommy, "but when I am a man, I shall be able to build one."
6. "And why can't you do it now?" said the crow, turning his head to one side, and looking at Tommy with one eye.
Why, I have not learnt, said the little boy.
7. "Ho, ho!" said the crow, flapping his wings and hopping round and round, "he must learn to build a house! Here's a pretty boy! Here's a wise boy!
8. "No one taught me to build my house," said the crow. "I knew how to do it at once, and a nice house it is; I brought all the sticks it is made of myself. I am not like a little boy I know;" and the crow shook his head, and looked so hard at the boy, that Tommy felt as if his teacher was looking at him.
9. "But there are other things in the world besides houses," said Tommy.
Yes, indeed, said the crow, "you want clothes, as well as a house."
That we do, said Tommy, "and new ones very often; but you birds can't wear clothes."
10. "Who told you that?" said the crow, in a very sharp tone. "Look at my coat, if you please, and tell me if you ever saw a finer suit of black than mine. Could you make yourself such a suit?"
No, said Tommy, "but I can learn."
11. "Yes, yes, you can learn; but that is the way with you silly boys. You have everything to learn, and yet you are too idle to set about it. Why, I have always had this black suit. It is true, when first I came out of my shell, my coat was only of yellow down; but I grew these black feathers at once, and I have always been well dressed since."
