IN the Island of Ceylon, there are large herds of wild elephants. Many have been caught and tamed, and made useful in helping to build bridges, houses, and churches.

Travellers tell us, that some of them are as careful about the neatness of their work as men could be! An elephant has been known to step back a few yards to see if it had laid a block of wood or stone straight; and then, if not satisfied, to return and push it into its right place!

Some years ago, an engineer in Ceylon bad to lay pipes to convey water nearly two miles, over hills and through woods where there were no roads. To help him in his work, he had to employ several elephants; and nothing could be more interesting than to watch the way in which the elephant engineers did their work.

Lifting up one of the heavy pieces of pipe, and balancing it in its trunk, each animal would march off with its load, and carry it safely over every obstacle, to the place where it was to be laid When it reached the spot, it would kneel down and place the pipe exactly where the driver wished.

Once, when one of the elephants found it hard to get one of the pipes it had brought fitted into another, it got up and went to the end of the pipe, and putting its head against it, soon forced it into its right place.

In a show of wild beasts at Bath, some years ago, there was a large good-natured elephant. Among the crowd that went to see it was a baker. He thought it a clever thing to tease the elephant, by pretending to give it a cake, and then pulling away his hand.

The elephant bore this for some time well enough, but at last it got angry. Putting its trunk out of the cage, it caught the baker round the waist, lifted him to the top of the caravan, and bumped his head with great force against the roof.

Everybody thought the man would be killed. But all at once the elephant loosened its trunk, and dropped him from the roof to the ground, in the very midst of the people. There he lay for a minute or two, looking half dead; but when the people came to him, he got up and walked away as if nothing had happened.

Though he was very much frightened, he was not hurt; but you may be sure he never tried to play tricks upon elephants again.

A poor woman, in one of the cities of India, had a stall in the market-place, where she sold fruit. An elephant used to go by, and always stopped to look at her stall. She knew how fond the elephant was of fruit; and she used, now and then, to give him some.

One day the elephant fell into a passion with his keeper. He broke loose, and ran through the market, trampling down everything before him.

The people at the stalls ran away as fast as they could. The poor woman left her stall and ran too. But she forgot, in her fright, that her little child was sitting on the ground, close by the stall!

It was just in the elephant's way, and you would think it must have been trampled to death. But the elephant knew the child again, and knew that this was the stall where he had been fed with fruit.

Though he was in a passion, he stopped. He looked at the child, and picked it up with his trunk. Then he set it out of his way, and went on. You may think how glad the poor woman was to see her child safe.

Questions

Where are there large herds of wild elephants? For what are they useful when tamed? What are the elephants in the picture doing? When did this take place? What did one of the elephants do when it could not get the pipe to fit? What did the elephant at Bath do to the baker who teased him? How did the poor woman in India make the elephant her friend? How did he reward her?

Pronunciation

el'-e-phants car'-a-van a-ware' use'-ful care'-ful

trav'-el-lers fright'-ened tram'-pled bridg'-es con-vey’

neat'-ness hap'-pened pre-tend'-ing hous'-es mar'-ket

bal'-anc-ing swal'-low loos'-ened church'-es al'-ways

Write

build kneel caught

Ceylon obstacle loosened

satisfied engineer pretending

在錫蘭島上，有一群數(shù)量眾多的野生大象。其中，有相當(dāng)數(shù)量的大象被人類捕捉、馴化，幫助人們建造橋梁、房屋和教堂。

旅行者告訴我們，這些大象像人類一樣，要求自己干活干凈利落。大家都知道，大象在工作的時(shí)候會(huì)后退幾米，看看自己是不是把木材或石頭放平了；如果放的不滿意的話，它會(huì)返回去把東西推到正確的位置！

若干年前，錫蘭的一位工程師要鋪設(shè)管道，把水輸送到將近兩公里外的地方。這個(gè)工程要穿越大山和森林，沒有道路可走。為了完成這項(xiàng)工作，這位工程師使用了很多大象，而看這些大象工程師工作是再有趣不過的事了。

大象舉起一段沉重的管道，用鼻子將它保持平衡。面對這么重的管道，任何動(dòng)物都會(huì)望而卻步，然而大象卻能穿越任何障礙，安全地把管道搬到目的地。大象到達(dá)目的地后，就彎下膝蓋，把管道準(zhǔn)確地放到指定的位置。

有一次，有頭大象覺得有一根管道放得不整齊，于是就起身走到管道末端，用頭去頂管道，一會(huì)兒就把管道推進(jìn)了合適的位置。

很多年前，在巴斯舉辦的一場野生動(dòng)物表演上，有一頭脾氣溫順的大象。在看大象的人群中，有一個(gè)面包師。面包師想了一個(gè)捉弄大象的好主意，他假裝給大象一個(gè)蛋糕，然后再把手抽回來。

被戲弄了好幾次之后，這頭大象終于忍不住憤怒了。它把鼻子伸出籠外，繞住面包師的腰，把他舉到大篷車頂上，將他的頭狠狠地撞向車頂。

這時(shí)，所有人都覺得這個(gè)人肯定死定了。但是大象馬上又松開了鼻子，把那人從房頂放到了地面的人群中。面包師在地上躺了一兩分鐘，看起來奄奄一息了。但是當(dāng)人們到他身邊查看時(shí)，他竟然站起來走了，好像什么事都沒發(fā)生過一樣。

雖然面包師被嚇得夠嗆，卻沒有受傷；但是可以確定，他以后再也不敢對大象惡作劇了。

在印度一座城市住著一位貧窮的婦女，她在市場上有一個(gè)賣水果的攤位。以前，一頭大象每次經(jīng)過這里，都會(huì)在她的攤位前停下來。她知道大象非常喜歡吃水果，于是就不時(shí)地給它喂一些。

有一次，這頭大象沖飼養(yǎng)員發(fā)脾氣，擺脫飼養(yǎng)員，沖進(jìn)市場，見到什么東西就踩踏。

攤位上的人見狀都飛快地跑了，這個(gè)可憐的婦女也丟下攤位跑了。但是，她在慌亂之中忘了，她的孩子還坐在地上，就在攤位旁邊！

眼見大象就要跑到她的攤位，你可以想象大象發(fā)怒的樣子。但是大象認(rèn)出了這個(gè)孩子，它知道這個(gè)攤位是那個(gè)曾經(jīng)喂她水果的婦女的。

雖然大象在生氣，但是它還是停下了。他看著這個(gè)孩子，用鼻子把孩子從地上舉起來。然后帶著孩子走了。你可以想象，這個(gè)可憐的婦女看到自己的孩子安然無恙時(shí)是多么高興。