Fox and cock
One morning a fox sees a cock.He
think,"This is my breakfast.''
He comes up to the cock and says,"I know
you can sing very well.Can you sing for me?''The
cock is glad.He closes his eyes and begins
to sing.The fox sees that and caches him in his mouth and carries him away.
The people in the field see the fox.They cry,"Look,look!The fox is carrying the cock away.''The cock says to the fox,"Mr Fox,do you understand?The people say you are carrying their cock away.Tell them it is yours.Not theirs.''
The fox opens his mouth ang says,"The cock is mine,not yours.''Just then the cock runs away from the fox and flies into the tree.
狐狸和公鸡
一天早上，一只狐狸看到了一只公鸡。他想：这是我的早餐。
他朝公鸡走来，对他说：“我知道，你能唱得非常好听，你能唱给我听么？”公鸡很高兴。他闭上眼睛开始唱歌。狐狸看到这些抓住它放到自己的嘴里走了。
在田地里的人们看到了狐狸。大喊大叫：“看，看！狐狸抓住公鸡逃走了。”公鸡对狐狸说：“狐狸先生，你能理解么？人们认为你叼走了公鸡。告诉他们这是你的，不是他们的。”
狐狸张开她的嘴说：“公鸡是我的，不是你们的。”就在那时，公鸡逃离了狐狸的嘴巴，跑到了树底下。
The City Mouse and the Country Mouse
Once there were two mice. They were friends. One mouse lived in the country; the other mouse lived in the city. After many years the Country mouse saw the City mouse; he said, "Do come and see me at my house in the country." So the City mouse went. The City mouse said, "This food is not good, and your house is not good. Why do you live in a hole in the field? You should come and live in the city. You would live in a nice house made of stone. You would have nice food to eat. You must come and see me at my house in the city."
The Country mouse went to the house of the City mouse. It was a very good house. Nice food was set ready for them to eat. But just as they began to eat they heard a great noise. The City mouse cried, " Run! Run! The cat is coming!" They ran away quickly and hid.
After some time they came out. When they came out, the Country mouse said, "I do not like living in the city. I like living in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy, than to be rich and afraid."
【译文】
城里老鼠和乡下老鼠
从前，有两只老鼠，它们是好朋友。一只老鼠居住在乡村，另一只住在城里。很多年以后，乡下老鼠碰到城里老鼠，它说：“你一定要来我乡下的家看看。”于是，城里老鼠就去了。乡下老鼠领着它到了一块田地上它自己的家里。它把所有最精美食物都找出来给城里老鼠。城里老鼠说：“这东西不好吃，你的家也不好，你为什么住在田野的地洞里呢？你应该搬到城里去住，你能住上用石头造的漂亮房子，还会吃上美味佳肴，你应该到我城里的家看看。”
乡下老鼠就到城里老鼠的家去。房子十分漂亮，好吃的东西也为他们摆好了。可是正当他们要开始吃的时候，听见很大的一阵响声，城里的老鼠叫喊起来：“快跑！快跑！猫来了！”他们飞快地跑开躲藏起来。
过了一会儿，他们出来了。当他们出来时，乡下老鼠说：“我不喜欢住在城里，我喜欢住在田野我的洞里。因为这样虽然贫穷但是快乐自在，比起虽然富有却要过着提心吊胆的生活来说，要好些 . 报23—D
The English language is a result of the island o Britain over many hundreds of years .The invaders lived along the northern coast of Europe .
The first invasions were by a people called Angles about one thousand five hundred years ago . The Angles were a German tribe who crossed the English Channel.
Later two more groups crossed to Britain. They were the Saxons and the Jutes.
Through the years, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes mixed their different languages. Tehe result is what is called Anglo-Saxon or Old English.
The next great invasion of Britain came from the far north beginning about one thousand one hundred years ago. Fierce people called Vikings raided the coast areas of Britain.Many english words used today come from these ancient Vikings.
Words like “Sky,” “leg” “skull” “egg” “crawl” “lift”and “take” are from the old languages of the far northern countries.
The next invasion of Britain took place more than nine hundred years ago, in ten sixty-six .History experts call this invasion the Norman Conpuest. William the Comqueror led it. The Normans were a French-speaking people from Normandy in the north of france. They became the new rulers of Britain. These new rulers spoke only French for several hundred years. It was the most important language in the world at that time. Ti was the language of educated people . But the common people of Britain still spoke Old English.
Old English took many words from the Norman Frech. Some of these include “damage” “prison”and “marrige”.The french language used by the Norman rulers greatly changed the way English was spoken by eight hundred years ago. Enlish became what language experts call Middle English Middle English.Middle English sounds like modern English. But it is very diffcult to understand now .The history of the English language continues as Middle English becomes Modern English, which is spoken today. 这绝对是短文……
译文：
英语是不列颠数百年历史的产物。入侵不列颠的人原本居住在欧洲北海岸。
最初的侵略者是盎格鲁人。他们在约1500年前入侵不列颠。盎格鲁人是一个穿越了英吉利海峡的部族。
后来，又有两个部族跨海而来。这两个部族是撒克逊和朱特人。
这些年来。撒克逊人、盎格鲁人、朱特人通过日常交流，将这几种不同的语言混合了起来。混合的产物就是被称作盎格鲁-撒克逊，或者古英语的语言。
下一次对于不列颠的大型入侵是在约1100年前，来自遥远的北部。凶残的维京人袭击了不列颠的沿海地域。许多现代英语的词汇都是来自古维京语。
“Sky,” “leg” “skull” “egg” “crawl” “lift”以及“take”等词汇来自北欧的其他国家。
再下一次对不列颠的侵略，发生在约900年前，在16至17世纪。这次侵略被历史学家命名为the Norman Conquest（诺曼征服）。
威廉领导了这次侵略。诺曼人从法国北部的诺曼底来到不列颠，他们是一个讲法语的民族。他们成为了不列颠的新领袖。
这些新的领导者们，在过去的几百年里都只讲法语——在那时，这是全世界最重要的一门语言，是被受教育者广泛运用的语言。但，在不列颠的平民百姓们仍然在使用古英语。
于是古英语里融合进了法语里的许多词汇，比如“damage” “prison”和 “marrige”。于是，诺曼统治者们所运用的语言——法语，在800年前极大地改变了英语。
英语成为了语言专家们所谓的 Middle English（中古英语）。这语言听起来很像现代英语，但如今已很难理解了。英语的历史持续到Middle English（中古英语）变成现代英语的今天。如今英语在世界范围内被广泛使用。