初中英语小故事：功亏一篑
Once a man planned to build a terrace1.
He worked very hard and spent a lot of time digging and carrying earth.
When the mound2 was almost completed and only one more basket of earth was needed, the man gave up.
The terrace was never completed.
This idiom means to fail to succeed for lack of final effort.
古时，有一个人要筑一座九仞（八尺=一仞）高的山。
他十分努力的建造这座山，并且花了很多时间挖土、搬运泥土。
终于当山快要建成的时候，几乎只差最后一篮子的泥土就行了的时候，他放弃了。
这座山便永远无法完工。
这个典故用以形容“离成功只有一步之遥，但最终失败告终”的意思。
初中英语小故事：摸动物的瞎子
A blind man is good at touching1 all the things.
No matter whatever the thing is he can distinguish2 it as soon as he touches it
A man brings a young wolf and lets him touch it.
Having touched the animal, he says, "This is a fox or a wolf, I am not sure. But I know that putting this kind of animal into the sheep pen is not safe"
The story means: we can know someone's bad habits from when he is young.
一个瞎子精于用手触摸各种动物。
什么动物只要他一摸，就能分辨出来。
有人带来一只小狼，请他摸一摸，说出是什么东西。
他摸了摸这个小野兽后说：“这是一只狐狸或者一匹狼，啊，我不太清楚。不过有一点我却十分地明白，让这种动物进羊栏是不安全的。”
这个故事是说一个人的恶习在年幼时便可得知。
初中英语小故事：邻居与蛇
这是小牛英语/给大家整理的另外一个小故事。
A snake, having made his hole close to the door of a cottage, inflicted1 a sever2 bite on the cottager's little son. So the child died.
This caused much sorrow to his parents. The father decided3 to kill the snake. The next day, on its coming out of its hole for food, he took up his ax, but, making too much haste to hit the snake, missed its head, and cut off only the end of its tail.
After some time the cottager, lest the snake should also bite him, tried to make peace, and placed some bread and salt beside its hole, the snake, slightly hissing4, said, "From now on there can be no peace between us; for whenever I see you I shall remember the loss of my tail, and whenever you see me you will be thinking of the death of your son."
No one truly forgets injuries in the presence of him who caused the injury.
有条蛇在一家农舍的门边打了个洞，并把主人的小孩咬了一口，孩子就一命呜呼。
这对夫妇痛不欲生。孩子的父亲决意弄死那条蛇。第二天，当蛇出洞觅食之时，他举起斧头就砍那条蛇。可惜太操之过急，没砍中蛇头，只砍断了尾巴。
过了一阵子，屋主很害怕那条蛇会以牙还牙，就想同蛇讲和，于是就将一些面包和盐放在洞口。那条蛇发出丝丝的声音作出回答：“从今以后，在我们之间不会有和平。因为我一看到你，就会想自己被砍掉的尾巴；同样当你见到我时， 你会想起你死去的儿子。”
面对伤害过自己的人，我们难以真正忘记有过的创痛。
标签： 英语寓言故事
