蜗牛和蚂蚁

There lived on a dry pine tree a snail that had never left the tree before.One sunny day, after carefully reaching its head out and looking around, it slowly came down to the ground. It then stuck one section of its body out of its hard shell to take a lazy sunbath.

The ants were busy working.Theypassed in front of the snail in one procession after another. Seeing they were working happily,the snail couldn't help envying them. It then shouted in a loud voice,"Hey, my friends! Now happy I am to see you busy working! How 1 admire you seeing you workinghappily !"

One of the ants heard it and stopped by the snail. Looking up at the snail,it invited,"Come on friend,let's work together !"

Hearing these words, the snail drew back a little and replied in a panic, "Oh, no! You are going to a too far-off place. I cannot go with you."

The ant asked in surprise, "But why? Can't you crawl as fast as we do?"

The snail looked back on its pine tree and stumbled after some hesitation,"When far away from home,what could I do if it's hot, or if it rains?"

The ant said impatiently, "If so, please hide in your hard shell and sleep away your life!" With these words, it hurried to catch up with its companions.

The snail was not angered by what the ant said, but it seemed to really wish to go out to see the world.He thought for a while and finally stuck another section of its body boldly out of its hard shell. Just then, a light breeze blew over, and some pine needles dropped on the ground, causing some light noise.The snail was frightened, as if stricken by lightening.Instantly,it withdrew its whole body back into its hard shell.

It was after a long time that the snail tried to stick its head out again and found the day sunny and quiet as usual, and nothing dangerous had happened but the ants had gone long.

The snail sighed helplessly, "Oh, I really envy you! Unfortunately there is no way for me to catch up with you." After these words, it resumed its usual way of life.

一棵干枯的松树上住着一只蜗牛，这只蜗牛以前从未离开过这棵树。一天，天气晴朗，蜗牛小心翼翼地伸出头来张望了一阵，然后慢吞吞地爬到地面上来，从硬壳里伸出一截身子，懒洋洋地晒太阳。

这时，蚂蚁们正忙碌着，一队接着一队从蜗牛面前经过。看见蚂蚁劳动时那愉快的样子，蜗牛不觉有些羡慕。于是，他放大嗓门对蚂蚁说：“喂，朋友们!看见你们这么工作，我好高兴啊。你们干得这么欢，真叫我羡慕死了!”

一只蚂蚁听了这话便在蜗牛身旁停下来，仰着头对蜗牛说：“来吧，朋友，咱们一起干吧!”

蜗牛听了，把身子往回缩了缩，惊慌地说：“不，你们要到很远的地方去，我不能跟你们一起走。”

蚂蚁奇怪地问：“为什么?难道你爬得不如我们快吗?”

蜗牛回头看看松树，犹豫了一阵，吞吞吐吐地说：“离家太远了，要是天热了怎么办呢?要是下雨了怎么办呢?”

蚂蚁不耐烦地对蜗牛说：“要是这样，那你就躲到你那个硬壳里去睡一辈子觉吧!”说完，蚂蚁便匆匆追赶自己的同伴去了。

对蚂蚁的话，蜗牛倒也并不怎么在乎。不过，蜗牛实在想出去看看世界。经过一番考虑之后，它终于壮着胆从硬壳里伸出另一截身子。正在这时，一阵微风吹过，几根松叶飘落到地上，发出轻微的响声。蜗牛吓得像遭了雷击一样，一下就把整个身子缩回硬壳里去了。

过了很久，蜗牛才再次探出头来，外面仍然像平时一样阳光灿烂，四周一片寂静，并没有发生什么危险的事。只是蚂蚁已经走得很远很远了。

蜗牛无可奈何地叹了一口气说：“唉!我真羡慕你们啊!可惜我赶不上你们了。”说完，蜗牛仍旧照过着它的日子。