The Ants and the Grasshopper

 On a cold frosty day in winter, the Ants were dragging out some of the corn which they had laid up in summer-time, so as to air it. The Grasshopper¹, half-starved with hunger, begged the ants to give him a morsel² of it to save his life. "Nay³," said they, "but you should have worked in the summer, and you would not have wanted in winter."

 

"Well," says the Grasshopper, "but I was not idle either, for I sung out the whole season!" "Nay, then," said the Ants," you'll do well to make a merry year of it, and dance in winter to the tune⁴ that you sung in summer. "

1 grasshopper   

n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱

参考例句：

• He thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper.他以为把那个小蚱蜢干掉了。
• The grasshopper could not find anything to eat.蚱蜢找不到任何吃的东西。

2 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

3 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。