A businessman and his donkey

黄霞

One beautiful spring morning， a merchant loaded （装载） his donkey with bags of salt to go to the market in order to sell them. The merchant and his donkey were walking along together. They had not walked far when they reached a river on the road.

Unfortunately （不幸地）， the donkey wasnt able to walk well and fell into the river and noticed that the bags of salt put on its back became lighter.

There was nothing the merchant could do but return home where he put more bags of salt on his donkey. As they reached the wet riverbank， now purposely， the donkey fell into the river and wasted all the bags of salt on its back again.

The merchant quickly discovered what the donkey was doing. He then returned home again but put bags of sponges （海綿） on his donkey this time.

The foolish donkey again set on its way. On reaching the river it again fell into the water. But instead of becoming lighter， the load became heavier.

The merchant laughed at it and said， “You foolish donkey， your trick （把戏） had been discovered， you should know that， those who are too clever sometimes over reach themselves.”

阅读选择

1. How did the merchant make money？

A. By selling donkeys.

B. By selling salt.

C. By selling sponges.

2. The bags of salt became lighter because_____.

A. the merchant had sold some

B. the donkey ate some

C. some of the salt had fallen into the river

3. Why did the merchant re-load his donkey with bags of sponges？

A. He wanted to give it a lesson.

B. The donkey was too weak to carry too much.

C. There was no more salt for it to carry.