大家好，我是Fiona老师。今天我们的英语阅读系列是关于鹤和蛇的。
那我们大家快点来看看它们之间又发生了什么样的故事呢？
In a forest close to the river bank mere lived a crane with his wife. They were very unhappy. Every time the wife laid eggs in their nest, a big black cobra who lived in a hollow in the tree, would eat them up. The crane had a Friend the crab. He went to his friend the crab and shared his misery. "I feel so hopeless….That sneaking thief has eaten our eggs again," complained the crane angrily.
“Don’t worry," said the crab comfortingly. “You need not be hopeless when you have a friend like me. We will come up with a solution."
The crab sat to think of a plan. Suddenly he jumped up and rushed to the crane.
“Friend, I have a wonderful plan," said the crab and whispered something into the crane’s car.
The crane flew back to his nest and told his wife all about the crab’s plan. He was very excited.
“Are you sure this will work?" asked the wife.
“I hope we are not making a mistake. Think twice before going ahead with the plan."
But the crane was eager to try out the plan. The crane flew down to the river bank and began to fish. He caught several little fishes and went down to the hole in which a mongoose lived. He dropped a fish at the mouth of the hole. Then he took another fish and dropped it a little further away from the first one. Repeating this, he made a trail of fishes leading to the tree where his nest was.
The mongoose smelt the fish and came out of the hole. “Ah, a fish!" exclaimed the mongoose joyfully and quickly ate it up. He then followed the trail of fishes. As he neared the tree where the cranes and the snake lived, the trail ended. Finding no more fishes, he looked around.
Suddenly he came across the black cobra at the foot of the tree. Seeing the mongoose, the cobra fought for his life. Both fought for a long time and in the end the mongoose killed the snake. The cranes who were watching the fight from their nest sighed with relief.
The next day the mongoose began to follow the same trail hoping to find more food. When he came to the tree where the trail ended, he decided to climb the tree in search of food.
The cranes who were away at the river bank returned to find the mongoose climbing down the tree. On looking in their nest, they discovered that this time, the mongoose had eaten up all their eggs.
“Alas! We got rid of one enemy only to find another," said the crane to his wife.
在靠近河岸的森林里，有一只鹤和他的妻子在那里生活。他们非常不高兴。每当妻子在窝里产卵时，一只住在树上的洞里的大眼镜蛇就会把它们吃掉。鹤有一只螃蟹朋友。他去找他的朋友螃蟹，分享他的痛苦。”“我觉得很没希望……那个偷偷的小偷又吃了我们的蛋。”鹤生气地抱怨道。
“别担心，”螃蟹安慰地说。“当你有一个像我这样的朋友时，你不必绝望。我们会想出一个解决办法。”
螃蟹坐下来想一个计划。他突然跳起来，冲到鹤的身旁说到。
“朋友，我有一个绝妙的计划，”螃蟹说，并对鹤低声说了些什么。
鹤飞回他的窝里，告诉他的妻子有关螃蟹的计划。他非常激动。
“你肯定这样行吗？”妻子问。
“我希望我们不会犯错误。在执行计划前要三思。
但鹤急于尝试这个计划。鹤飞到河岸，开始钓鱼。他捉到几条小鱼，走到一只猫鼬居住的洞里。他在洞口扔了一条鱼。然后他又拿了一条鱼，把它放在离第一个鱼远一点的地方。重复这一点，他做了一系列的鱼导致的树在他的巢。
猫鼬闻到了鱼的味道，从洞里出来。“啊，一条鱼！”猫鼬高兴地叫起来，很快就把它吃掉了。他跟着鱼走了。当他走近鹤和蛇居住的树时，小径就结束了。他再也找不到鱼了。
突然，他看到了树脚上的黑眼镜蛇。眼镜蛇看到猫鼬，它们为自己的生命而战。两人战斗了很长时间，最后猫鼬杀死了蛇。那些从巢中观看战斗的鹤叹了口气。
第二天，猫鼬开始追寻相同的踪迹，希望能找到更多的食物。当他来到小径尾端的那棵树时，他决定爬上树寻找食物。
远在河边的鹤们回来发现猫鼬从树上爬下来。在鸟巢里，他们发现，这一次，猫鼬吃掉了所有的蛋。
“唉！我们摆脱了一个敌人，只找到了另一个敌人，“鹤对妻子说。
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