Online Class Notes (Mike)

Vocabulary

parade (n) 游览，游行
military parade 军事游行，军演，阅兵

beast (n) 野兽

exactly (adv.) 准确地，确切地，完全地
You are exactly right.

tusk (n) 獠牙，长牙

spear 矛，长枪

trunk 象鼻

reach (v) 伸出，够得到
reach out his arm 伸出手臂
The tree is too high for me to reach. 树太高了，我够不到

grasp (v) 抓紧，握住
grasp my hand

plain (adj.) 清楚明白的， 简朴的，清淡的，看一眼就知道的

explain (v) 解释

ought to = should 应该

chance (n) 机会
(v) 碰巧，偶然发生

seize (v) 抓住，捉住

quarrel (v) 争吵，口头争吵，吵架
quarrel with sb

How I want to spend my holiday

When/who/where/what

I went to my friend’s home with my classmates.

I want to play game with my friends, it is interesting.
I want to play games with my friends because it is interesting.

There is a football stadium that I like particularly. It is located near the subway station and has two courts. After playing, I usually buy some cold drinks from a shop nearby.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Six blind men stood by the roadside and waited for the elephant parade. They had often heard of elephants, but they had never seen one as they were blind. A little later, an elephant was driven down the road where they stood. When they were told that the great beast was before them, they asked the driver to let him stop so that they might see him.

Of course, they could not see him with their eyes, but they thought that by touching him they could learn just what kind of animal he was.

The first one happened to put his hand on the elephant’s side. “Well, well!” he said, “Now I know all about this beast. He is exactly like a wall.” The second felt only of the elephant’s tusk. “My brother,” he said, “You are mistaken. He is not at all like a wall. He is round and smooth and sharp. He is more like a spear than anything else.”

The third happened to take hold of the elephant’s trunk. “Both of you are wrong,” he said. “Anybody who knows anything can see that this elephant is like a snake.” The fourth reached out his arms and grasped one of the elephant’s legs. “Oh, how blind you are,” he said. “It is very plain to me that he is round and tall like a tree.”

The fifth was a very tall man, and he chanced to take hold of the elephant’s ear. “The blindest man ought to know that this beast is not like any of the things that you name,” he said. “He is exactly like a huge fan.”

The sixth blind man seized the animal’s tail. “Oh foolish fellows,” he cried, “you surely have lost your senses. This elephant is not like a wall or a spear or a snake or a tree, nor is he like a fan. Any man with any sense can see that he is exactly like a rope.”

Then the elephant moved on, and the six blind men sat by the roadside all day and quarreled about him. Each believed that he knew just how the animal looked, and each called the others unkind names because they did not agree with each other. People who have sight sometimes act just as foolishly.