| Rabbit & Turtle 2 | |
November 10, 2014
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| The outline of the last story: Long time ago, the ancestor of the rabbit was defeated by the turtle's ancestor because he slept. To make up for this loss, the rabbit had a race with the turtle; and, again, was defeated. This time, the rabbit heard that there was a bet between the animals that the rabbit would win, so he thought that if he had a slight injury, they would bet on the turtle, and when he won, he would be able to gain a lot of money; but, it ended up that his injury was severe and he lost the race. Anyways, after the rabbit lost the last race, his family and relatives gathered around and criticized him badly because of his carelessness. They made the rabbit go and propose to the turtle to race one more time. Surprisingly, the turtle agreed with the proposal. This time the rabbit was very careful. From a common sense stand point, there was no chance that the turtle would win the race; unless the rabbit didn't sleep (like the old tale), or the rabbit doesn't have an accident (like the last race). All he had to do was to take care of 'sleeping' and 'accident.' This time, he checked the race course many times. He must not stumble, he must not drink water from the stream (it might give him diarrhea), he must not sit down on a stump (it might have a sharp branch around the top). The rabbit thought, "If I run, there is a
Finally, the race day came. The horse, who is the judge, said, "You have to go to the top of the mountain, and return here." The starting pistol sounded. Different from the audience's expectations, the race was boring from the start, because the turtle was walking as though he was not moving, and even the rabbit walked carefully to watch his steps. Soon the spectators got tired and left, thinking to return here around the time the rabbit would arrive back at the finish line. The rabbit continued to walk carefully but soon he was tired of walking too carefully and started to walk normally. After a while, he came to the top of the mountain. There was another judge, the bear. The biggest mistake for him the last time was to ask the bear to hit him slightly in order to make a cover story that he was injured and might exit the race. The bear said, "I'm sorry for the last race. I couldn't control my power." The rabbit nodded but said nothing, being worried about suggesting something to the bear like the last time. The bear looked at the rabbit's face and said, "You don't need to be afraid about the bets this time. It was prohibited because of the last race." The rabbit felt relieved but the bear added, "Officially." The rabbit asked, "What do you mean, 'officially'?" The bear explained. Regal betting was prohibited but underground betting is going on. Now the odds were 6 : 4 in the turtle's favor." "What?" the rabbit was furious. "Do they think that the turtle will win? 60 percent? No way!" The bear said, "At least he won the last race, and it makes the odds rise." The rabbit started to run. He wanted to show that he was the winner, a perfect winner. Soon he came to the finish line. There were only his family and relatives there. (The other spectators didn't think that he would return so early because of his previous walking pace.) Soon he saw the turtle. The rabbit was very surprised because the turtle had proceeded only about 10 meters or so from the starting point. The rabbit was going to talk to the turtle. He first thought to say something like a joke but didn't. The turtle was earnestly proceeding. From his forehead there was a lot of sweat falling but he didn't care about it. He looked straight forward, his eyes were serious. The rabbit started to respect the turtle's drive. Soon, the cheering voice sounded from his family and relatives. They chanted and urged the rabbit to get to the finish line quickly. "We are preparing a lot of delicious carrots!" His mother shouted. "We can wake up from the nightmare finally!" One of the relatives shouted, and big laughs occurred from them. The rabbit looked at the turtle. He must realize the fuss, but wasn't concerned about it. He was fiercely proceeding to the opposite direction of the goal. It looked to be futile. Suddenly a strong anger occurred in the rabbit. He said in his mind, "What am I doing? Am I really pleased to beat the turtle?" He deeply sighed once, and started to run back to the direction that he came from. His parents were looking at the back of the rabbit speechless. One month later, there was the turtle crossing the finish line. Nobody was there, except the rabbit. (The End) |
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*diarrhea : an illness in which your solid waste is more liquid than usual, and comes out of your body more often (C)
*suggest : to make someone have a new idea (L)
*favour :If a game, vote, or judgement is in someone's favour, they win (C)
* 6 : 4 :six to four
*drive :energy and determination to achive things (C}
*urge :to strongly advise an action (C)
*futile :certain not to have a successful effect or result (C)
*fuss :a time when people behave in an excited, a nervous or an angry way, especially about sth unimportant (O)