奇速英语

大象究竟怎么称重？来看看大家怎么说

A long time ago, people in China knew a strange, amazing animal called “elephant”. Elephants lived far away, so no one in China had ever seen one. One day, a person came to China. He brought a gift for the emperor(皇帝). That gift was a real, live elephant!

Never in China had anyone seen anything like it. All talked about the elephant! “This elephant is bigger than a water buffalo(水牛)!” said one person. “Are you kidding?” said a second. “It’s bigger than a rhino(犀牛)!” “You must be joking,” said a third. “This elephant is bigger than TWO rhinos!”

The Emperor said, “I want to know how much this amazing elephant weighs. Who can tell me how to weigh it?”

“I can!” said the first person. “We will just put it on a scale(秤).” “Not likely,” said the Emperor. “There is no scale that could hold the weight of an elephant without breaking.” “I can tell you!” said the second man. He said, “We will measure(测量) the elephant.” “No,” said the Emperor. “Even if you measured all the different parts of an elephant, you would still not know how much it weighs.” “I can tell you!” said the third man. “We will cut up the elephant and cook it. Then we will know.” “We will surely NOT do that!” shouted the Emperor. “Is there NO ONE who can tell me how to weigh the elephant?”

Then a small voice said, “I can.” All eyes turned to the voice. It was the Emperor’s son!

“Son!” said the Emperor. “You should be in bed.” “But I know how,” said the boy. “And we won’t need to cook it first.”

“Very well,” said the Emperor with a smile. “Tell me how to weigh the elephant.”