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Once upon a time, there was a tortoise on a ship, and the ship sank. Some time later the tortoise made it to a desert land surrounded by water on all sides except for one.The landward side led up to a big, steep, craggy mountain.To avoid starving to death, the tortoise decided to climb to the top of the mountain, hoping that he would be able to cross to the other side.
When he got to the snow-covered summit he was freezing cold, and then a blizzard started. He just managed to make out a small pathway leading down the other side of the mountain.But the path was guarded by a big monster that wouldn't stop shouting.
"Uuh uuh uuh！"
Such a sight and sound almost killed the tortoise with fright, and all he wanted to do was hide his head inside his shell. But, looking around him, he saw that many other animals were lying frozen to death, and with looks of horror on their faces.So the tortoise didn't go into his shell.
He summoned up all his courage to move down the path towards the monster. The closer the tortoise got, the more the monster changed its shape.Then, when he was almost upon it, the tortoise realised that what he had thought was a monster, was only a great pile of rocks, which formed a shape just like a monster.As for the"Uuh uuh uuh"，the tortoise realised this was just the sound of the wind blowing through a small cave.
The tortoise carried on, and eventually descended into a beautiful valley, filled with woods, and plenty of food. The tortoise lived very happily here, and became known everywhere as the Brave Little Tortoise.
从前，在一艘船上有一只小乌龟，船沉了。过了一会儿，这只乌龟来到一处三面环水的荒地上。朝向陆地的那一面通向一座又大又陡峭的山。为了不被饿死，乌龟决定爬到山顶，希望能越过山到另一边去。
当乌龟爬到冰雪覆盖的山顶时冷得不行了，这时下起了暴风雪。他好不容易找到一条通向另一边的下山的小路。但这条路被一个大怪兽把守着，那怪兽不停地吼叫着。
“嗷，嗷，嗷！”
看到这情景，听着这恐怖的声音，乌龟简直要吓死了。他只想把缩进壳里。但是，他四处张望了一下，看见很多动物都被冻死了，他们的脸上带着惊恐的神情。所以，乌龟没有缩进壳里。
他鼓起所有勇气，顺着这条路向怪兽的方向爬下去。他越接近怪兽，就越发现怪兽变了模样。当他快到的时候，发现他之前认为的怪兽原来只是一堆石头，只是形成了像怪兽的形状而已。而他听到的“嗷嗷”声，也只是从一个小山洞吹来的风声。
乌龟继续走着，最终来到了山下一个美丽的山谷，山谷里满是树林和食物。乌龟在这里快乐地生活着，所有人都知道了他是“勇敢的小乌龟”。
Moral of the Story：
The only way to successfully deal with a life and death situation is to face up to the fear it brings.
故事寓意：
成功应对生死关头紧急状况的唯一办法是直面它带来的恐惧感。
词海拾贝：
tortoise[ˈtɔːtəs]n.龟
landward[ˈlændwəd]adj.近陆的，向陆的
led up to 逐渐引到
craggy[ˈkrægi]adj.崎岖的；多峭壁的
starving to death 饿死
snow-covered[ˈsnəuˌkʌvəd]adj.被雪覆盖的
summit[ˈsʌmit]n.顶点
blizzard[ˈblizəd]n.暴风雪，大风雪
pathway[ˈpɑːθwei]n.路，道；途径
descend into 落进
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