Why doesn't a horse have toes (脚趾)? Millions of years ago, horses had many toes. They had four toes on each front foot. They had three toes on each back foot. The horses were smaller than cats.

　These small horses lived in the forest. Their toes helped the horses run over the soft wet ground.

　It was very hot in the forest. But sometime the weather changed. It became cold. Many trees couldn't live in cold weather. The trees died and fell. Open fields took the place of (代替) the forest. The sun made the ground dry and hard. Horses began to change, too. They began to get bigger. It took a long time. On the dry hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for running. Their middle toes became hard. After a long time horses had only one hard toe on each foot. We call this hard toe a hoof.

( ) 1. Long ago, the horse had four toes on each of its __________.

A. front feet B. back feet

C. right feet D. left feet

( ) 2. Which of the four sentences is TRUE?

A. The weather stays the same the whole year all over the world.

B. When the weather changed, animals began to change too.

C. Cats were older than the horses.

D. Horses were the same as they are.

( ) 3. The word "hoof" in the passage means "_________" in Chinese.

A. 马蹄 B. 马尾 C. 马鬃 D. 马腿

( ) 4. On the dry hard land _________.

A. horses needed a lot of room for running

B. a horse needed more than four toes for running

C. horses needed only their middle toes for running

D. horses didn't need any toes

( ) 5. Now each horse has ________ on its feet.

A. one toe B. two toes C. three toes D. four toes

答案：1-5 ABACD

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　B

One day, a lion jumped into a small bush (矮树丛) to catch a rabbit. He came out without the rabbit but with a large thorn (荆棘) in his hand. He cried for help. Other animals were all afraid of him. So no animals came to help him. At last the lion asked a fox, "Can you help me pull out the thorn?"

　　"I can't do it. But my friend can do this work. I'll ask him to help you. But I have some demands (要求)," said the fox.

　　"What are your demands?" asked the lion.

　　"You should allow me to give you five kicks(踢)!"

　　"Do you want to kick me?" the lion asked angrily.

　　"If you don't agree, I'm leaving."

　　The lion thought, "I have much pain now. I must take the thorn out first. Then I will eat his friend." So he agreed with the fox.

After the fox kicked the lion five times, he called his friend. There came a little porcupine (豪猪). He pulled out the thorn easily. But the lion couldn't eat the porcupine.