The Rabbit and

The Tortoise

 
 
 

Vocabulary

sit	rabbit	tortoise
slow	under	meanwhile
reply	laugh	disappear
joke	want	meet/met/met
owl	effort	come by
hill	serious	take off (3)
rest	under	as usual
race	halfway	slow down
tired	finish	fall asleep
soon	official	fast asleep
nap	wake up	continue
dash	too late	the sun is setting
path	sprint	approach
cross	forest	pass (2)
clap	cheer	overtake

 
 
 
 
 

The Rabbit and the Tortoise

A rabbit was sitting under a tree.

Then a tortoise walked by.

“You are soooo slow! Ha-ha-ha,” said the rabbit to the tortoise.

“Well then, let’s have a race,” replied the tortoise.

The rabbit laughed even more.

 

A Race

“A RACE? Are you joking?” said the rabbit.
“No, I’m not; I’m serious,” said the tortoise. “If you think you’re so good, then why don’t we race?”
“Well, okay. If you want.”

 

The Start

And so, on Saturday morning the tortoise and the rabbit met at a path.

All their animal friends in the forest came to watch.

“On your mark. Get set. Go!” said the official, an owl.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

The Rabbit

The rabbit took off.

He ran down the road. In a few seconds, he disappeared over a small hill.

Meanwhile the tortoise walked as usual. After a minute, he covered ten meters.

But he kept going.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 

Halfway

About halfway to the finish line, the rabbit slowed down.

“Whew! I’m tired from all that running,” he said to himself.

He then stopped and sat under a tree.

“I’ll just rest here for a few minutes . . . . . . ”

The rabbit fell asleep.

 

Fast forward

Several hours later, the rabbit was still fast asleep.

Soon the tortoise came by. He was walking at the same speed.

He passed the rabbit and continued on . . . .
 
 
 
 

 
 

Wake Up

“Ah that was a nice nap,” said the rabbit when he woke up.

The sun was setting.

“OH NO!” he cried, and dashed off again.

Resumption

The rabbit ran as fast as he could.

A while later, he could see the finish line — and the tortoise was approaching it!

With one last great effort, the rabbit sprinted.

He nearly overtook the tortoise. But it was too late: the tortoise crossed the finish line first.

All the forest animals clapped and cheered.

 

 

Questions

1. In the beginning, the rabbit was eating carrots. True or false?

2. Did the rabbit greet the tortoise? Did the rabbit say, “Hello Mr. Tortoise. How are you today?”

3. How did the tortoise respond? What did he say? Was the rabbit scared?

4. What happened on Saturday morning? Were there alone?

5. Describe the first part of the race.

6. What happened in the second part?

7. Describe the ending. What happened in the end? In the end . . . . .

8. Is there a moral or lesson to the story? The moral or lesson of the story is . . . . . .
 
 
A. I have read or heard this story before. Yes or no?

B. I know someone or some companies who is like the rabbit. Yes or no?

C. Do you have any friends, colleagues or classmates similar to the tortoise?

D. What might happen in the future?

E. Should people behave like the rabbit, the tortoise, both or in the middle?