A Frightened Bird

    Once upon a time，a skilled archer¹ called Geng Lei and the king of the state of Wei were standing² at the foot of a tall tower．Looking up，they saw birds soaring in the sky．“Sire，I can bring down a bird for you by using a bow with no arrow．”said Geng Lei to the king．“Can archery achieve such a marvellous thing？”asked the king．“Yes，sire．”replied GengLei．After a little while，a wild goose appeared from the east．GengLei merely drew his bow and brought down the bird without shooting an arrow．“How come your skill could do such a wonderful thing？”asked the king．“This is a wounded bird．”said Geng Lei．“How did you know that？”asked the king．“It was flying very slowly and crying very sadly．”Geng Lei pointed³ out．“It flew slowly because its old wound still hurt．It cried sadly because it had lost its flock for quite some time．Its old wound had not yet healed and it was still very frightened．When it heard the sound of the bow it stretched its wings to soar up into the sky．That broke the wound and caused it to fall．”
    Exercises：
    回答下列问题：
    ①How could Geng Lei bring down a bird？
    ②How could Geng Lei tell that it was a wounded bird？
    ③What made the bird fall down？

1 archer   

n.射手，弓箭手

参考例句：

• The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
• The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。