The Ant and the Dove

    An ant once leaned too far over the edge of a fountain and fell in-to the water．A dove was watching from a tree nearby．She saw that the ant could not swim so she plucked off a leaf and threw it down to him．He managed to scramble¹ onto it and in time the wind blew him safely to the edge of the water．As he crawled onto dry land again he saw a bird-catcher creeping stealthily towards the dove，holding a large net in his hand．Quickly the ant ran to where the man was standing²．Just as he lifted the net to drop it on the unsuspecting dove，the ant bit him hard in the leg．“Ouch！”said the man，dropping the net to rub his leg with his hand．“What was that？”
    By the time he picked up his net again the dove had flown safely to a better roosting place．One good turn deserves another．Exercises：
    回答下列问题：
    ①What did the dove do for the ant？
    ②What did the ant do for the dove？

1 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

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。