Once upon a time there was a sleek tabby cat．She lived in a small house in the town with a handsome young man．He was always very kind to her．He gave her milk to drink and pieces of fresh fish and meat to eat．He let her play in the garden during the day and at night she was allowed to come and go as she pleased，for he always left a little window by the back door open for her．In return she kept the house clear of mice and rats．She sat on his knees in the evenings and she woke him up purring at the foot of his bed in the mornings．The young man lived quite alone except for the cat．He had no mother or father，no brothers or sisters，and hardly any friends．“You are my only companion，”he used to say to the cat in the evenings as they sat by the fire．“Without you I should die of loneliness in this unfriendly town．”
“I wish I could talk to him，”thought the cat．“I wish I could tell him how much I love him．if only I were a human being I am sure I could make him love me too．Then he would never be lonely again．”
All she could do，however，was purr and rub her soft nose affectionately against his sleeve．Now it happened that Venus，the goddess of love，was looking down into the young man's house at that very moment，wondering what to do about him．She listened to the cat's secret thoughts．“I wonder，”she said to herself，“I wonder．Yes，I shall try it．”
That night while the cat was out hunting in the garden，Venus cast a strong spell on her and changed her into a human being in the morning when the young man opened the back door to see where hislittle cat had run he found a beautiful young girl standing there．The young man soon fell in love with the gentle girl he had found in his garden．He had never seen anyone quite like her．Her hair was in all colours of brown and gold and her large eyes looked sometimes green and sometimes yellow．She had long，pointed fingers and toes and she moved so lightly and easily that she seemed to float over the ground．Strangely，she seemed to know her way around the town al-though he was sure he had never seen her there before．After a very short time they were married．The young man and the girl were very happy together．During the day while he was at work she cleaned the house，cooked the dinner and mended his clothes．In the evenings they sat in front of the fire and talked about all the things they would do together．From time to time the young man would say：
“If only you had seen my funny little cat．Before you came，she was all I had．I know you would have loved her too．”
The girl would smile to herself，remembering faintly that there had been other times that the man knew nothing about．One evening，a year after their wedding，Venus looked down at them again．“It looks successful，”she said，“but I wonder whether it wil last．I think it is time I gave her a test．”
Later that night，just as the girl and the young man were falling asleep，Venus set a small，frightened mouse down in the corner of their bedroom it pattered round the skirting board for a minute，trying to find a hole to escape down．Then it gave a tiny squeak．At once the girl sat straight up in bed，her nose twitching，her eyes opening wide in the darkness．Then the mouse made a sudden dash，across the car-pet．The girl was out of bed in a flash．Her long fingers pounced on themouse and she raised it eagerly to her mouth．As the young man watched in horror from the bed there was as mall flash and a high-pitched hissing noise．When he could see properly again the girl had vanished．In her place stood a small tabby cat．The mouse had disappeared．The little cat shook her head a little，as if she did not quite know what had happened to her．Then with one spring she was on the bed beside him，rubbing her nose against his chest．“I don't know what happened，”said the young man，“but I'm glad to see you back again，little cat．”
You can't change your own nature．Exercises：
回答下列问题：
① Who lived with the young man？
② What did Venus do to the cat？
③ How did the young man and the girl get on with each other？
④ What do you learn from the story？ |