Story：A cat-and-mouse game
【明報專訊】IN a palace there was a mouse as huge as a cat, occasioning the royal family much nuisance. A royal guard bought some cats from around the world to catch the mouse, but they were all eaten by it.
A man from Africa came to pay tribute to the emperor. He brought along with him a cat as small as a mouse. ''This is no ordinary cat. It's as clever as a learned human being.''
The emperor was interested to see if it was capable of catching the mouse. One day, the royal guard put some cheese in a room and lured the giant mouse into it. He then ordered the cat to fight the mouse. The little cat came into the room calmly, and the mouse looked at it with full fury. Lashing out with its claws, the giant mouse ran towards the little cat. The cat avoided the fight and jumped onto the table instead. The giant mouse became angrier. It also jumped onto the table. But the cat suddenly jumped off. The two creatures jumped up and down like this more than a thousand times.
Seeing this, everyone deemed the cat chicken-hearted and unable. After a while, the mouse slowed down a bit, squatting on the ground for a rest and gasping with its fat belly bulging. The little cat eyed the opportunity, jumping off the table, pawing the mouse's fur and biting at its neck with sharp teeth. They fought back and forth until the giant mouse moved no more.
Hearing no sound from the room, the royal guard hurriedly unlocked the door and entered the room. He saw that the giant mouse had been chewed to pieces by the little cat! Everyone then realised that the cat avoided fight as part of its strategy.
Adapted from a short story by Pu Songling (蒲松齡)
(by Ian Lam)
◆Food for thought
A famous Chinese proverb says, ''When the enemy strikes, I retreat; when the enemy avoids the battle, we attack.'' Is it a good strategy?
■Gear up
Circle the correct answers after reading the above story.
(1) The little cat comes from Africa. (True/False/Not given)
(2) The mouse is bigger than the cat. (True/False/Not given)
(3) The mouse dies at the end.
(True/False/Not given)
(Answers on next text)
■Glossary
occasion (v) 造成
pay tribute to (v phr) 上貢
chicken-hearted (adj) 膽小
gasp (v) 喘氣
[Smarties' Power English 第313期]
