Aesop (伊索) was a slave living around 550 BC. We call the stories he wrote fables, as every story has a moral. Almost all the fables he wrote are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (humor) and entertaining, appealing to people {#blank#}2{#/blank#} all ages. Till now, Aesop's fables {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (translate) into many languages and are known all over the world. Not only {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the fables themselves lived for nearly 1500 years, but the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (express) from them have entered various languages.

    One fable, for instance, is about a farmer who was driving his cart along a country road. The cart got {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (stick) in the mud, but the farmer made {#blank#}7{#/blank#} effort to get it out. Instead, he began to pray to the gods for help. The god Hercules finally appeared and told {#blank#}8{#/blank#} man to get busy and push {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. “Push your shoulder to the wheel.” Hercules advised.

    The moral of the story is clear. We mustn't rely on others for help. Another saying which has come from the fable is “God helps those {#blank#}10{#/blank#} help themselves.”

    A young officer was at a railway station. On his way home, he wanted to telephone his mother to tell her the time of his train, so that she could meet him at the station in her car. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(look) in all his pockets, he found that he did not have the coins for the telephone call, so he {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(go) outside in hope for someone to help.

    At last an old soldier came by, and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} young officer stopped him and said, “Have you got change for ten pence?”

    “Wait a minute,” the old soldier answered, beginning to put his hand in his pocket. “I'll see {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I can help you.”

    “Don't you know how to speak to an officer?” the young man said {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(angry). “Now let's start again. Have you got change for ten pence?”

    “No, sir,” the old soldier answered quickly.