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0每天五分钟听经典英文故事，读绘本，磨耳朵。好奇的小象一路问个不停，被鳄鱼咬长了大鼻子，还用它打败了麻烦，从此世间大象都有了长鼻子。
Long, long ago,every elephant had a nose about the size of a boot
It was black,and it could wiggle from side to side
But it couldn't pick up a single melon rind off the ground
In Africa,a little elephant lived with just such a short nose
And oh,how he loved to ask questions
Why did Aunt Ostrich's tail feathers grow that way,how did Uncle Giraffe get his spots,why were Aunt Hippo's eyes so red,and why did melons taste the way they did
Aunt Ostrich whacked him with her claw,Uncle Giraffe kicked him with his hoof,Aunt Hippo and the Baboon hit him too
But even after a good smacking,he still wanted to know
Whatever he saw,whatever he heard,whatever he smelled,he had to understand it
One morning,he had a brand new question
"What does the Crocodile have for dinner,"his whole family shouted at him to be quiet
Then they smacked him long and hard
When they were done,the little elephant went to the thorn bush to find the Kolokolo Bird
"My father smacks me,"he said
"My mother smacks me too,my aunts and uncles smack me as well"
"But I still want to know what the Crocodile eats"
The bird showed him the way
"Go to the great grey-green,greasy Limpopo River,"he said
"Go there and find the answer for yourself"
The next day,the little elephant packed bananas,sugarcane and melons
He said goodbye to his family,and they smacked him once more
Very politely,he asked them to stop
Then off he went,munching melons and dropping the rinds behind him
His short nose still couldn't pick up a thing
He walked and walked,all the way to the Limpopo River
But even then,he didn't know what a Crocodile looked like
Up on a rock lay the Bi-Coloured Python Rock Snake
The little elephant asked him about the Crocodile and his dinner
The python unwound himself and smacked him with his tail
The little elephant wasn't even surprised
He said goodbye very politely and even helped the python coil back onto the rock
Then he walked on
By the water,he stepped on a piece of wood
The wood blinked one eye
"Excuse me,"said the little elephant
"Have you seen the Crocodile,"the wood blinked again and lifted half its tail out of the mud
The little elephant hopped back
That tail reminded him of all the smacking
"I've been smacked so many times,"he said
"Please don't smack me again"
"Come here,little one,"said the wood
"I am the Crocodile"
The little elephant's breath came fast
After all these days,he'd found him at last
He knelt on the bank and asked the question nobody would answer
The Crocodile told him to come closer
"I'll whisper the answer,"he said
So the little elephant bent down
The Crocodile grabbed his nose with his teeth
"Today,"said the Crocodile,"I think I'll begin with an elephant's child"
The little elephant yelled for him to let go
The python came racing up
"Pull back,"he cried
"Pull hard,or he'll drag you into the river"
The little elephant squatted down and pulled with all his might
The Crocodile backed into the water,and his tail churned the river into white foam
One pulled toward the water,the other pulled toward the shore
And the little elephant's nose began to grow longer
He spread his four legs wide,and still his nose grew
It hurt more and more,and his feet began to slip
He couldn't hold on much longer
Then the python wrapped himself around his back legs and pulled too
At last,the Crocodile let go
The little elephant tumbled onto the bank,safe at last
But his short nose had been stretched into one long,long nose
First,he thanked the python
Then he wrapped his nose in cool banana leaves and dipped it in the river
He waited for it to shrink
One day passed,then two
On the third day,the nose was still long
It hung right in front of his eyes,so close that his eyes nearly crossed
Just then,a fly bit his shoulder
Before he could even think,his long nose swung up and smacked the fly dead
"There's your first good use for that nose,"said the python
So the little elephant plucked a big bunch of grass,tapped the mud off it,and popped it into his mouth
The sun beat down,so he scooped up wet mud and plopped it on his head
Cool mud water ran down behind his ears
The python had one more question
"Do you still want to get smacked,"of course not
"Then do you want to smack others,""very much,"said the little elephant
"Good,"said the python
"That long nose of yours is very good for that too"
So the little elephant swung his long nose and headed home
He picked fruit right off the trees
He grabbed grass without kneeling down
He even picked up every melon rind he'd dropped along the way
But to test what the python had said,he found a hippo who had nothing to do with him at all
And he gave her a good,hard smacking
One dark evening,the little elephant came home
He curled his long nose up and said hello to everyone
His family was glad to see him
Then they told him to come over
It was time for his smacking,for all those questions he'd asked
But this time,he uncurled his long nose and knocked two of his brothers head over heels
His family stared at the nose
"Where did you get that,"they asked
"I got it at the Limpopo River,"he said
"I asked the Crocodile what he had for dinner"
The Baboon said the nose was ugly
"It is,"said the little elephant
"But it's very useful"
Then he wrapped his nose around the Baboon's leg and tossed him into a hornets' nest
He pulled out Aunt Ostrich's tail feathers
He dragged Uncle Giraffe by his back legs through a thorn bush
And while Aunt Hippo slept in the water,he blew bubbles into her ear
He smacked his family for a long,long time
But no one was allowed to touch the Kolokolo Bird
After that,his family hurried to the Limpopo River,one by one
They all wanted new noses from the Crocodile
When they came home,nobody smacked anybody anymore
And from that day on,every elephant in the world has a long nose,just like the little elephant who asked questions all the way to the river
