Basic English
In town a butcher goes about his work. He cuts up meat to sell to the
townsfolk. As he works, a small pile of bones builds up on his table. He
sees a little dog nearby and throws one of the bones to the dog. The dog
happily grabs the bone and hurries home with the prize as fast as he can go.
As he crosses a small bridge, he looks down and sees his reflection in the
water. But the dog believes he sees another dog with another bone-a bone
much bigger than his own. He doesn't stop to think about it. Instead, he
drops his bone and jumps at the dog he sees in the river. He falls in with a
splash, and in a moment, he finds he must swim to shore.
He reaches the shore and looks back at the river sadly. He remembers the
good bone he lost and realizes what a foolish dog he is.
Intermediate English
In town a butcher was going about his work. He was cutting up meat to
sell to the townsfolk. As he worked, a small pile of bones built up on the
table next to him. He saw a little dog playing nearby and threw one of the
bones to the dog. The dog happily grabbed the bone and hurried home with
his prize as fast as he could go.
While crossing a small bridge, the dog looked down and saw his
reflection in the water. But the dog believed he was seeing another dog with
another bone-a bone much bigger than his own. He didn't stop to think
about it but instead dropped his bone at once and jumped at the dog he
thought he saw. He fell in with a splash only to find himself forced to swim
to shore to save his life.
When he reached the shore, he looked back at the river in sadness
remembering the good bone he had lost and realizing what a foolish dog he
was.
Advanced English
A town butcher was going about his work one day, cutting up meat to
sell to the other townsfolk. As he worked, he steadily built up a small pile
of bones on the table next to him. Seeing a dog playing nearby, the butcher
decided to be friendly and tossed one of the bones to the dog. The dog
gleefully snatched the bone up and hurried home with it as fast as he could
go.
While crossing over a small footbridge, however, the dog chanced to see
what looked like another dog with a bone much bigger than his own. Of
course, the dog was only seeing his own reflection, but in his greed, he
didn't stop to think. Instead, he dropped his bone in the river and leapt at his
own reflection. He fell into the deep water with a splash, but rather than
catch a bone he found himself forced to swim to shore to save his life.
After reaching the shore the dog could only look back at the river
mournfully, regretting the good bone he had lost through his folly.