四六级

　　Prometheus

　　Zeus2 told Prometheus to teach the mortals3 anything they needed to know in order to live . Hewas also to teach them the arts, so that they couldbuild beautiful temples to honor the gods. Therewas, in fact, only one thing he could not teach them.

　　“You may give the mortals any gift except the gift offire . ”Said Zeus.“ Fire belongs to the gods only, andmust be kept on Mount Olympus4 . ”

　　Prometheus was happy to be of service5 to man. He taught people how to make their own toolsand how to build homes for themselves. He taught them how to plant and grow their own food, and how to use animals to make their work easier. He even taught them how to make musicand how to paint. But without fire, life on earth was very difficult. Food had to be eaten raw; houses could not be kept warm. Tools had to be of stone , because there was no fire forworking metal.

　　Athena , daughter of Zeus, had been watching over6 Prometheus and had helped him in hiswork. Now, because Prometheus was kind and wanted man to be comfortable on earth, hecalled upon Athena to help him get fire from Mount Olympus. She knew that Zeus was away andpromised to lead Prometheus to Mount Olympus by a secret path...

　　Just as he arrived Apollo came back from his day’s journey in his chariot7 of the sun. Prometheus lit a torch from the chariot and put the fire in a hollow stalk that he concealedunder his cloak. Then he stole away without being seen by any of the gods, and brought his fireto earth.

　　When Prometheus lit the first campfire on earth, the people were afraid of it. But they trustedhim, and so they came closer and closer and enjoyed the fire’s pleasant warmth and beautifulglow.

　　Prometheus knew that he would not have much time before Zeus discovered that he had beendisobedient. But he also knew that, powerful as Zeus was, once a god had given a gift it couldnot be taken away. So he quickly taught the mortals how to use the gift of fire.

　　阅读自测

　　Ⅰ. Fill in each blank with word or phrase in the p as sage :

　　1. Zeus told Prometheus to teach the _______( 人类) anything they needed to know in order tolive .

　　2. Prometheus was so happy to _______( 帮助) to man that he taught people how to maketheir own tools and how to build homes for themselves.

　　3. Athena , daughter of Zeus, had been _______( 监督) Prometheus and had helped him in hiswork.

　　4. Prometheus knew that he would not have much time before Zeus discovered that he hadbeen _____( 违命) .

　　Ⅱ. Question : When the first campfire was lit on earth, how did human react to it?

　　参考答案：

　　Ⅰ. 1. mortals 2. be of service 3 . watching over 4. disobedient

　　Ⅱ. When the first campfire was lit on earth, the people were afraid of it. As they trusted Prometheus, they came closer and closer and enjoyed the fire’s pleasant warmth and beautiful glow.