Then he saw a small black ant near a dead tree limb. She was pulling a crust
of bread through the dried leaves. She tugged and pulled, but her efforts never
seemed quite enough. Then the ant stopped for a moment to rest and laid the
crust of bread on the ground next to her. “Why are you doing that?” the grass-
hopper asked. “Are you going to waste this wonderful day on such foolish-
ness?” he inquired with a laugh.
“I’m bringing food to our colony,” the little ant replied. “When winter
comes, this crust of bread will come in handy.”
“Winter is a long way off,” the grasshopper said. “I’d rather sing and relax
in the sun.”
“You might be sorry when it turns cold and the sun is behind the clouds,”
the ant warned. “You should plan for your future.”
But the grasshopper just laughed and stretched his long legs. He jumped
over a tin canand hopped across the long grasses, playing, singing, and being
as lazy as a grasshopper can be.
The little ant shook her head and went back to work. She put the crust of
bread on her backand finally got past the dead leaves and scurried home.
The grasshopper saw the ant working nearly every day. And every day he
just watched with amusement. Soon it began to grow cold. The wind changed
to the north and brought more cold with it. The snow began to fall and soon
covered the fields where the grasshopper played. And the grasshopper under-
stood that the ant had been right all along. He made his way to the ant colony
and called out, “I need some food and shelter.” But the ants could not hear
him. They were busy feasting, and the poor grasshopper jumped from icy twig
to icy leaf in search of food and some shelter from the cold.
Exercise 4.3Sample answers are provided.
I’m No Cook!
My wife was called away to New York on business. I took some vacation
time and decided I would take care of the house and our kids. Our two kids
were in school during the day, and in the evening they stayed home to do
homework or watch TV. They were old enough to take care of themselves, but
I had to make their meals and wash their clothes. John was eleven and spent
his time on his computer. Anne was ten and enjoyed sports like baseball and
soccer.
Everything started out smoothly the first day. I cleaned the kitchen and
scoured the bathtub and sinks. I ironed a stack of clean laundryand took the
dogto the vet for a shot. And for lunch I made myselfa meatball sandwich
with a tall glass of beer. The kids ate lunch in the school cafeteria, because
students weren’t allowed to come home for lunch.
Answer Key 219