一：凿壁偷光
Kuang Heng was born in a poor family. He liked reading books very much. He needed to work at daytime, so he had to read books during night. But he was too poor to buy a candle.One day, he found his neighbour had candles, but the light couldn’t go through his room. So he dug a small hole on the wall so that he could use the light to read books. From that day, he read books every night until the light went out.
However, he finished reading all his books and there were no books for him to read. Then he went to a rich man’s house and worked for him without payment.
The rich man asked: “ Why don’t you want the money?” Kuang Heng said: “ Because I only want to borrow your books.” The rich man agreed. Kuang Heng read the books one by one.
Finally, he became a great scholar.
【故事梗概】
匡衡勤奋好学，但家中没有蜡烛。邻家有蜡烛，但光亮照不到他家，匡衡就在墙壁上凿了洞引来邻家的光亮，让光亮照在书上读书。
但很快，匡衡就把他仅有的书看完了，他无书可看了。县里有个大户人家不怎么识字，但家中富有，有很多书。匡衡就到他家去做雇工，但不要报酬。
主人感到很奇怪，问他为什么这样，他说：“我希望读遍主人家的书。”主人听了，深为感叹，就借给匡衡书。
最终，匡衡成了一位伟大的学者。
【重难点词汇及短语】
candle：蜡烛
go through：穿过
dug：dig的过去式，挖，凿
so that：以便
go out：熄灭
payment：报酬
stab 刺
二：悬梁刺股
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, a man named Sun Jing was a famous politician. As a young man, he was diligent in study and often forgot eating and sleeping. When he was reading, he tied his hair to the roof beam with a rope. Therefore, when he dozed, he would feel pain and wake up as his hair was pulled upward by the rope, so that he would go on studying.
Su Qin in the Warring States Period was another example like Sun Jing. He felt sleepy when he was reading, so he took an awl and stabbed it into his own legs. Thus, the sudden pain would wake him up, and he could continue reading.
【故事梗概】
东汉时，有一个叫孙敬的年轻人，孜孜不倦勤奋好学，从早读到晚很少休息，有时候到了三更半夜的时候很容易打盹，为了不影响学习，孙敬想出一个办法，他找来一根绳子，一头绑在自己的头发上，另一头绑在房子的房梁上，这样读书疲劳打瞌睡的时候只要头一低，绳子牵住头发扯痛头皮，他就会因疼痛而清醒起来再继续读书。
战国时期的苏秦是一个有名的政治家，但是他在年轻的时候学问并不多，到了好多地方都没有人关注，即使有雄心壮志也得不到重用，于是他下定决心发奋图强努力读书。由于他经常读书读到深夜，疲倦到想要打盹的时候就用事先准备好的锥子往大腿上刺一下，这样突然的痛感使他猛然清醒起来，振作精神继续读书。
古有孙敬头悬梁，苏秦锥刺股，来告诫后人要认真读书学习。
【重难点词汇及短语】
politician 政治家
diligent 勤奋的
beam 横梁
doze 打瞌睡
wake up 醒来
awl 锥子
stab 刺