There was an old apple tree in a farmer’s garden. It was so old that it hadstopped bearing1 fruit a long time ago. The only thing it could be was a place forthe sparrows， grasshoppers and squirrels in the neighbourhood to live

One day， the farmer decided to cut the tree down. He felt it had no use at all.Besides， he wanted to get some furniture made from the tree. The wood was stillstrong. So， taking an axe2 in his hand， the farmer started cutting the tree.

At once the many animals living in the tree were scared. The grasshoppers， thesparrows and the squirrels came out of their living places and went near the farmer.“Please， sir，”they cried and said to him“. Spare3 this tree’s life. It is our onlyhome.”

But their cries were in vain4. The farmer went on working. As he raised5 hisaxe one more time， something in the tree caught his eye. A beehive6. Upon lookingcloser， the farmer found that it was full of honey. He tasted the honey. It was great.

Then the farmer found that the tree was not so useless7 after all. It was a goodplace for a beehive to rest. And if he took away the honey now， the bees wouldmake more. So he stopped cutting. “Hey you up there，”he said as he threw awaythe axe. “I’m sparing the life of this tree. You can live in the tree now andforever.”

The animals were so happy to hear that. It was so lucky that the farmer hadfound something useful for him in the tree. After all， it was the only reason the treewas still standing.

一個(gè)農(nóng)夫的花園里有一棵老蘋果樹。它太老了，很久以前就不結(jié)果了。唯一能做的就是給附近的麻雀、蚱蜢和松鼠提供一個(gè)居住的地方。

一天，農(nóng)夫決定砍掉這棵樹，他覺得它已經(jīng)毫無用處了。此外，他想用這棵樹做些家具。這棵樹的木頭仍然很結(jié)實(shí)。于是，農(nóng)夫手里拿著一把斧子開始砍樹。

住在樹上的許多動(dòng)物立刻驚慌不已。蚱蜢、麻雀和松鼠從它們的住處跑出來，來到農(nóng)夫身前?！扒笄竽?，先生。”它們哭著對(duì)他說，“饒這棵樹一命吧。這是我們唯一的家?！?/p>

但是它們的呼喊是徒勞的。農(nóng)夫繼續(xù)干他的活。當(dāng)他再次舉起斧頭時(shí)，樹上的某樣?xùn)|西引起了他的注意，是一個(gè)蜂巢。走近一看，農(nóng)夫發(fā)現(xiàn)里面裝滿了蜂蜜。他嘗了嘗蜂蜜，味道很棒。

此時(shí)農(nóng)夫才發(fā)現(xiàn)這棵樹并不是一無是處。它是一個(gè)安放蜂窩的好地方。如果他現(xiàn)在拿走這些蜂蜜，蜜蜂會(huì)釀更多的。于是他停止了砍樹?！昂?，樹上的小動(dòng)物們?！闭f著他扔掉了斧頭，“我現(xiàn)在放過這棵樹，你們可以永遠(yuǎn)住在樹上了。”

動(dòng)物們聽了非常高興。真幸運(yùn)，農(nóng)夫在樹上找到了對(duì)他有用的東西。畢竟，那是這棵樹仍然屹立不倒的唯一原因。