簡介：

The story began when Fern, a 7-year-old girl, tried hard to stop her father from killing a small, weak new-born pig. Touched by Fern, Fern’s father quit and let Fern take care of the pig. Fern loved the little pig and named it Wilbur. Later, Fern’s father sold Wilbur to Mr. Zuckerman. Wilbur moved to Mr. Zuckerman’s barn and Fern visited him almost every day. In the barn, Wilbur met Charlotte, a beautiful large grey spider, who soon became Wilbur’s best friend. Wilbur had enjoyed his life in the barn until one day the oldest sheep told Wilbur that the Zuckermans would kill Wilbur for his meat at Christmas. Wilbur was shocked and got into a panic. At the very moment, Charlotte promised to save Wilbur. After a period of time, Charlotte thought of a wonderfully clever plan. With Charlotte’s cleverness and unusual spinning skill, and with the help of Templeton, the rat who never did anything for anybody unless there was something in it for him, Charlotte helped Wilbur win a special prize, which could assure Wilbur’s safety.
On the same day when Wilbur won the prize, however, Charlotte became very weak because she had used up all her strength to help Wilbur and make her egg sac. She was dying and could not go home with Wilbur. Hearing this, Wilbur threw himself down in an agony of pain and sorrow. To do something for Charlotte, Wilbur decided to take her egg sac home with him. Mr. Zuckerman took fine care of Wilbur all the rest of his days, and Wilbur was never without friends—he had the geese, sheep, Charlotte’s children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren as his friends. But Wilbur never forgot Charlotte

Do you think human beings can really make friends with animals and understand animals ’language? Why or why not?
2. Think about the reasons why Charlotte wanted to save Wilbur’s life. Would you help anyone for the same reasons?
3. If someone you know wants to kill or hurt a weak new-born animal, how will you respond to the situation? Will you bravely try to stop the person as Fern did?

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