A PIGEON(鸽子)：

A pigeon, oppressed by excessive thirst, saw a goblet of water painted on a signboard. Not supposing it to be only a picture, she flew towards it with a loud whir and unwittingly dashed against the signboard, jarring herself terribly.

Having broken her wings by the blow, she fell to the ground, and was caught by one of the bystanders.

Moral：Zeal should not outrun discretion.

翻译：一只鸽子口渴得很难受，看见画板上画着一只水杯。她并不以为那只是一幅画，而是发出一声响亮的呼噜声，朝画飞去，无意中撞在了招牌上，把自己撞得很不稳。她的翅膀被风吹断了，摔在地上，被一个旁观者抓住。

人教版英语教材是美式英语。

人教版英语教材一般是就教科书意义而言的，相对于其他出版社出版的教科书而言，指的是由人民教育出版社出版的教科书版本。而美式英语较英式英语来说更为口语化，读音开放，有特性。

过去的四百年间，美国、英联邦以及不列颠群岛使用的语言都在不断地发生变化，最终演变成了英式英语和美式英语。两种英语在音标、语法、词汇、拼写、标点、谚语、日期和数字的形式等等许多方面都有不同。

对于人教版的高中英语教材，单词拼写是按照英式英语标准来的，磁带录音用的却是美式英语。阅读材料里比较口语化的语言以美式英语居多。

1、The children were running on the playground as fast as they can.

改：can-could

解释：主句是过去进行时，从句也应该是过去时，保持一致。

2、Since her husband had died, so she had to support her family.

改：把so去掉。

解释：since表示原因，不需要so再来表示结果。两个词不能同时用在一个句子中。

3、He won't go out until his mother will come.

改：will come-comes

解释：主句是一般将来时，until引导的时间状语从句用现在时表示将来，改为第三人称单数。

4、He was very foolish that he didn't pass such an easy exam.

改：very-so

解释：so...that，如此……以至于。

5、Tom had gone out as soon as his mother got home.

改：had gone-gone

解释：主句用一般过去时。

6、It was three months since he came to our school.

改：was-is

解释：从过去到现在的一段时间，用现在时。

7、The platground of our school is larger than their school.

改：加上 that of (their school)。

解释：操场要和操场作比较，不是跟学校比。用that来指代。

8、The streets in Nanjing are wider than Shanghai.

改：those in (Shanghai)。

解释：街道要和街道比较。用those来指代复数的名词。