Tricky Turtle

Ricky the rabbit and Tera the turtle met by the edge of the river. “No one is capable of beating me in a race!” Ricky said. He was confident—his smile conveyed that.

“ I can beat you,” Tera said.

Ricky laughed with delight.

Tera said, “We will race tomorrow. The destination is the hill.”

Ricky agreed. Tera concentrated on winning the race. She was not faster than Ricky. She needed a definite way to succeed. She told her family about the race, “ I have concluded that I have to resort to something bad. I will cheat.” She dictated her instructions to them.

At the race, they all wore white feathers. They looked exactly the same! Then, her family members hid in shadows on the path.

The race began. Tera was soon far behind. However, Tera’s brother hid behind a bush in the valley below. When Ricky got close, Tera’s brother began to run. He looked just like Tera! Ricky ran as fast as he could along the path. But, to him, it seemed like Tera was always ahead. Ricky had used a considerable amount of energy.

He reached the top, but Tera’s sister was already there. “Well, you win,” Ricky said.

Later, Tera had a broad smile on her face. Ricky never suspected. He had been tricked by a family of slow turtles.

KeyWords

broad
If something is broad, it is wide.
The river is very long and broad.

bush
A bush is a plant with many thin branches. It is smallerthan a tree.
My dad and I planted some small bushes around the house.

capable
If someone or something is capable of something, they can do it.
The Olympic athlete is capable of lifting a lot of weight.

cheat
To cheat is to be dishonest so that you can win or do well.
They cheated on the test by sharing answers.

concentrate
To concentrate on someone or something is to give your full attention. 
I could not concentrate on my homework because the room was so loud.

conclude
To conclude is to arrive at a logical end by looking at evidence.
I saw crumbs on my dog’s face, so I concluded that he ate my cookie.

confident
Confident means that one believes they can do something without failing. 
She was confident she could climb the mountain due to her training.

considerable
If something is considerable, it is large in size, amount or extent.
They paid a considerable amount of money for that car.

convey
To convey is to communicate or make ideas known.
That picture of a crying child conveys a feeling of sadness.

definite
If something is definite, it is certain or sure to be true.
There is a definite connection between hard work and success.

delight
Delight is a feeling of being very happy with something.
He felt such delight after getting a promotion at work.

destination
A destination is the place where someone or something is going to.
The destination of this plane is Munich, Germany.

dictate
To dictate something is to read it aloud so it can be written down.
He dictated his speech so his secretary could write it down.

edge
The edge of something is the part of it that is farthest from the center.
He ran to the edge of the cliff.

path
A path is a way from one place to another that people can walk along.
We followed a path through the woods.

resort
To resort to something is to depend on it in order to solve a problem.
I hope they don’t resort to violence to end the argument.

shadow
A shadow is the dark area that is made when something blocks light.
The man’s shadow was taller than he was.

succeed
To succeed is to complete something that you planned or tried to do.
He will continue to work on the robot until he succeeds.

suspect
To suspect something is to believe that it is true.
I suspect that those kids stole the money.

valley
A valley is a low area of land between two mountains or hills.
We looked at the valley below from the top of the mountain.

VOCABULARY

Direct link to the Game

Reference: 4000 Essential English Words 

 4000EEW02U08