A woodcutter was walking through the forest when a small tree called to him. It said, "Hello friend. Can you cut down those bigger trees? They are blocking（遮挡) the sun. It is so 1 here that I have no room to spread my roots（根). Besides, I can't 2 the wind."
The little tree held out its tiny leaves. It looked so sad. "If those trees were gone, I would be able to3. A year from now，I'd be the biggest tree here," It continued. "But for now, I'm just a small tree."
The man thought for a while and agreed. He walked over to the bigger trees and started cutting them down. Soon, he cleared lots of 4 around the small tree. Now it would be able to grow bigger and become the biggest tree in that area.
But something else happened instead. The sun's 5 came first, burning the small tree, which wasn't used to（适应) so much sunlight. Heavy wind and rain came— without the bigger trees there, the small tree was hit by the storm. Soon, the tree was nearly 6.
A snake saw what had happened and said，"You've been quite 7. You brought this on yourself. If you had left the bigger trees alone, the sun and storm wouldn't have hurt you so badly. They 8 you. If you had just waited longer, you would have grown to be just as big as them. You would be strong. But now, you're nearly gone."
