睡谷的传说读后感

睡谷的传说英语读后感

On the eastern side of the Hudson River in New York, there is a small market town called Tarrytown. About two miles from Tarrytown is a little valley. People call it "Sleepy Hollow." The ancestors of the people there are the original Dutch settlers of New York. These Sleepy Hollow people tend to be highly imaginative and often claim to have seen ghosts.

The major ghost of the region is the spirit of a horseman without a head. This spirit, so people say, rides every night to find his companions. And it is said that as he goes to churchyard where he is buried, he rides as fast as the wind.

Soon after the end of the U.S. Revolutionary War(1775-6), a man named Ichabod Crane came to Sleepy Hollow to be the teacher in the area. Ichabod was tall and thin. His head was small and flat at the top. He had big ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long thin nose.

Ichabod taught in a one-room school house where he used a small tree branch to strike misbehaving students. He punished the Dutch children most. But he was careful to get along with the students whose mothers were good cooks, because his salary was low and he had meals at different families.

Ichabod made himself useful in many ways. He helped the farmers with their daily works. He also passed gossip around to their wives. Besides, he was the unoffical chorus director for the area. In the winter evening, he listened to and accepted all the ghost stories the old Dutch wives told. As he walked home at night, every bush looked to him like a ghost covered in a sheet.

Soon Ichabod Crane became interested in Katrina Van Tassel, the only child of Baltus Van Tassel. Mr. Van Tassel had a big farm. From the time Ichabod met Van Tassel and had a look at his farm, Ichabod's main purpose in life was to make Katrina his wife.

However, Ichabod did have a rival, Abraham Van Brunt, whose nickname was Brom Bones. Brom was very strong and very naughty. Although he did not really do any evil thing, he liked to play jokes on others. He also wanted Katrina to be his girlfriend. Katrina was not really interested in him, but she certainly did not discourage him. Ichabod did not want to compete publicly with Brom. Ichabod just made use of every opportunity he had to see Katrina. But Brom tried very hard to play jokes on Ichabod at his schoolhouse and during his singing classes.

One autumn day Ichabod was invited to a party that evening at Mynheer Van Tassel's. In the afternoon, Ichabod spent an extra thirty minutes brushing his old and only suit. Ichabod then borrowed a horse named Gunpower from Hans Van Ripper, a bad tempered farmer he lived with. Gunpower was a thin and old plowhorse. In fact, Ichabod was really a strange-looking creature on the horse.

All the important people of the area came to Heer Van Tassel's castle that evening, including Brom Bones. Ichabod was happy that he was invited. As he enjoyed the delicious food, he smiles to himself that he might become the owner of the farm one day.

When the music began, Ichabod danced with Katrina. Then he went to join a group