英语小故事第198期：Monkeys Cause Man’s Death

A florist in Delhi, India fell to his death after he was attacked by a gang of monkeys. He was on his balcony watering his plants. Three monkeys, which usually were friendly beggars, sat on his balcony railing and watched. They were hoping that he would offer them some food. When he finished watering the plants, he sat down in a chair to enjoy the sunset.

The monkeys waited a minute. When they realized that he was not going to feed them anything, they leaped on him. They scratched his face and pulled at his hair and his clothes. Bleeding and screaming, he panicked. Instead of going back into his apartment through the sliding glass door, he leapt off his balcony. He lived on the second floor, so it was only ten feet to the pavement below. However, he struck the pavement head first, immediately breaking his neck.

The monkeys jumped to the pavement. They dug through his shirt and pants pockets looking for food. One monkey took off with his keys. As humans destroy the forests in India, monkeys like these are getting hungrier and more aggressive.

“Our monkeys are getting out of control,” said a neighbor. He said he had already barricaded his balcony with barbed wire. “It’s ugly, I must admit. A balcony shouldn’t look like the outside of a prison. My neighbors want me to take it down. They say the barbed wire might injure the monkeys and it’s unsightly. But I’ll bet that some of my neighbors will be going to the hardware store tomorrow.”