【正文】 of f er ed a lar ge sum of money to go away, but I am det ermi ned to st ay her e. Everybody says I must be mad and they ar e probabl y r ight. Leson22 A gl ass envelope 玻璃信封 My daught er , Jane, never dreamed of recei ving a l et er f rom a gir l of her own age i n Holl and. Last year, we wer e t ravel li ng a cr oss t he Channel and Jane put a piece of paper wit h her name and address on it i nto a bot tle. She thr ew t he bot tl e int o the sea. She never t hought of it agai n, but ten m ont hs later , she r eceived a l eter f rom a gir l in Hol land. Both gi rl s wri te to each other regularl y now. However , they have decided t o use t he post of fi ce. Let er s wi l cost a l it t1e mor e, but they wi l cert ai nly t ravel faster. Leson23 A new house 新居 I had a l eter f rom my sist er yesterday. She l ives in Nigeri a. In her let ter, she sai d that she woul d e to Engl and next ye ar . If she es, she wi l l get a surpr ise. We are now li vi ng in a beauti ful new house in t he count ry. Wor k on i t had begun bef ore m y sister lef t. The house was plet ed fi ve months ago. I n my l et er , I told her t hat she coul d stay wi th us. The house has many lar ge rooms and ther e is a l ovel y garden. I t is a ver y modern house, so it l ooks str ange to some peopl e. I t must be the only m oder n house i n the di st ri ct. Lesson24 It could be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I entered t he hot el manager39。s off ice and sat down. I had j ust l ost amp。50 and I f el t ver y upset .39。 I lef t he money in my r oom ,39。 I sai d, 39。and i t39。s not t her e now.39。 The manager was sympat hetic, but he could do not hing. 39。Everyone39。s losing m oney t hese days,39。 he said. He start ed to pl ain about t his wi cked wor ld but was i nter upted by a knock at t he door . A gi rl came in and put an envel ope on hi s desk. It contained amp。5o. 39。I f ound t his outsi de this gentl eman39。s room39。 she said. 39。Wel ,39。 I sai d to the manager , 39。there is sti l some honesty in t his wor ld ! 39。 leson25 Do t he Engli sh speak Engl ish? 英國人講的是英 語 嗎？ I ar ived i n London at l ast. The r ail way st ation was bi g, bl ack and dar k. I did not know t he way to my hotel , so I asked a por ter . I not only spoke Engl ish very car ef ull y, but ver y clearl y as wel . The por ter , however, coul d not under st and m e。 I r epeated m y questi on sever al t imes and at last he understood. He answer ed me, but he spoke neit her slowl y nor clearl y. 39。I am a f oreigner, 39。 I said. Then he spoke slowl y, but I coul d not understand him . My t eacher never spoke Engli sh l ike t hat ! The port er and I l ooked at each other and sm il ed. Then he sai d som et hing and I under stood it . 39。You39。l l soon l ear n Engl ish!39。 he said. I wonder . I n England, each man speaks a di f erent language. The Engl ish under st and each other , but I don39。t understand t hem ! Do t hey speak Engli sh ? l eson26 The best art cri ti cs 最佳美術評論家 I am an ar t st udent and I pai nt a lot of pi ctur es. Many peopl e pretend t hat t hey understand modern ar t . They always t el l you what a pi cture is 39。about39。. Of course, many pictur es ar c not 39。about39。 anyt hing. They ar e j ust pr et y pat er ns. We li ke them in t he same way that we l ike pret ty curt ain m at eri al . I think t hat young childr en oft en appr eci at e modern pi ct ures bet er t han anyone else. They noti ce more. My si st er is only seven, but she always t el ls m e whether my pi ct ures are good or not. She cam e int o my r oom yest erday. 39。 What are you doi ng ?39。 she asked. 39。 I 39。m hanging this pi ct ure on the wal ,39。 I answer ed. 39。I t39。s a new one. Do you li ke it ?39。 She l ooked at it cr it cal ly for a mom ent .39。 It 39。s al r ight, 39。 she sai d, 39。but i sn39。t it upsi de down ?39。 I l ooked at it again. She was ri ght ! It was! Lesson27 A wet night 雨夜 Lat e in t he aft er noon, t he boys put up their t ent i n the m iddle of a f iel d. As soon as thi s was done, they cooked a m eal over an open f ir e. They wer e al l hungr y and the f ood sm el t good. Af ter a wonder f ul m eal, t hey told st ori es and sang songs by the camp f ir e. But some t im e later i t began to rain. The boys felt t ir ed so they pet out the f ir e and crept into their t ent . Their sl eping bags were warm and fort able, so t hey al l sl ept soundl y. I n t he m i ddl e of the ni ght , two boys woke up and began shouting. The tent was ful l of wat er! They al leapt out of their sl eping bags and hurr ied outside. It was r ai ning heavi ly and t hey found t hat a str eam had for med in the f ield. The str eam wound it s way across the f ield and t hen fl owed ri ght under t heir tent! Lesson28 No parki ng 禁止停車 Jasper Whi te i s one of those r are people who bel ieves i n anci ent m yths. He has j ust bought a new house in the cit y, but ever since he moved in, he has had tr ouble wit h mot or ist s. when he r et urns home at night, he always f inds that som eone has par ked a car outsi de hi s gate. Because of t his, he has not been able t o get hi s own car into his garage even once. Jasper has put up39。 No Parki ng39。 signs outside his gate, but the se have not had any ef ect. Now he has put an ugl y stone head over the gate. It i s one of the ugli est faces I have ever seen. I asked hi m what i t was and he t old me that it was Medusa, t he Gon. Jasper hopes t hat she wi l tur n mot or ist s to stone. But none of them has been tur ned t o st one yet ! Lesson29 Taxi ! 出租汽車！ Captain Ben Fawcet has bought an unusual taxi and has begun a new ser vice. The 39。t axi39。 is a smal l Swi ss aer oplane cal led a 39。Pi lat us Por ter 39。. This wonderf ul pl ane can car y seven pasenger s. The m ost sur pri si ng thi ng about it , however, i s that it can land anywher e: on snow, water , or even on a ploughed fi el d. Capt ai n Fawcet t39。s fi rst