【正文】 n my lett er, I t old her t hat she could stay wit h us. The house has m any lar ge r oom s and t here is a lovely gar den. I t is a very m oder n house, so it looks t range t o som e people. It m ust be t he only m oder n house in t he dist rict. Lesson24 It could be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I entered t he hot el m anager39。s of ice and sat down. I had just lost amp。50 and If elt ver y upset .39。 I lef t he m oney in m y r oom,39。 I said, 39。and it 39。s not t her e now.39。 The manager was ym pat hetic, but he could do not hing. 39。Ever yone39。s losing m oney t hese days,39。 he said. He start ed t o plain about his wicked world but was int er rupted by a knock at t he door . A gir l came in and put an envelope on his desk. I t cont ained amp。5o. 39。I f ound t his out side t his gent leman39。s r oom39。 she said. 39。Wel, 39。 I said t o t he m anager, 39。t her e is stil som e honest y in t his world ! 39。 lesson25 Do t he English speak English? 英國人講的是英語嗎？ Iar rived in London at last . The r ailway st ation was big, black and dark. Idid not know t he way t o m y hotel, so I asked a port er . I not only spoke English very car ef uly, but ver y clear ly as well. The por ter, however , could not under st and m e。 I r epeat ed m y question sever al t im es and at last he under st ood. He answer ed me, but he spoke neit her slowly nor clearly. 39。I am af or eigner ,39。 I said. Then he spoke slowly, but I could not understand him. My t eacher never spoke English like t hat! The por t er and Ilooked at each other and smiled. Then he said som et hing and I underst od it . 39。You39。l soon lear n English! 39。 he said. Iwonder . I n England, each m an speaks a dif ferent language. The English under st and each ot her , but I don39。t under st and t hem !Do t hey speak English ? lesson26 The best ar t crit ics 最佳美術(shù)評(píng)論家 Iam an art st udent and I paint a lot of pict ur es. M any people pr et end t hat hey understand m odern art . They always t el you what a pict ur e is 39。about39。. Of course, many pict ur es arc not 39。about 39。 anyt hing. They ar e just pr et y pat terns. We like t hem in t he same way t hat we like pr et ty cur tain material. I t hink t hat young childr en of t en appr eciat e m oder n pict ures bett er t han anyone else. They not ice m ore. M y sister is only seven, but she always t els m e whet her my pictures ar e good or not. She cam e int o m y r oom yester day. 39。What ar e you doing ?39。 she asked. 39。I 39。m hanging t his pict ur e on t he wal, 39。 I answered. 39。I t39。s a new one. Do you like it ?39。 She looked at i cr it icaly f or a m om ent.39。 I t 39。s al r ight,39。 she said, 39。but isn39。t it upsidedown ?39。 I looked at i again. She was right ! I t was! Lesson27 A wet night 雨夜 Late in t he af ternoon, t he boys put up t heir t ent in t he middle of a f ield. As soon as t his was done, t hey cooked a m eal over an open f ir e. They wer e al hungr y and t he f ood smelt good. Af ter a wonder ful m eal, t hey t old st ories and sang songs by t he camp fir e. But some t im e lat er it began t o r ain. The boys f elt ir ed so t hey pet out t he f ir e and cr ept int o t heir t ent. Their sleepingbags were warm and f or table, so t hey al slept soundly. I n t he middle of t he night , t wo boys woke up and began shouting. The t ent was f ul of wat er ! They al eapt out of t heir sleeping bags and hur ied out side. I t was r aining heavily and t hey f ound t hat a str eam had f orm ed in t he f ield. The st r eam wound it s way acr os t he field and t hen f lowed right under t heir t ent! Lesson28 No parking 禁止停車 J asper Whit e is one of t hose r ar e people who believes in ancient m yths. He has just bought a new house in t he cit y, but ever since he moved in, he has had tr ouble wit h mot orist s. when he r et ur ns hom e at night , he always finds t hat som eone has par ked a car out side his gat e. Because of t his, he has not been able t o get his own car int o his gar age even once. J asper has put up39。 No Parking39。 signs out side his gat e, but t hese have not had any eff ect. Now he has put an ugly st one head over t he gat e. I t is one of t he ugliest f aces Ihave ever seen. I asked him what i was and he t old m e t hat i was Medusa, t he Gon. J asper hopes t hat she wil t ur n m ot orists t o st one. But none of t hem has been t ur ned t o st one yet ! Lesson29 Taxi! 出租汽車！ Capt ain Ben Fawcet t has bought an unusual t axi and has begun a new ser vice. The 39。t axi39。 s a smal Swiss aer oplane caled a 39。Pilat us Port er 39。. This wonder ful plane can car y seven pasenger s. The m ost surprising t hing about i , however , is t hat it can land anywher e: on snow, water, or even on a ploughed f ield. Captain Fawcet t39。s f ir st passenger was a doct or who f lew f rom Birm ingham t o a lonely vilage in t he Welsh mount ains. Since t hen, Captain Fawcett has flown pasenger s t o many unusual places. Once he landed on t he r oof of a block of f lats and on anot her occasion, he landed in a deser t ed car par k. Capt ain Fawcett has just r efused ast r ange r equest f r om a businessm an. The m an wanted t o f ly t o Rockal, a lonely island in t he Atlantic Ocean, but Capt ain Fawcet t did not ake him because t he t rip was too danger ous. Lesson30 Foot ball or polo? 足 t he pol ice wil have a di f icul t ime. They wi l be t rying to keep order. It is always the same on these occasions. Leson 14 Do you speak English? 你會(huì)講英語嗎？ I had an amusing experience l ast year . Aft er I had l ef t a smal l vi lage i n the south of Fr ance, I dr ove on to the next town. On the way, a young man waved to me. I stopped and he asked me for a lif t. As soon as he had got into t he car , I sai d good morning to him i n French and he repl ied in t he same l anguage. Apart fr om a few words, I do not know any French at al . Neit her of us spoke during the journey. I had nearly r eached the town, when t he young man suddenly said, very slowly, 39。Do you speak Eng