【正文】 unl ucky. I nstead of cat chi ng fi sh, t hey cat ch ol d boots and r ubbi sh. I am even l ess l ucky. I never cat ch anyt hi ng not even ol d boot s. Af ter havi ng spent whole m orni ngs on t he ri ver , I al ways go hom e wi th an em pt y bag. 39。You must gi ve up fi shi ng!39。 my f ri ends sa y.39。 It 39。s a wast e of t im e. 39。 But t hey don39。t r eal i ze one im port ant t hi ng. I 39。m not real l y i nt er est ed in f i shi ng. I am onl y i nt er e st ed in sit ti ng i n a boat and doing not hi ng at al l ! Lesson21 Mad or not ? 是不是瘋了？ Aeroplanes ar e slowl y dri ving m e m ad. I l i ve near an ai r por t and passi ng planes can be heard ni ght and day. The ai rport was buil t dur i ng t he war, but f or some r eason it coul d not be used then. Last year, however, it came i nto use. Over a hundred peopl e m ust have been dri ven away fr om t hei r hom es by the noise. I am one of the f ew peopl e l ef t. Som etim es I t hi nk thi s house wil l be knocked down by a passi ng plane. I have been of f er ed a l ar ge sum of m oney to go away, but I am det ermi ned t o st ay her e. Ever ybody says I m ust be m ad and t hey ar e pr obably r i ght. Lesson22 A glass envel ope 玻璃信封 My daughter, Jane, never dr eam ed of r ecei vi ng a l et ter fr om a gir l of her own age i n Holl and. Last year, we wer e tr avel li ng acr oss t he Channel and Jane put a pi ece of paper wit h her nam e and address on it i nt o a bot l e. She t hr ew t he bot tl e i nt o t he sea. She never t hought of it agai n, but t en m onths l at er , she recei ved a let er fr om a gi rl i n Holl and. Bot h gir ls wr it e t o ea ch ot her r egul ar l y now. However, t hey have deci ded t o use t he post off i ce. Let t er s wil l cost a l it 1e m or e, but t hey wi l cert ai nly t r avel faster. Leson23 A new house 新居 I had a l et er f r om m y si st er yester day. She li ves i n Ni ger ia. I n her l et t er , she said t hat she woul d e t o Engl and next year. I f she es, she wi l get a sur pri se. We are now l i vi ng in a beauti f ul new house i n t he countr y. Wor k on it had begun bef ore m y sister l ef t. The house was pl et ed fi ve months ago. I n m y let er, I t ol d her that she could st ay wit h us. The house has m any l arge r oom s and t here i s a l ovel y gar den. I t i s a ver y m oder n house, so it l ooks str ange t o som e peopl e. I t must be t he only m oder n house i n t he di st ri ct. Leson24 It coul d be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I ent er ed the hotel manager39。s off i ce and sat down. I had j ust lost amp。 50 and I f elt ver y upset. 39。 I l eft t he m oney in m y r oom, 39。 I sai d, 39。and i t39。s not t her e now.39。 The manager was sym pat het i c, but he coul d do not hi ng. 39。Ever yone39。s l osi ng m oney t hese days,39。 he sai d. He st art ed to pl ai n about t hi s wi cked wor l d but was i nt er upt ed by a knock at t he door . A gir l cam e i n and put an envel ope on hi s desk. It cont ained amp。 5o. 39。I f ound t his outsi de t his gent l em an39。s r oom 39。 she said. 39。Wel l, 39。 I sai d to t he manager, 39。t here i s st il l som e honesty i n t hi s worl d ! 39。 l eson25 Do t he Engli sh speak Engli sh? 英國人講的是英語嗎？ I ar i ved i n London at l ast. The r ail way st ati on was bi g, bl ack and dar k. I di d not know t he way t o my hot el , so I asked a por t er . I not onl y spoke Engl i sh ver y car ef ull y, but very cl ear ly as wel . The por t er , however, could not under st and m e。 I r epeat ed m y quest ion sever al t im es and at last he underst ood. He answer ed me, but he spoke neit her sl owly nor clearl y. 39。I am a f orei gner, 39。 I sai d. Then he spoke sl owl y, but I coul d not underst and him . My t eacher never spoke Engli sh li ke t hat ! The port er and I l ooked at each ot her and sm il ed. Then he sai d som ethi ng and I understood it . 39。You39。l l soon l ear n Engli sh!39。 he said. I wonder . In Engl and, each m an speaks a di f er ent language. The Engl ish under st and each ot her , but I don39。t under st and t hem ! Do they speak Engli sh ? lesson26 The best art cri ti cs 最佳美術(shù)評(píng)論家 I am an art st udent and I pai nt a l ot of pi ct ures. Many peopl e pr etend t hat t hey understand m oder n ar t. They al ways t el l you what a pi ct ure i s 39。about 39。. Of course, m any pi ctur es ar c not 39。about39。 anyt hi ng. They ar e j ust pr et y pat erns. We l ike t hem i n t he sam e way t hat we l i ke pr et t y cur tai n m ateri al. I t hi nk t hat young chil dren of ten appreci ate m oder n pict ur es bet ter t han anyone el se. They not ice m or e. My sist er i s onl y seven, but she al ways t el ls m e whet her m y pict ur es ar e good or not . She cam e i nt o m y r oom yest erday. 39。 What ar e you doi ng ?39。 she asked. 39。 I 39。m hangi ng this pi ct ur e on the wal ,39。 I answer ed. 39。I t39。s a new one. Do you li ke it ?39。 She looked at i t cr it ical y f or a m om ent .39。 I t39。s al l ri ght ,39。 she sai d, 39。but isn39。t it upside down ?39。 I l ooked at i t agai n. She was r i ght! I t was! Lesson27 A wet night 雨夜 Lat e i n t he af t er noon, t he boys put up their t ent i n the mi ddle of a f iel d. As soon as t hi s 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 sm elt good. Af t er a wonderf ul m eal , they t ol d stori es and sang songs by t he cam p fi r e. But som e ti me l at e r it began t o r ai n. The boys f el t ti red so t hey pet out t he fi r e and cr ept i nto t hei r t ent. Their sl eping bags wer e warm and f or t abl e, so t hey al sl ept soundl y. I n t he m iddle of t he ni ght , t wo boys woke up and began shouti ng. The t ent was f ul l of wate r! They al l eapt out of t hei r sl eepi ng bags and hurr i ed out si de. I t was r ai ni ng heavil y and t hey f ound t hat a st ream had f or m ed i n t he f i el d. The st ream wound i ts way acr oss t he f i el d and then fl owed ri