【正文】 m y grandfat her many year s ago. Recent l y i t was dam aged by a vi si t or . She t ri ed t o pl ay j azz on i t! She str uck t he keys t oo hard and t wo of t he str i ngs wer e broken. My f at her was shocke d. Now we ar e not al l owed t o t ouch i t. It i s bei ng r epair ed by a f ri end of m y f at her39。s gar den i s m ore i nter esti ng. He has m ade neat pat hs and has built a wooden br idge over a pool. I l ike gar dens t oo, but I do not li ke har d wor k. Ever y year I enter f or t he gar den pet it on t oo, and I al ways wi n a li t l e pr i ze f or the wor st gar den i n t he t own! Lesson 9 A col d wel e 冷遇 On Wednesday eveni ng, we went t o t he Town Hal . It was t he last day of t he year and a lar ge cr owd of peopl e had gat her ed unde r t he Town Hal cl ock. I t woul d st ri ke t wel ve i n t went y mi nutes39。I found t his outside t his gentleman39。Ever yone39。 I said, 39。m not real y i nt erest ed in fi shi ng. I am onl y int er est ed in si t ing i n a boat and doing nothi ng at al l ! Lesson21 Mad or not? 是不是瘋了？ Aer oplanes ar e slowl y dri vi ng me m ad. I l ive near an ai rport and pasing pl anes can be heard ni ght and day. The ai rport was buil t dur ing the war, but for some r eason it could not be used t hen. Last year, however , it cam e int o use. Over a hundr ed people must have been dr iven away f rom their homes by the noi se. I am one of the f ew peopl e lef t. Someti mes I thi nk this house wi l be knocked down by a pasi ng pl ane. I have been of fered a large sum of m oney t o go away, but I am deter mined t o stay here. Ever ybody says I must be m ad and they are pr obably ri ght . Lesson22 A glass envel ope 玻璃信封 My daughter , Jane, never dr eamed of r ecei vi ng a l et ter fr om a gir l of her own age in Holland. Last year , we wer e tr avel ling acr oss t he Channel and Jane put a pi ece of paper wi th her name and addr es on it int o a bott le. She thre w the bott le i nto t he sea. She never thought of i t again, but ten months l ater, she received a let ter fr om a gi rl i n Hol land. Bot h gir ls wr i te t o each ot her r egul ar ly now. However, t hey have deci ded to use the post off ice. Let ters wil l cost a li t 1e more, but t hey wil l cer tainl y tr avel f ast er . Lesson23 A new house 新居 I had a let ter fr om my sister yest er day. She li ves in Ni geri a. I n her l et er , she said t hat she would e to England next year. I f she es, she wi l get a sur pri se. We are now l ivi ng in a beauti ful new house i n t he countr y. Work on it had begun bef or e my si st er left . The house was pleted f ive m ont hs ago. In my l et ter , I t old her that she could st ay wit h us. The house has m any large r oom s and there i s a l ovely gar den. I t i s a very moder n house, so it looks str ange t o som e peopl e. I t must be t he onl y modern house in the distr ict . Lesson24 It coul d be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I ent ered t he hot el m anager 39。 I t39。I mi ght as wel l have t hem, 39。Cer tainl y, 39。Cer tainl y,39。What a pi ty! 39。I 39。 Susan answer ed. 39。 Lesson19 Sol d out 票已售完 39。I 39。but I can39。Di d you have a good m eal ?39。 I f you recei ve a r equest l ike t hi s, you cannot f ai l t o obey i t! Lesson 17 Al ways young 青年常駐 My aunt Jenni f er i s an act ress. She must be at l east hir t y fi ve year s ol d. In spit e of t hi s, she oft en appear s on t he st age as a young gir l. Jenni fer wil l have t o t ake part i n a new pl ay soon. Thi s ti me, she wil l be a gi rl of sevent en. In t he play, she m ust appear in a br i ght r ed dr es and l ong bl ack st ocki ngs. Last year i n anot her pl ay, she had t o wear shor t socks and a bri ght , or ange col our ed dress. I f anyone ever asked her how ol d she i s, she al ways answer s, 39。t int er r upt ,39。 As I soon learnt , he was Engl ish him self ! Leson 15 G ood news 佳音 The secretar y tol d me t hat Mr. Har mswort h would see me. I fel t ver y ner vous when. I went into his off ice. He did not l ook up fr om hi s desk when I entered. Af ter I had sat down, he said that busines was ver y bad. He t old m e that the f ir m could not af ford to pay such la rge salar ies. Twent y peopl e had al ready lef t. I knew that my t urn had e. 39。 Lesson 12 Goodbye and good luck 再見，一路順風(fēng) Our nci ghbour, Captai n Char les Al ison, wi l sail f rom Port sm out h t om or r ow. We shal l m eet him at t he har bour ear l y in t he mor ni ng. He wil l be in hi s sm al l boat, Topsai l. Tapsail i s a f am ous l it l e boat. I t has sail ed acr oss t he Atl ant i c m any tim es. Captai n Ali son wil l set out at eight o39。 2. To m y sur pri se, he gave m e t he m oney i mm edi at el y. 39。s two minutes past t welve! The cl ock has st opped!39。s. Bi l wor ks har der t han Joe and grows m ore f lower s and vegetables, but Joe39。5o. 39。 The manager was sym pat het ic, but he could do not hi ng. 39。 I left t he money in m y room, 39。t reali ze one i mport ant t hing. I39。 m y fr i ends say.39。s perf orm ance. 39。 I asked. 39。 he asked. 39。 t he gir l sai d. 39。 I asked. 39。I t m ay have begun al ready, 39。 My dog had taken it i nt o t he gar den. He of ten does this.39。 The i nn keeper smi l ed and im mediat el y went out . In a few m inut es he r et ur ned wi t h m y bag and gave i t back t o me. 39。 I answered, 39。t t her e ! As I was l ooki ng for it , the i nn keeper cam e i n. 39。 Sir , we wel e you t o our ci t y. Thi s i s a No Par ki ng ar ea. You wil l enj oy your stay her e i f you pay at t enti on t o our str eet si gns. Thi s note i s onl y a r em inder.39。Don39。Do you speak Engli sh?39。so now you can pay f or m y di nner! 39。s of fi ce years ago, but he i s now wor ki ng at a bank. He gets a good sal ar y, but he al ways bor r ows m oney f r om his f ri ends and never pays it back. Har ry saw m e and cam e and sat at t he sam e table. He has never borr owed m oney fr om m e. Whi l e he was eati ng, I ask