【正文】 but ten months l ater, she received a l et ter fr om a gir l 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 t he post off ice. Let ter s wil l cost a li t 1e more, but they wil l cer tai nl y t ravel f ast er . Lesson23 A new house 新居 I had a let ter fr om my sister yest er day. She l ives in Ni geri a. I n her let er , she said that she would e to Engl and next ye ar . I f 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 moder n 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。 It 39。I m ight as wel l have t hem ,39。Cer tainl y, 39。Cer t ai nly,39。What a pit y!39。I 39。 Susan answer ed. 39。 Leson19 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 r ecei ve a request l ike thi s, you cannot f ai l to obey it ! Leson 17 Al ways young 青年常駐 My aunt Jenni fer is an actr es. She must be at least t hir tyf ive years ol d. I n spit e of this, she of ten appear s on the stage as a young gir l. Jennif er wil l have t o take part i n a new play soon. Thi s ti me, she wi l be a gi rl of seventeen. I n t he pl ay, she must appear i n a br ight red dr ess and long bl ack stockings. Last year in anot her play, she had t o wear short socks and a br i ght, or ange col our ed dress. If anyone ever asked her how ol d she i s, she al ways answer s, 39。t inter rupt, 39。 As I soon learnt , he was Engl ish himself ! Leson 15 Good news 佳音 The secr etar y tol d me t hat Mr. Har mswor t h would see me. I felt very ner vous when. I went i nto hi s off ice. He did not look up f r om his desk when I entered. Aft er I had sat down, he said t hat busines was very bad. He t old m e that the f ir m could not af ord to pay such large salari es. Twenty people had alr eady left . I knew that my t ur n had e. 39。 Lesson 12 Goodbye and good luck 再見，一路順風 Our nci ghbour , Capt ai n Charl es Ali son, wi l sai l fr om Por tsmouth t omorr ow. We shal meet him at he har bour ear ly i n the m orning. He wi l be i n his smal boat, Topsai l is a f amous li t le boat. It has sai led across the At lanti c many t imes. Capt ain Al ison wi l set out at ei ght o39。2. To m y sur pri se, he gave me the m oney i mmediat el y. 39。s t wo m inutes past t welve! The cl ock has stopped! 39。s. Bi l works harder t han Joe and grows m or e f lowers and veget abl es, but Joe39。巴頓斯 I have just moved t o a house in Br idge St reet. Yest erday a beggar knocked at my door. He asked me f or a meal and a gl ass of beer . In retur n for t his, the beggar stood on his head and sang songs. I gave hi m a meal . He ate t he food and drank t he beer . Then he put a piece of cheese in hi s pocket and went away. Lat er a neighbour told me about hi m . Ever ybody knows him . Hi s name i s Per cy Butt ons. He cal s at every house in t he str et once a month and always asks f or a meal and a gl as of beer . Leson 7 Too l ate 為時太晚 The plane was late and detecti ves wer e wai ti ng at t he ai rpor t al l morni ng. They were expect ing a val uabl e par cel of diamond f rom Sout h Af r ica. A few hour s ear li er, som eone had t ol d t he pol ice t hat thi eves woul d tr y to st eal t he di amonds. When t he pla ne ar ived, some of t he det ect ives were wai ti ng inside t he main buil ding whi le ot her s were wai ti ng on the ai rf ield. Two men took t he par cel of f the plane and car ri ed it i nto t he Cust oms House. Whi le two detecti ves wer e keepi ng guar d at the door, two others opened t he parcel. To t hei r sur pr ise, the pr ecious parcel was ful l of stones and sand! Lesson 8 The best and the worst 最好的和最差的 Joe Sanders has t he most beaut if ul gar den in our town. Nearl y ever ybody enter s for 39。s one o39。 I repeat ed. 39。What are you doing ?39。 39。 I 39。 I t hought. 39。 t he young m an said rudely. 39。t hear a wor d!39。I c an39。s none of your busines,39。What a day! 39。 Just then, t he tel ephone rang. It was my aunt Lucy. 39。Im i ng to see you.39。 I said. 39。m having br eakf ast ,39。Do you al ways get up so l at e ? I t39。Then he lent m e a book. I r ead a few lines, but I did not under stand a wor d. Every day I t hought about post car ds. My holidays pased qui ckly, but I did not send any car ds t o my fr iends. On the l ast day I ma de a big decision. I got up earl y and bought thi rt yseven cards. I spent the whole day i n my room, but I di d not wri te a si ngl e car d ! Leson 4 An exci ti ng tri p 激動人心的旅行 I have just received a let ter fr om my brot her , Tim. He is i n Austr al ia. He has been t her e f or si x months. Tim is an engineer. He i s worki ng for a bi g fi rm and he has al ready visit ed a great num ber of dif fer ent places in Aust rali a. He has j ust bought an Austr ali an car and has gone t o Ali ce Spri ngs, a smal town in t he cent re of Austr alia. He wi l l soon visit Dar win. Fr om t he r e, he wi l l f l y t o Per t h. My brot her has never been abr oad bef or e, so he i s fi nding t hi s tr ip ver y exci ti ng. Leson 5 No wrong numbers 無錯號之虞 Mr James Scott has a gar age in Si lbury and now he has j ust bought another gar age i n Pi nhur st . Pi nhur st is only f ive m il es f r om Sil bury, but Mr Scot t cannot get a t el ephone f or hi s new garage, so he has just bought twelve pi geons. Yest er day, a pi geon car ied t he fi rst mesage fr om Pi nhur st o Si lbury. The bir d cover ed the dist ance in thr e m inutes. Up t o now, Mr Scot t has s ent a gr eat many requests f or spar e par ts and other urgent mesages f rom one gar age to t he