【正文】 Lesson23 A new house 新 居 I had a let er fr om m y si ster yester day. She l i ves i n Ni ger ia. I n her l eter , she said t hat she would e to England next year. I f she es, she wi l get a sur pri se . We ar e now l iving i n a beaut if ul new house i n the countr y. Work on i t had begun befor e my sist er l ef t . The house was pl eted f ive months ago. In m y let ter, I t ol d her that she could stay wi t h us. The house ha s many l ar ge r ooms and t her e i s a lovely gar den. It i s a ver y m oder n house, so i t looks st range to some people. It m ust be the onl y modern house in t he distr ict. Lesson24 It coul d be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I ent er ed the hotel manager 39。Ever yone39。s not there now. 39。 But they don39。but they ar e for next Wednesday39。Can I r eturn these two t ickets?39。May I have two ti ckets pl ease ?39。 he sai d 39。Yes, t hank you,39。100 a year ! Leson 16 A poli te request 彬彬有禮的要求 I f you park your car i n the wr ong place, a tr af fi c poli ceman wi l l soon f ind i t. You wi l be very l ucky if he l et s you go wit hout a t icket. However, thi s does not al ways happen. Tr af ic pol ice are s ometi mes very poli te. Dur ing a holi day in Sweden, I f ound thi s not e on my car :39。 Cl ub. The Greenwood Boys wil be st ayi ng f or fi ve days. Duri ng t hi s ti me, they wi l gi ve f i ve perf orm ances. As usual , t he poli ce wil l have a di f icult t im e. They wil l be t r yi ng t o keep or der. I t i s always the same on t hese occasions. Lesson 14 Do you speak Engli sh? 你會(huì)講英語嗎？ I had an am usi ng experi ence l ast year . Aft er I had l eft a smal vil lage i n the south of Fr ance, I dr ove on to t he next t own. On the way, a young man waved to m e. I stopped and he asked me f or a li ft . As soon as he had got into the car, I sai d good morni ng to hi m i n Fr ench and he r epl ied i n the same l anguage. Apart f rom a f ew words, I do not know any Fr ench at al . Nei ther of us spoke duri ng the j our ney. I had near ly r eached the t own, when the young man suddenly said, very slowl y, 39。s. Lesson 11 O ne good turn deserves anot her 禮尚往來 I was having dinner at a restaurant when Har y Steele came i n. Har ry worked i n a lawyer 39。 each year , but Joe wi ns every time. Bi l Fr it h39。 signs out side his gate, but t hese have not had any ef ect . Now he has put an ugl y stone head over the gate. It i s one of t he ugliest faces I have ever seen. I asked hi m what it was and he t ol d 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 to stone yet! Lesson29 Taxi! 出租汽車！ Capt ai n Ben Fawcet has bought an unusual t axi and has begun a new servi ce. The 39。 She l ooked at it cri ti cal ly f or a moment. 39。 anyt hing. They ar e just pret y pater ns. We li ke them i n t he same way that we li ke pret y curt ai n mat er ial . I t hink t hat young chi ldr en oft en appreciat e moder n pi ct ures beter t han anyone el se. They noti ce m ore. My si st er i s only seven, but she always t el ls m e whether my pict ur es are good or not . She came into my r oom yest erday. 39。 I sai d. Then he spoke sl owly, but I could not under stand him . My t eacher never spoke Engl ish l ike t hat ! The por ter and I looked at each other and smi led. Then he said somet hing and I under st ood it . 39。s r oom 39。and it 39。s a wast e of ti me.39。t he gir l said, 39。 Susan exclaim ed. Just then, a man hurr ied t o t he t i cket of fi ce. 39。I hurr ied t o the t icket off ice. 39。m very sor ry,39。 he asked. 39。 he Sai d. Then he smi led and tol d me I woul d receive an extr a amp。cl ock so we shal have plenty of t im e. We shal see his boat and t hen we shal l say good bye t o hi m. He wi l be away f or t wo m ont hs. We are ver y proud of him. He wil l take par t i n an im por tant race acr oss t he Atl ant i c. Leson 13 The G renwood Boys 綠林少年 The Greenwood Boys ar e a gr oup of popul ar si nger s. At pr esent, t hey ar e vi sit ng al part s of the count r y. They wil l be ar ivi ng her e t om or r ow. They wi l be i ng by t r ai n and most of t he young peopl e i n t he t own wi l be m eti ng t hem at t he st at i on. Tomor row evening t hey wil l be si ngi ng at t he Wor ker s39。 I l ooked at my wat ch. I t was tr ue. The bi g cl ock ref used t o wele t he New Year. At t hat m om ent everybody began t o laugh and si ng. Lesson 10 Not for j azz 不適于演奏爵士樂 We have an old m usi cal instr ument. I t i s cal led a cl avi chor d(翼琴 ) . It was m ade i n Germ any i n 1681. Our clavichord is kept i n t he li vi ngr oom . I t has bel ong t o our fami ly for a l ong t im e. The i nst rument was bought by my gr andf ather many year s ago. Recent ly i t was damaged by a vi si tor . She t ri ed to pl ay jazz on it ! She st ruck t he keys t oo har d and two of the str ings were br oken. My father was shocked. Now we ar e not al lowed t o touch it . It i s bei ng repair ed by a fr iend of my father39。The Ni cest Gar den Com pet it ion39。s. Bil l works harder than Joe and gr ows mor e fl owers and veget abl es, but Joe39。2. To my sur pri se, he gave m e the m oney i mmediatel y. 39。 As I soon learnt , he was Engl ish him self ! Leson 15 Good 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 hi s off ice. He did not l ook up fr om hi s desk when I entered. Af ter I had sat down, he said t hat busines was ver y bad. He t old me that the f ir m could not afford to pay such large salar ies. Twenty people had al ready left . I knew that my t ur n had e. 39。 I f you recei ve a r equest l ike t hi s, you cannot f ai l to obey i t! Leson 17 Al ways young 青年常駐 My aunt Jenni fer is an actr es. She must be at least hir ty fi ve year s ol d. In spit e of this, she of ten appear s on the st age as a young gir l. Jenni fer wil l have t o t ake part i n a new pl ay soon. T