【文章內容簡介】 g f irm and he has al ready visited a gre at number of di f er ent pl aces i n Austr al ia. He has j ust bought an Aust ralian car and has gone t o Alice Spr ings, a smal town in t he centr e of Aust ralia. He wil soon visi t Darwi n. From t here, he wi l fl y to Per th. My brother has never been abroad before, so he is fi ndi ng t hi s t ri p very exci 5 No wrong numbers 無錯號之虞 Mr James Scot t has a garage i n Si lbur y and now he has j ust bought another gar age in Pinhur st . Pi nhurst i s only f ive miles fr om Si lbury, but Mr Scot t cannot get a t el ephone for hi s new gar age, so he has j ust bought twelve pi geons. Yesterday, a pi geon car ied the f ir st mesage fr om Pi nhurst to Silbury. The bird covered the dist ance in three minutes. Up to now, Mr Scott has sent a gr eat many request s for spar e part s and other urgent messa ges f rom one garage t o the ot her. In t hi s way, he has begun hi s own pri vate t el ephone 6 Percy Butons 珀西巴頓斯 I have just moved t o a house in Br idge Str et. Yest er day a beggar knocked at my door. He asked me f or a meal and a glas of beer . In retur n for t hi s, the beggar st ood on hi s head and sang songs. I gave him a meal . He ate t he f ood and drank the beer . Then he put a piece of cheese in his pocket and went away. Later a neighbour t ol d me about him. Everybody knows hi m. Hi s name is Per cy Butt ons. He cal ls at ever y house in t he str et once a month and always asks f or a meal and a glas of beer . Lesson 7 Too late 為時太晚 The plane was late and detect ives were wait ng at the ai rpor t al l morning. They were expecting a valuabl e parcel of di amond fr om South Af rica. A f ew hours ear lier , someone had told the pol ice t hat thieves woul d try t o st eal the di amonds. When the plane ar ived, some of t he det ecti ves wer e wai ting inside the mai n buil di ng whil e ot hers were wait ng on the airf ield. Two men took the parcel off t he plane and car ied it into the Cust oms House. Whil e two det ecti ves wer e keepi ng guar d at the door, two others opened the parcel. To t heir sur prise, the preci ous par cel was full of stones and sand! Leson 8 The best and t he worst 最好的和最差的 Joe Sander s has the most beaut iful garden in our t own. Nearly ever ybody enters for 39。The Ni cest Garden Compet it on39。 each year , but Joe wins ever y ti me. Bil Fri th39。s gar den is larger t han Joe39。s. Bi l wor ks harder than Joe and grows mor e flowers and vegetabl es , but Joe39。s garden i s mor e interest ing. He has made neat paths and has built a wooden br idge over a pool. I like gar dens too, but I do not l ike hard wor k. Every year I enter for the garden pet it on t oo, and I al ways win a li t le pr ize for the wor st gar den in t he t own! Leson 9 A col d wel e 冷遇 On Wednesday eveni ng, we went t o the Town Hal . I t was the last day of the year and a l ar ge crowd of people had gathered under the Town Hal clock. It would str ike twelve in twent y minutes39。 time. Fi ft en minutes pased and then, at fi ve t o twel ve, the cl ock st opped. The big mi nute hand did not move. We waited and wait ed, but nothing happened. Suddenly someone shouted, 39。I t39。s two mi nut es past wel ve! The clock has stopped!39。 I l ooked at my wat ch. It was t rue. The big clock refused to wele t he New Year . At t hat moment everybody began to laugh and sing. Leson 10 Not f or jazz 不適于演奏爵士樂 We have an old musi cal inst rument. It i s caled a cl avichor d( 翼琴 ). It was made i n Ger many i n 1681. Our clavichord i s kept in t he l ivingroom. I t has belong to our f ami ly for along time. The instrument was bought by my gr andfather many year s ago. Recently i t was damaged by a vi sit or. She tr ied to play jaz on it ! She st ruck t he keys too har d and two of the st ri ngs wer e br oken. My f at he r was shocked. Now we are not alowed t o touch i t. It is bei ng r epaired by a fri end of m y father 39。s. Lesson 11 One good t urn deserves another 禮尚往來 I was havi ng dinner at a r estaurant when Har y St ele came i n. Hary wor ked in a l awyer 39。s offi ce year s ago, but he is now wor ki ng at a bank. He gets a good sal ar y, but he al ways borr ows money f rom his f riends and never pays i t back. Har ry saw me and came and sat at he same t able. He has never bor rowed money f rom me. Whi le he was eat ing, I asked him to lend me amp。2. To my surpr ise, he gave me the money immediately. 39。I have never borr owed any money f rom you,39。 Hary said, 39。so now you can pay f or my dinner !39。 Leson 12 Goodbye and good l uck 再見，一路順風 Our ncighbour, Captain Char les Alison, wil l sai l f rom Port smout h tomorrow. We shal met hi m at he harbour ear ly in t he m or ni ng. He wil l be in his smal l boat , Topsail .Tapsail is a f amous lit tle boat . I t has sailed acr oss the Atlantic many times. Capt ai n Alison wi l set out at eight o39。clock so we shal l have plenty of t ime. W e shal l see hi s boat and t hen we shal say good bye to hi m. He wil l be away f or t wo months. We are very proud of him. He wi l take part in an important r ace acr oss the At lant ic. Leson 13 The Greenwood Boys 綠林少年 The Greenwood Boys ar e a gr oup of popul ar si ngers. At present , they are visit ng al par ts of t he countr y. They wi l be ar iving her e t om or row. They wi l be ing by t rain and most of the young people i n the town wil be meti ng t hem at the st ati on. Tomorr ow eveni ng t hey wil l be singi ng at the Worker s39。 Club. The Gr enwood Boys wil l be stayi ng f or f ive days. Dur ing this ti me, they wil give fi ve per formances. As usual , t he police wil l have a dif ficult time. They wil l be tr yi ng t o keep or der. I t i s always t he same on t hese occasi ons. Lesson 14 Do you speak Engli sh? 你會講英語嗎？ I had an amusi ng experi ence l ast year. Aft er I had left a smal l vil lage i n the sout h of France, I drove on t o the next t own. On the way, a young man waved t o me. I st