【導(dǎo)讀】Theclockhasstopped!

　　

【正文】 ever catch anything not even old boots. Af ter havi ng spent whol e mor nings on the r iver, I always go home wit h an empty bag. 39。You m ust give up f is hing!39。 m y fr iends say.39。 I t39。s a wast e of ti me.39。 But they don39。t reali ze one i mport ant t hi ng. I 39。m not realy inter est ed in f ishing. I am only inter est ed i n sit ti ng in a boat and doi ng nothing at al ! Leson21 Mad or not ? 是不是瘋了？ Aer opl anes are sl owly dr ivi ng me mad. I li ve near an air por t and passing planes can be heard ni ght and day. The ai rport was bui lt duri ng the war , but for some r eason it could not be used t hen. Last year, however , it came int o use. Over a hundr ed peopl e must have been dr iven away f rom their homes by t he noi se. I am one of the f ew people l ef t. Someti mes I thi nk thi s house wi l be knocked down by a passi ng plane. I have been of fer ed a large sum of money t o go away, but I am det er mi ned t o stay here. Ever ybody says I must be mad and they are pr obably ri 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 f rom a gir l of her own age in Holl and. 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 threw the bott le into the sea. She never thought of i t again, but ten months l ater, she received a let 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 m y 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 get a sur pri se. We ar e now l iving in a beauti ful new house i n the countr y. Work on it had begun befor e my si st er l eft . The house was pleted f ive mont hs ago. In my l et ter , I t old her that she could st ay wit h us. The house has m any l arge r oom s and there i s a lovely gar den. It i s a very m oder n house, so it looks str ange t o some people. I t must be t he onl y modern house in t he distr ict . Lesson24 It coul d be worse 不幸 中 之萬幸 I ent ered t he hot el m anager 39。s of fi ce and sat down. I had j ust lost amp。50 and I fel t ver y upset. 39。 I left t he money in m y room, 39。 I said, 39。and i t39。s not ther e now. 39。 The manager was sym pat het ic, but he could do not hi ng. 39。Ever yone39。s l osi ng money these days,39。 he sai d. He st art ed to pl ai n about t hi s wi cked wor ld but was int er r upt ed by a knock at t he door . A gir l cam e in and put an envelope on hi s desk. I t cont ained amp。5o. 39。I found t hi s outside t his gent leman39。s r oom39。 she said. 39。Wel l, 39。 I said to t he manager, 39。t here i s st il l som e honesty i n thi s worl d ! 39。 l esson25 Do t he English speak Engli sh? 英國人講的是英語嗎？ I ar ived i n London at l ast. The r ail way st ation was bi g, bl ack and dark. I did not know t he way to my hotel , so I asked a por ter . I not only spoke Engl ish very car ef ull y, but ver y clearl y as wel . The por ter , howeve r, coul d not under st and m e。 I r epeated m y questi on sever al t imes and at last he understood. He answer ed me, but he spoke neit her slowl y nor clearl y. 39。I am a f or eigner, 39。 I said. Then he spoke slowl y, but I coul d not understand him . My t eacher never spoke Engli sh l ike t hat ! The port er and I looked at each other and sm il ed. Then he sai d som et hing and I under stood it . 39。You39。l l soon l ear n Engl ish!39。 he said. I wonder . I n Engl and, each m an speaks a dif ferent language. The Engl ish understand each ot her , but I don39。t under st and them ! Do they speak Engli sh ? lesson26 The best art crit ics 最佳美術(shù)評論家 I am an art student and I paint a lot of pictur es. Many people pr et end that they under st and moder n art . They al ways tel you what a pictur e is 39。about39。. Of cour se, many pict ur es ar c not 39。about 39。 anythi ng. They are j ust pr et ty pat terns. We l ike t hem in the same way t hat we l ike pr ety cur tain mater ial. I thi nk that young chil dren of ten appr eci ate m oder n pictur es bet ter than anyone else. They not ice mor e. My sister is onl y seven, but she al ways tel s me whet her my pi ctur es ar e good or not. She came i nt o my room yester day. 39。 What ar e you doing ?39。 she asked. 39。 I39。m hangi ng thi s pictur e on the wal l, 39。 I answer ed. 39。I t 39。s a new one. Do you l ike it ?39。 She looked at i t cr it ical y f or a m oment .39。 I t39。s al l ri ght ,39。 she said, 39。but isn39。t it upsidedown ?39。 I looked at i t again. She was r ight! I t was! Leson27 A wet ni ght 雨夜 Late i n the af ternoon, the boys put up t hei r tent in t he middl e of a fi el d. As soon as t his was done, t hey cooked a meal over an open f i re. They wer e al hungry and t he food smelt good. Af t er a wonderf ul meal , they tol d stori es and sang songs by t he cam p fi re. But som e ti me l at er i t began t o rai n. The boys fel t tir ed so they pet out t he fi re and crept int o their t ent . Thei r sl eepi ng bags wer e warm and for table, so they al slept soundly. In the mi ddl e of the ni ght , two boys woke up and began shouti ng. The tent was ful l of wat er! They al l eapt out of t hei r sl eping bags and hurr ied outside. It was r aining heavily and they found t hat a str eam had for med i n the f ield. The str eam wound it s way across the f ield and t hen fl owed ri ght under their tent ! Lesson28 No parki ng 禁止停車 Jasper Whi te i s one of those rare people who bel ieves in ancient m yths. He has j ust bought a new house in the cit y, but ever since he moved in, he has had tr oubl e wit h mot ori st s. when he r et urns home at night, he always f inds that som eone has par k