【導(dǎo)讀】Theclockhasstopped!dinner!

　　

【正文】 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 hear d night and day. The air por t was bui lt duri ng the war , but f or some reason i t coul d not be used then. Last year , however, it came i nto use. Over a hundred peopl e must have bee n dri ven away f rom thei r homes by t he noi se. I am one of t he few people l eft . Som et imes I t hink t hi s house wi l be knocked down by a passing plane. I have been of f er ed a lar ge sum of money to go away, but I am det ermi ned to st ay her e. Everybody says I must be mad and they ar e probabl y r ight. Leson22 A gl ass envelope 玻璃信封 My daught er , Jane, never dreamed of recei ving a l et er f rom a gir l of her own age i n Holl and. Last year, we wer e t ravel li ng a cr oss t he Channel and Jane put a piece of paper wit h her nam e and address on it i nto a bot tl e. She thr ew t he bot tl e int o the sea. She never t hought of it agai n, but ten m ont hs later , she r eceived a l et er f rom a gir l in Holland. Both gi rl s wr ite to each other regularl y now. However , they have decided t o use t he post of fi ce. Let er s wi l cost a l it t1e mor e, but they wi l cert ai nly t ravel faster. Leson23 A new house 新居 I had a l et er f rom my si st er yesterday. She l ives i n Niger ia. In her let ter, she sai d that she woul d e t o Engl and next ye ar . If she es, she wil 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 modern house, so it l ooks str ange to some peopl e. I t must be the only moder n house i n the di st ri ct. Lesson24 It could be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I ent er ed t he hot el manager39。s of f ice and sat down. I had j ust l ost amp。50 and I f el t ver y upset .39。 I lef t he money in my r oom ,39。 I sai d, 39。and i t39。s not t her e now.39。 The manager was sympat het ic, but he could do not hing. 39。Everyone39。s losing money t hese days,39。 he said. He start ed to pl ai n about t his wi cked wor ld but was i nter upted by a knock at t he door . A gi rl cam e in and put an envel ope on hi s desk. It contained amp。5o. 39。I f ound t his outsi de t his gentl em an39。s room39。 she said. 39。Wel ,39。 I sai d to t he manager , 39。t here is sti l some honesty in t his wor ld ! 39。 l eson25 Do t he Engli sh speak Engli sh? 英國人講的是英語嗎？ I ar ri ved i n London at l ast . The rail way stati on was big, black and dar k. I di d not know the way t o my hot el , so I asked a port er . I not only spoke Engli sh ver y car efull y, but very cl ear ly as wel l. The port er , however, could not under st and me。 I repeat ed my quest ion sever al t imes and at last he understood. He answer ed me, but he spoke nei ther sl owly nor clearl y. 39。I am a f orei gne r, 39。 I said. Then he spoke slowl y, but I coul d not understand hi m. My t eacher never spoke Engli sh li ke that! The port er and I l ooked at each ot her and smil ed. Then he sai d something and I under stood i t. 39。You39。l l soon l ear n Engli sh! 39。 he said. I wonder . In Engl and, each m an speaks a di f erent language. The Engl ish under stand each ot her , but I don39。t under st and t hem ! Do they speak Engli sh ? leson26 The best art cri ti cs 最佳美術(shù)評論家 I am an ar t student and I pai nt a lot of pictur es. Many peopl e pret end t hat hey underst and m oder n art . They al ways t el you what a pi ctur e is 39。about39。. Of course, many pictur es ar c not 39。about 39。 anything. They ar e j ust pret ty pat erns. We l ike t hem in the sam e way that we l ike pr et ty cur tain materi al. I thi nk that young chil dr en oft en appr eci at e modern pi ctures bet er than anyone else. They noti ce more. My si ster is only seven, but she al ways t el s me whether my pi ct ures are good or not. She cam e int o my r oom yesterday. 39。 What ar e you doi ng ?39。 she asked. 39。 I 39。m hangi ng t hi s pi cture on the wal l,39。 I answer ed. 39。I t 39。s a new one. Do you li ke it ?39。 She looked at i t cr it ical y for a m om ent .39。 It 39。s al r ight ,39。 she said, 39。but isn39。t it upsi de down ?39。 I looked at i t again. She was ri ght! I t was! Leson27 A wet ni ght 雨夜 Lat e in the aft ernoon, t he boys put up thei r t ent i n t he middle of a fi el d. As soon as t hi s was done, they cooked a meal over an open f ir e. They wer e al hungr y and the f ood smelt good. Af ter a wonderf ul m eal , they tol d st ori es and sang songs by t he camp fi re. But some tim e lat er i t began t o rai n. The boys fel t ir ed so they pet out t he fi re and crept int o their t ent . Thei r sl epi 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 shout ing. The tent was ful l of wat er! They al leapt out of their sl eping bags and hur r ied outside. It was r ai ning heavi ly and t hey found that a str eam had for med in the f ield. The str eam wound it s way across the f ield and t hen fl owed ri ght under t hei r t ent ! Lesson28 No parki ng 禁止停車 Jasper Whi te i s one of those r are 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 or i st s. when he r et urns home at night, he always f inds that som eone has par ked a car out si de hi s gate . Because of t his, he has not been able to get his own car int o his garage even once. Jasper has put up39。 No Parki ng39。 signs outside his gat e, but these have not had any ef fect. Now he has put an ugl y stone head over the gate. I t i s one of the ugli est faces I have ever seen. I asked hi m what i t was 1