【正文】 ple. 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。s of fi ce and sat down. I had just lost amp。 50 and I felt very upset. 39。 I l eft the m oney i n my room, 39。 I said, 39。and it 39。s not there now. 39。 The m anager was sympatheti c, but he coul d do nothi ng. 39。Ever yone39。s l osi ng money these days,39。 he sai d. He st ar ted t o plain about thi s wicked worl d but was inter rupted by a knock at the door. A gir l came i n and put an envelope on his desk. I t cont ai ned amp。5o. 39。I found thi s out side thi s gent leman39。s r oom39。 she sai d. 39。Wel l,39。 I said t o the manager, 39。t her e i s st il l some honest y in this worl d !39。 lesson25 Do the Engl ish speak English? 英國人講的是英語嗎？ I ar ived in London at last. The r ai lway st at ion was bi g, bl ack and dar k. I di d not know the way t o my hot el, so I asked a port er. I not onl y spoke Engli sh ver y car eful ly, but very cl ear ly as wel l. The port er, however , could not under stand me。 I repeat ed my quest ion sever al tim es and at last he under st ood. He answered me, but he spoke nei ther sl owly nor cl ear ly. 39。I am a forei gner ,39。 I sai d. Then he spoke sl owl y, but I c ould not under st and hi m. My teacher never spoke Engl ish li ke that! The por ter and I l ooked at each ot her and smi led. Then he said s omethi ng and I understood i t. 39。You39。l l soon l ear n Engli sh! 39。 he said. I wonder. In Engl and, each man speaks a dif fer ent language. The English understand each ot her , but I don39。t under st and them ! Do they speak Engl ish ? lesson26 The best art crit ics 最佳美術(shù)評論家 I am an art student and I paint a l ot of pict ur 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 arc not 39。about 39。 anythi ng. They are j ust pr et ty pat terns. We l ike t hem i n the s ame way t hat we like pr et y cur tai n mater ial. I t hi nk t hat young chi ldren of ten appreciate m oder n pictur es bet ter than anyone el se. They not ice mor e. My sister i s onl y seven, but she always tel s me whet her m y pictur es ar e good or not . She came i nto m y room yester day. 39。 What ar e you doing ?39。 she asked. 39。 I39。m hanging t hi s pictur e on t he wal l, 39。 I answered. 39。It 39。s a new one. Do you l ike i t ?39。 She looked at i t cri tical y f or a moment. 39。 I t39。s al l ri ght ,39。 she said, 39。but isn39。t i t upsidedown ?39。 I looked at i t agai n. She was r ight! I t was! Lesson27 A wet night 雨夜 Late i n the af ter noon, the boys put up t hei r tent in t he mi ddl e of a fi eld. As soon as t his was done, t hey cooked a meal over an open fi re. They were al hungry and t he food smelt good. Af t er a wonder ful me al, they t ol d stor ies and sang songs by the cam p f ir e. But some ti me l at er it began t o r ai n. The boys f el t ti red so t hey pet out t he fi re and cr ept i nt o t hei r tent. Their sleepi ngbags wer e war m and f or tabl e, so they al slept soundly. I n the middle of t he ni ght, two boys woke up and began shouti ng. The t ent was f ull of water! They al l eapt out of t hei r sl eepi ng bags and hur r i ed 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 tent! Lesson28 No parki ng 禁止停車 Jasper Whi te i s one of t hose r are people who bel ieves i n anci ent m yths. He has j ust bought a new house in the cit y, but ever since he moved in, he has had t rouble wit h mot or ist s. when he r et urns home at night, he always f inds that someone has par ked a car outsi de hi s gat e. Because of t his, he has not been able t o get hi s own car into his garage even once. Jasper has put up39。 No Parki ng39。 signs out side his gate, but these have not had any ef e ct . Now he has put an ugl y stone head over the gate. It i s one of t he ugli est faces I have ever seen. I asked hi m what i t was and he t old 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 t has bought an unusual t axi and has begun a new servi ce. The 39。t axi 39。 i s a smal Swi s aeropl ane cal l ed a 39。Pil at us Port er 39。. This wonderf ul pl ane can car y seven passenger s. The most surpr ising t hing about i t, however , is t hat it can l and anywhere: on snow, wat er , or even on a pl oughed fi eld. Capt ain Fawcet 39。s f ir st pasenger was a doctor who f lew fr om Bi rm ingham t o a lonely vi l age i n t he Welsh m ount ai ns. Since t hen, Captain Fawcet has fl own pasenger s to m any unusual places. Once he l anded on t he roof of a bl ock of fl at s and on anot her occasion, he landed in a desert ed car park. Capt ain Fawcet has just refused a str ange r equest f r om a businesman. The man wanted t o fl y t o Rockal l, a lonely island in the At lanti c Ocean, but Capt ai n Fawcet t did not take him because the t ri p was too dangerous. Lesson30 Football or polo? 足球還是水球？ The Wayl e is a smal l ri ver t hat cuts across the park near my home. I li ke si t ing by t he Wayle on fi ne af t er noons. It was war m l ast Sunday, so I went and sat on the r iver bank as usual . Some chi ldren wer e playing games on t he bank and t her e were some people r owing on the r iver. Suddenly, one of the chi l dr en kicked a bal l ver y hard and i t went t owards a pasi ng boat . Some people on t he bank cal led out to t he man in the boa t, but he di d not hear them. The bal st r uck hi m so hard that he nearl y f el l into the wat er . I tur ned t o l ook at t he chi ldren, but t her e wer en39。t any i n sight: they had al r un away! The m an laughed when he r eal ized what had happened. He caled out to