【正文】 ong to our f am il y for a l ong ti me. The inst rum ent was bought by my grandfather many year s ago. Recent ly i t was dam aged by a vi si tor . She t ri ed to pl ay jazz on i t! She str uck t he keys t oo har d and t wo of the str ings wer e broken. My f at her was shocked. Now we ar e not al lowed t o touch i t. It i s bei ng repair ed by a f ri end of m y fat her 39。I t39。s gar den i s mor e int er est ing. He has made neat pat hs and has buil t a wooden br idge over a pool . I like gar dens too, but I do not l ike hard wor k. Ever y year I enter f or t he gar den pet it ion t oo, and I always wi n a l it le pr ize f or the wor st garden i n the t own! Lesson 9 A col d wele 冷遇 On Wednesday evening, we went to t he Town Hal . It was t he last day of the year and a large cr owd of people had gather ed under the Town Hal clock. I t would str ike t welve i n twent y mi nut es39。s gar den i s l arger than Joe39。The Ni cest Gar den Com pet it ion39。 he sai d. I wonder. I n England, each man speaks a dif f er ent l anguage. The Engli sh underst and each other, but I don39。You39。I am a for eigner ,39。 lesson25 Do the Engl ish speak English? 英國(guó)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 dark. I did not know t he way to m y hotel, so I asked a por ter. I not onl y spoke Engl ish ver y caref ul ly, but ver y clearl y as wel . The por ter, however , coul d not understand me。 I said t o the m anager, 39。 she sai d. 39。I found t hi s outside t hi s gent leman39。 he sai d. He st art ed to plai n about thi s wicked wor ld but was int er rupt ed by a knock at the door. A gir l came in and put an envelope on his desk. I t cont ai ned amp。Ever yone39。s not there now. 39。 I said, 39。50 and I fel t ver y upset. 39。m not real y i nt erested i n fi shi ng. I am onl y int erest ed in si t ing i n a boat and doing not hi ng at al l ! Lesson21 Mad or not? 是不是瘋了？ Aeroplanes ar e slowl y dri ving me mad. I l ive near an ai rport and pasing pl anes can be hear d night and day. The ai r por t was built dur ing t he war , but f or som e reason i t coul d not be used then. Last year , however, i t came i nto use. Over a hundred people must have been dri ven away fr om t hei r hom es by the noise. I am one of t he few people left . Som et im es I t hink t his house wi l l be knocked down by a passing pl ane. I have been off er ed a l ar ge sum of money to go away, but I am determ ined to st ay her e. Ever ybody says I m ust be mad and t hey ar e probabl y r ight. Lesson22 A gl ass envelope 玻璃信封 My daught er, Jane, never dreamed of receiving a let er f r om a gi rl of her own age i n Hol land. Last year, we were t ravel ing a cross the Channel and Jane put a piece of paper wi th her name and addr ess on i t i nto a bot tl e. She t hr ew t he bot tl e int o t he sea. She never t hought of it agai n, but t en months lat er , she r ecei ved a let er f rom a gir l in Holl and. Both gi rl s wr it e to each other regularl y now. However , they have decided t o use the post of fi ce. Let ers wi l cost a l it t1e mor e, but t hey wi l cert ainly tr avel faster. Leson23 A new house 新居 I had a l et 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 year . 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 te r , 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 som e 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 er ed the hot el manager 39。 But they don39。 It 39。You must gi ve up fi shi ng! 39。I m ight as wel l have t hem ,39。but t hey ar e f or next Wednesday39。Cer tainl y, 39。Coul d I have those two ti ckets pl ease ?39。Cer tai nl y,39。Can I retur n these two ti ckets?39。What a pit y!39。ve sold out ,39。I 39。May I have two ti ckets pl ease ?39。 Susan answered. 39。 I said. 39。 Lesson19 Sol d out 票已售完 39。 he sai d 39。I 39。t got m y bag. 39。but I can39。Yes, t hank you,39。Di d you have a good meal ?39。 leson18 He of ten does t his! 他經(jīng)常干這種事！ Af ter I had had l unch at a vi lage i nn, I l ooked f or m y bag. I had lef t it on a chair besi de the door and now it wasn39。 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. Thi s ti me, she wi l l be a gi rl of seventeen. I n t he play, she must appear i n a br i ght r ed dress and l ong black stocki ngs. Last year in another play, she had to wear short socks and a bri ght, orange coloured dr ess. I f anyone ever asked her how ol d she is, she al ways answers, 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 lucky 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 someti mes very poli te. Dur ing a holi day in Sweden, I f ound thi s not e on my car :39。t inter rupt, 39。 I sai d i n a weak voice. 39。 As I soon learnt , he was Engl ish him self ! Leson 15 G ood 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 e ntered. 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 af ford to pay such large salar ies. Twent y peopl e had alr eady left . I knew that m y tur n h