【正文】 e f or a li ft . As soon as he had got i nto t he car , I sai d good morni ng to hi m i n Fr ench and he repli ed in the sam e language. Apart f rom a few words, I do not know a ny Fr ench at al. Nei ther of us spoke dur ing the jour ney. I had near ly r eached the t own, when t he young man suddenly said, ver y slowl y, 39。 As I soon learnt, he was Engli sh himself ! Lesson 15 Good news 佳音 The secr etary told me t hat Mr. Harm swor th would see me. I felt very ner vous when. I went i nto hi s off ice. He did not look up f r om his desk when I ent ered. Aft er I had sat down, he said t hat busi ness was very bad. He t ol d me that he fi rm could not af ord t o pay such l arge sal ari es. Twenty people had alr eady l eft . I knew t hat m y tur n had e. 39。 I sai d in a weak voi ce. 39。t inter rupt, 39。100 a year ! Leson 16 A polit e request 彬彬有禮的要求 I f you par k your car i n the wr ong place, a t raf fi c poli ceman wi l soon fi nd it . You wi l be very l ucky if he let s you go wit hout a t icket. However , thi s does not al ways happen. Tr af ic poli ce are someti mes ver y poli te. Duri ng a holi day in Sweden, I f ound this not e on my car: 39。 I f you r ecei ve a request l ike thi s, you cannot f ai l to obey it ! Leson 17 Al ways young 青年常駐 My aunt Jenni fer is an actr es. She must be at least t hir ty fi ve years ol d. I n spit e of this, she of ten appear s on the stage as a young gir l. Jennif er wi l l have t o take part i n a new pl ay soon. Thi s tim e, she wi l be a gi rl of seventeen. I n t he pl ay, she must appear i n a br ight red dr ess and l ong bl ack st ockings. Last year i n anot her pl ay, she had t o wear short socks and a br i ght, or ange col our ed dr es. If anyone ever asked her how old she i s, she al ways answer s, 39。 l esson18 H e oft en does t his! 他經(jīng)常干這種事！ Af ter I had had l unch at a vi l age i nn, I l ooked f or m y bag. I had l ef t it on a chair besi de t he door and now it wasn39。Di d you have a good m eal ?39。Yes, t hank you,39。but I can39。t got m y bag.39。I 39。 he said 39。 Leson19 Sol d out 票已售完 39。 I sai d. 39。 Susan answer ed. 39。May I have two ti ckets pl ease ?39。I 39。ve sold out ,39。What a pit y!39。Can I ret ur n t hese two ti cket s?39。Cer t ai nly,39。Could I have those two ti cket s pl ease ?39。Cer tai nl y, 39。but t hey ar e f or next Wednesday39。I m ight as wel have t hem ,39。You must gi ve up f ishi ng!39。 It 39。 But t hey don39。m not r eal ly i nterested i n f ishi ng. I am only i nterested i n sit ing i n a boat and doi ng not hing at al l ! Leson21 Mad or not ? 是不是瘋了？ Aer opl anes are sl owl y dr ivi ng me mad. I li ve near an air por t and passi ng planes can be heard ni ght and day. The ai rport was buil t dur ing the war, but for some r eason it could not be used t hen. Last year, however , it cam e int o use. Over a hundr ed people must have been dr iven away f rom their homes by the noi se. I am one of the f ew peopl e lef t. Someti mes I thi nk this house wil l be knocked down by a pasi ng pl ane. I have been of fered a large sum of m oney t o go away, but I am deter mined t o stay here. Ever ybody says I must be m ad and they are pr obably ri ght . Lesson22 A glass envel ope 玻璃信封 My daughter , Jane, never dr eamed of r ecei vi ng a l et ter fr om a gir l of her own age in Holland. Last year , we wer e tr ave l ing 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 i nto t he sea. She never thought of i t again, but ten months l ater, she received a let ter fr om a gi rl i n Hol land. Bot h gir ls wr i te t o each other r egular ly now. However, t hey have deci ded to use the post off ice. Let ters wi l l cost a li t 1e more, but t hey wil l cer tainl y tr avel f aster . Lesson23 A new house 新居 I had a let er fr om m y si ster yester day. She li ves i n Ni ger ia. I n her l eter , she said t hat she would e to England next year. I f she es, she wi l get a sur pri se. We ar e now l iving i n a beaut if ul new house i n the count r y. Work on i t had begun befor e my sist er l ef t. The house was pl eted f ive months ago. In m y let ter, I t ol d her that she could stay wi t h us. The house has many l ar ge r ooms and t her e i s a lovely gar den. It i s a ver y m odern house, so i t looks st range to some people. It m ust be the onl y moder n house in t he distr ict. Lesson24 It coul d be worse 不幸中之萬(wàn)幸 I ent er ed the hotel manager 39。 50 and I felt very upset. 39。 I said, 39。s not there now. 39。Ever yone39。 he said. He st ar t ed to pl ai n about t his wi cked wor ld but was i nter upt ed by a knock at t he door . A gi rl cam e in and put an envel ope on hi s des k. It contained amp。I f ound t his outside t his gentl em an39。 she said. 39。 I said to t he manager , 39。 l eson25 Do t he Engli sh speak Engli sh? 英國(guó)人講的是英語(yǔ)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 English ver y car efull y, but very cl ear ly as wel l. The port er , however, could not under st and me。I am a f oreigner, 39。You39。 he said. I wonder . In Engl and, each m an speaks a di f erent l anguage. The English understand each ot her , but I don39。about39。about 39。 What ar e you doing ?39。 I39。 I answered. 39。s a new one. Do you l ike i t ?39。 I t39。 she said, 39。t it upsidedown ?39。 No Parking39。s. Bil l works harder t han Joe and gr ows m or e fl owers and veget abl es, but Joe39。 t im e. Fi ft een m i nut es passed and t hen, at f i ve t o t wel ve, t he cl ock st opped. The big m inute hand di d not m ove. We wai t ed and wait ed, but nothi ng happened. Suddenly someone shout ed, 39。s t wo m inut es past t welve! The cl ock has st opped!39。s. Lesson 11 O ne good t urn deserves another 禮尚往來(lái) I was havi ng di nner at a r estaur ant when Har y St eel e cam e in. Har y wor ked