7.We Really Don't Know
Jack had gone to theuniversity tostudyhishistory, but at the end of his secondterm,hefailedhishistoryexam, and he was told that he would bedismissed from university.However, his father decided that he would go to see the history professor(教授) to ask him toletJackcontinuehis studies the next year.
“He's a goodboy,”said Jack's father,“Pleasepardon him. If you let him pass this time,I'msure he'llimprovealot next year and pass the examinations at the end of itreally well.”
“No, no, that'squiteimpossible!”replied the professor immediately.“Do you know, last month I asked him when Napoleondied,and he didn't know!”“Please, sir,givehimanother chance”said Jack's father.“You see,I'mafraid we don't take anynewspapers in our house so we even don't know that Napoleon wasillrecently.”
【汉语翻译】
我们真的不知道
杰克去大学(university)里学习(study)历史(history)，但在第二学期(term)末，他的历史考试不及格(he failed his history exam)．同时他还被告知将被开除(dismiss)。然而(however)．杰克的父亲(father)决定去拜访那位历史学教授，请求教授让(let)杰克继续(continue)下一年的学业。
“他是个不错的男孩(boy)。”杰克的父亲(father)说，“请原谅(pardon)他吧！如果这次您能让他通过(pass)，我确信(I'm sure)他明年一定会大有长进(improve a lot)；而且会在年终时真正地(really)很出色地通过考试。”
“不，不行，那是完全不可能的(quite impossible)。”教授立即(immediately)回答(reply)，“您知道吗，上个月我问他拿破仑是什么时候去世(die)的，可他居然不知道！”
“先生，请再给他一次机会(give him another chance)吧。”杰克的父亲说道，“您要知道，恐怕(I'm afraid)是因为我们家里没有报纸(newspaper)。因此我们甚至连拿破仑近来(recently)病了(ill)都不知道。”
8.Raymond
Everybody dreams of doing something important. As a boy Raymond dreamed of being a scientist, in fact, he is a postman now.
Raymond is an active young man. He lives by the saying(格言)“If you can't live the life you love, Love the life you live” He greets everyone with a big smile and a friendly“Hi, how are you?”And he really wants to know! It's hard to fee! unhappy when we hear him whistling(吹口哨)happily up and down the street.
Raymond looks good. His shirt and trousers always look very clean. Afterwork, he likes going to the gym to take exercise.
Raymond is strict in his work He cares about the people on this street everyday, he knocks on Mrs. Jordan's door to ask for a drink of cool water. He's not really thirsty. Mrs. Jordanis old, and he just wants to make sure she's okay.
【汉语翻译】
雷蒙德
每个人(everybody)都梦想(dream of)做些重要的事。雷蒙德小时候梦想成为一名科学家(scientist)，实际上(in fact)他现在是一名邮递员(postman)。
雷蒙德是个积极主动的(active)年轻人。他信奉的格言是“如果你不能过你热爱的生活，那就热爱你所过的生活。”带着灿烂的微笑(smile)，他向每一个人打招呼(greet)，还来一句友好的(friendly)问候，“嗨，你好吗？”而且他确实想知道！当我们听到他欢快地吹着口哨在街道(street)上来来往往(up and down)时，想不高兴都难(hard)。
雷蒙德看起来(look)很不错。他的衬衫(shirt)和裤子(trousers)总是非常干净(very clean)。下班后，他喜欢去体育馆(gym)锻炼(take exercise)。
雷蒙德对自己的工作要求严格(strict)。他关心(careabout)街道上的居民。每天他都会敲(knockon／at)乔丹夫人的门(door)去要一杯凉(cool)水。他不是真的口渴(thirsty)。乔丹夫人年纪大了，他只是想确认(makesure)乔丹夫人一切正常。
9.That's Why!
Jimmy started painting when he was three years old, and when he was five, he was already very good at it. He also got many prizes for his painting. He painted many beautiful and interesting pictures, and people paid a lot of money for them They said,“This boy's going to be famous when he's a little older, and then we’re going to sell these pictures for a lot more money.”
Jimmy's pictures were different from other people's because he never painted it on all of the paper. He painted on half of it, and the other half was always empty.
“That's very clever,”everybody said.“Nobodyelse does that!”They all believed that the boy was a pioneer in painting.
One day, somebody bought one of Jimmy's pictures and then said to him,“Please tell me this, Jimmy. Why do you paint on the bottom half of your pictures, but not on the top half ?” “Because I'm small,”Jimmy said,“and my brushes don't reach very high.”
【汉语翻译】
原来如此！
吉米三岁开始画画(start painting)，五岁时已经(already)画得相当好了。他还因此获得很多奖(many prizes)。他画了很多美丽(beautiful)有趣的(interesting)图画(picture)。人们付(pay)很多钱(a lot of money)买这些画。他们说：“这个孩子大一点后肯定会出名(be famous)．到时我们可以靠这些画赚更多的钱。”
吉米的画不同于(be different from)他人的画，因为他从来不在整张纸上作画。他只在一半纸上画，另一半总是空的(empty)。
“这真是个聪明的(clever)做法！”大家都说，“没有其他人(nobody else)这么画过。”他们都认为这男孩堪称绘画艺术的先锋(pioneer)。
有一天，有人买了吉米的画，然后问：“请告诉我，吉米，你为什么总是在纸的下半部分(bottom half)画而不在上半部分(top half)画呢？” 吉米说：“因为我个头小，我的画笔(brush)无法够到(reach)那么高(high)。”
