新概念英语

Lesson 23 A new house新居

I had a letter from my sister yesterday. She lives in Nigeria. In her letter， she said that she would come to England next year. If she comes， she will get a surprise. We are now living in a beautiful new house in the country. Work on it had begun before my sister left. The house was completed five months ago. In my letter， I told her that she could stay with us. The house has many large rooms and there is a lovely garden. It is a very modern house， so it looks strange to some people. It must be the only modern house in the district.

Lesson 24 If could be worse不幸中之万幸

I entered the hotel manager's office and sat down. I had just lost $50 and I felt very upset. ‘I left the money in my room' I said， ‘and it's not there now.' The manager was sympathetic， but he could do nothing. ‘Everyone's losing money these days' he said. He started to complain about this wicked world but was interrupted by a knock at the door. A girl came in and put an envelope on his desk. It contained $50. 'I found this outside this gentleman's room，' she said. ‘Well' I said to the manager，‘there is still some honesty in this world！'

Lesson 25 Do the English speak English？

I arrived in London at last. The railway station was big， black and dark. I did not know the way to my hotel， so I asked a porter. I not only spoke English very carefully， but very clearly as well. The porter， however， could not understand me. I repeated my question several times and at last he understood. he answered me， but he spoke neither slowly nor clearly. 'I am a foreigner，' I said. Then he spoke slowly， but I could not understand him. My teacher never spoke English like that！ The porter and I looked at each other and smiled. Then he said something and I understood it. 'You'll soon learn English！' he said. I wonder. In England， each person speaks a different language. The English understand each other， but I don't understand them！ Do they speak English？

Lesson 26 The best art critics最佳艺术评论家

I am an art student and I paint a lot of pictures. Many people pretend that they understand modern art. They always tell you what a picture is 'about'. Of course， many pictures are not 'about' anything. They are just pretty patterns. We like them in the same way that we like pretty curtain material. I think that young children often appreciate modern pictures better than anyone else. They notice more. My sister is only seven， but she always tells me whether my pictures are good or not. She came into my room yesterday. 'What are you doing？' she asked. 'I'm hanging this picture on the wall，' I answered. 'It's a new one. Do you like it？' She looked at it critically for a moment. 'It's all right，' she said， 'but isn't it upside down？' I looked at it again. She was right！ It was！

Lesson 27 A wet night雨夜

Late in the afternoon， the boys put up their tent in the middle of a field. As soon as this was done， they cooked a meal over an open fire. They were all hungry and the food smelled good. After a wonderful meal， they told stories and sang songs by the campfire. But some time later it began to rain. The boys felt tired so they put out the fire and crept into their tent. Their sleeping bags were warm and comfortable， so they all slept soundly. In the middle of the night， two boys woke up and began shouting. The tent was full of water！ They all leapt out of their sleeping bags and hurried outside. It was raining heavily and they found that a stream had formed in the field. The stream wound its way across the field and then flowed right under their tent！

Lesson 28 No parking禁止停车

Jasper White is one of those rare people who believes in ancient myths. he has just bought a new house in the city， but ever since he moved in， he has had trouble with cars and their owners. When he returns home at night， he always finds that someone has parked a car outside his gate. Because of this， he has not been able to get his own car into his garage even once. Jasper has put up 'No Parking' signs outside his gate， but these have not had any effect. Now he has put an ugly stone head over the gate. It is one of the ugliest faces I have ever seen. I asked him what it was and he told me that it was Medusa， the Gorgon. jasper hopes that she will turn cars and their owners to stone. But none of them has been turned to stone yet！

Lesson 29 Taxi！出租汽车

Captain Ben Fawcett has bought an unusual taxi and has begun a new service. The 'taxi' is a small Swiss aeroplane called a 'Pilatus Porter'. This wonderful plane can carry seven passengers. The most surprising thing about it， however， is that it can land anywhere： on snow， water， or even on a ploughed field. Captain Fawcett's first passenger was a doctor who flew from Birmingham to a lonely village in the Welsh mountains. Since then， Captain Fawcett has flown passengers to many unusual places. Once he landed on the roof of a block of flats and on another occasion， he landed in a deserted car park. Captain Fawcett has just refused a strange request from a businessman. The man wanted to fly to Rockall， a lonely island in the Atlantic Ocean， but Captain Fawcett did not take him because the trip was too dangerous.

Lesson 30 Football or polo？

The Wayle is a small river that cuts across the park near my home. I like sitting by the Wayle on fine afternoons. It was warm last Sunday， so I went and sat on the river bank as usual. Some children were playing games on the bank and there were some people rowing on the river. Suddenly， one of the children kicked a ball very hard and it went towards a passing boat. Some people on the bank called out to the man in the boat， but he did not hear them. The ball struck him so hard that he nearly fell into the water. I turned to look at the children， but there weren't any in sight： they had all run away！ The man laughed when he realized what had happened. He called out to the children and threw the ball back to the bank.

Lesson 31 Success story成功者的故事

Yesterday afternoon Frank Hawkins was telling me about his experiences as a young man. Before he retired， Frank was the head of a very large business company， but as a boy he used to work in a small shop. It was his job to repair bicycles and at that time he used to work fourteen hours a day. He saved money for years and in 1958 he bought a small workshop of his own. In his twenties Frank used to make spare parts for aeroplanes. At that time he had two helpers. In a few years the small workshop had become a large factory which employed seven hundred and twenty-eight people. Frank smiled when he remembered his hard early years and the long road to success. He was still smiling when the door opened and his wife came in. She wanted him to repair their grandson's bicycle！

Lesson 32 Shopping made easy购物变得很方便

People are not so honest as they once were. The temptation to steal is greater than ever before —— especially in large shops. A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday， there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in， so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time， she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible. Then the woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested， the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter. The girl 'gave' her mother a free dress once a week！