英语 背诵补充材料.doc

Passage 1 How Old Is She?
A woman was having some trouble with her heart, so she went to see the doctor. He was a new doctor, and did not know her, so he first asked some questions, and one of them was, “How old are you?”
“Well,” she answered, “I don’t remember, doctor, but I will try to think.” She thought for a minute and then said, “Yes, I remember now, doctor! When I married, I was eighteen years old, and my husband was thirty. Now my husband is sixty, I know. And that is twice thirty. So I am twice eighteen. That is thirty-six, isn’t it?”

Passage 2 But the Chinese Did!
One day Tom said to one of his friends, “I’m going to have a holiday in Peking. But I don’t speak Chinese, so I’ll go to evening classes and have Chinese lessons for a month before I go.”
He studied very hard for a month, and then his holidays began and he went to China.
When he came back a few weeks later, his friend said to him, “Did you have any trouble with your Chinese when you were in Peking, Tom?”
“No, I didn’t have any trouble with it,” answered Tom. “But the Chinese did!”

Passage 3 There Is Something Very Nice Inside Your Drum
It was Jimmy’s birthday, and he was five years old. He got quite a lot of nice birthday presents from his family, and one of them was a beautiful big drum.
“Who gave him that thing?” Jimmy’s father said when he saw it.
“His grandfather did,” answered Jimmy’s mother.
“Oh,” said his father.
Of course, Jimmy liked his drum very much. He made a terrible noise with it, but his mother did not mind. His father was working during the day, and Jimmy was in bed when he got home in the evening, so he did not hear the noise.
But one of the neighbors did not like the noise at all, so one morning a few days later, she took a sharp knife and went to Jimmy’s house while he was hitting his drum. She said to him, “Hello, Jimmy. Do you know, there is something very nice inside your drum. Here’s a knife. Open the drum and let’s find it.”

Passage 4 How Did You Lose Your Way?
Mrs. Brown’s old grandfather lived with her and her husband. Every morning he went for a walk in the park and came home at half past twelve for his lunch.
But one morning a police car stopped outside Mrs. Brown’s house at twelve o’clock, and two policemen helped Mr. Brown to get out. One of them said to Mrs. Brown, “The poor old gentleman lost his way in the park and telephoned to us for help, so we sent a car to bring him home.” Mrs. Brown was very surprised, but she thanked the policemen and they left.
“But, Grandfather,” she then said, “you have been to that park nearly every day for twenty years. How did you lose your way there?”
The old man smiled, closed one eye and said, “I didn’t quite lose my way. I just got tired and I didn’t want to walk home!”

Passage 5 How to Make Everybody Happy
Peter’s uncle lived in the country. Once Peter went to stay with him for a few weeks. Whenever they went for a walk or for a drive in the car and they passed somebody, his uncle waved. Peter was surprised, and said, “Uncle George, you know everybody here. Where did you meet them all?”
“I don’t know all these people,” said his uncle.
“Then why do you wave to them?” asked Peter.
“Well, Peter,” answer his uncle, “when I wave to someone and he knows me, he is pleased. He continues his journey with a happier heart. But when I wave to someone and he doesn’t know me, he is surprised and says to himself, ‘Who is that man? Why did he wave to me?’ So he has something to think about during the rest of his journey, and that makes his journey seem shorter. So I make everybody happy.”

Passage 6 Stop Eating Fried Potatoes
Mrs. Jenkins went to her doctor one day, because her heart was giving her trouble.
The doctor listened to her heart carefully and did a few other things. Then he said, “Well, Mrs. Jenkins, stop smoking, and then you will soon be quite all right again.”
“But doctor,” answered Mrs. Jenkins quickly, “I’ve never smoked. I don’t like smoking.”
“Oh, well,” said the doctor, “then don’t drink any more alcohol.”
“But I don’t drink alcohol,” answered Mrs. Jenkins at once.
“Stop drinking tea and coffee then,” the doctor said to her.
“I only drink water,” answered Mrs. Jenkins. “I don’t like tea or coffee.”
The doctor thought for a few seconds and then said, “Well, … er …do you like fried potatoes?”
“Yes, I like them very much,” answered Mrs. Jenkins.
“All right, then stop eating those,” said the doctor as he got up to say goodbye to Mrs. Jenkins.

Passage 7 Men and Women Are Equal Now
A young woman got on a bus. There were no vacant seats on the bus, so she stood beside a young man sitting near a window. After a few minutes, the man looked around and stood up. However, to his great surprise, the woman pushed him back into his seat without saying anything. The man looked at the woman in bemusement but said nothing. After a while, the man stood up again; and again, the woman pushed him back. The man was more astonished, but he still kept silent. Several minutes later, the man stood up for the third time; and for the third time, the woman pushed him back. But this time, she said, “Gentleman, it’s 1990’s now. Men and women are equal. You don’t have to be gallant and give me your seat.” The young man responded, “Yes, madam, I know we are equal. But I just want to get off the bus.”

Passage 8 Long Hair
Maddox liked to wear his hair very long. His hair ran down his shoulders, like a girl’s hair. Some of his friends thought it looked like a girl’s hair, but they never made any jokes about it. They didn’t dare to, because Maddox was a big, strong man, and he thought there was nothing funny about his hair.
Maddox always went to the barber’s twice a month to have his hair cut. Once his barber fell ill and had to stay in hospital for a month, so Maddox had to go to a new barber’s. When he sat down in front of the mirror, the new barber stared at his hair for some minutes and said to him, “Young man, why don’t you let me cut most of this hair off and make your head tidy? Nobody would recognize you if I did that, I am sure.”
Maddox said nothing for a few seconds, and then he said, “Perhaps you are right, but I am also sure that nobody would recognize you either if you did that to my hair.”

Passage 9 An Urgent Call
In the middle of the night, Frank’s wife was suddenly taken ill. She had severe pains and asked Frank to call the doctor. Frank got up and put on his clothes. He said, “My dear, are you certain that you need the doctor? We must not wake him unless it is really necessary. Surely you can wait until morning, can’t you?”
“No, I can’t. Go, go, go!” his wife shouted.
So Frank went out into the dark street. He had only gone a few paces when he heard his wife calling him again.
“I’m all right now. The pain has disappeared and I shall not want the doctor.” she said. “Well, that’s a relief,” Frank replied; and at once he started running as fast as he could towards the doctor’s house. When he arrived there, he banged on the door, loudly enough to wake everybody in the district.
The doctor put his sleepy head out of the window and asked, “Eh? What’s that? Who’s there?”
“Oh, Doctor,” Frank called up to him, “I’ve very good news for you. My wife was taken ill. I was on my way to bring you to her, but she called me back and said she was all right. So you needn’t come. Go back to bed now, and sleep well!”

Passage 10 I Went out in My Slippers
Harley and Raymond worked in the same company. One day, Harley lent Raymond $200, but then Raymond left his job and went to work in another town without paying Harley back his $200.
Harley didn’t see Raymond for more than one year, and then he learnt from another friend that Raymond was in town on business and staying at the Central Hotel, so he went to the hotel to see Raymond late in the evening.
Harley found out the number of Raymond’s room from the clerk at the desk downstairs and then went up to find him. When he got to the room, he saw Raymond’s shoes outside the door, waiting to be cleaned.
“Well, he must be in,” Harley thought, and knocked at the door. But there was no answer. He knocked again. Then he said, “I know you are in, Raymond. Your shoes are out here.” “I went out in my slippers,” answered a voice from inside the room.
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