I was telling my boy Sonny the story of the hare and the tortoise. At the end I said, “Son, remember: Be slow and steady, and that will win the race. Don’t you think there’s something to learn from the tortoise?”

Sonny opened his eyes wide, “Do you mean next time when I’m entering for the 60-metre race I should wish that Billy, Tony and Sandy would all fall asleep halfway?”

I was shocked, “But the tortoise didn’t wish that the hare would fall asleep!”

“He must wish that already,” Sonny said, “Otherwise how could he be so foolish as to race with the hare? He knew very well the hare ran a hundred times faster than he himself did.”

“He didn’t have such a wish,” I insisted. “He won the race by pushing on steadily.”

Sonny thought a while. “That’s a lie,” he said. “He won it because he was lucky. If the hare didn’t happen to fall asleep, the tortoise would never win the race. He could be as steady as you like, or a hundred times steadier, but he’d never win the race. That’s for sure.”

I gave up. Today’s children are not like what we used to be. They’re just hopeless.

1.The writer argued with his son because ______________.

A.he liked tortoises while his son liked hares

B.they disagreed about whether the tortoise was foolish

C.he tried to teach his son a lesson but the son had totally different opinion

D.he liked the story of the hare and the tortoise while his son didn’t.

2.Sonny believed that the tortoise ______________.

A.won the race by his own hard working

B.took a risk by agreeing to run a race

C.was not given a fair chance in the race

D.in fact did win the race luckily

3.Billy, Tony and Sandy must be_______________.

A.boys who were unknown to Sonny’s father

B.boys who Sonny has run races with before

C.boys who Sonny has never raced with before

D.boys who Sonny did not hope to race with again

4.According to the passage, who do you think learnt a lesson? ______________.

A.The tortoise B.Sonny

C.The hare D.Sonny’s father

Misadventure in English

Last week, our forum ( 论 坛 ) asked if you had any funny or strange stories about using English. Here are some of our favourite posts.

Sophie

When I first visited New York, I went to a shopping centre. I asked a lady where the shoes were. She said they were on the first floor. I went upstairs. But I couldn’t find any. I thought she gave me the wrong information. Then, I realized that the first floor was the ground floor.

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Yancy

I went to a summer school in Manchester. One day, the head master told us that our English teacher Maggie couldn’t teach that day because she had a frog in her throat. Why did she eat a frog? Then I learned that it means someone’s throat is dry or blocked. How funny!

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Julien

My British penfriend once told me that his grandfather was “wicked (邪恶的)”. But when I met his grandfather, I liked him a lot. I found it very strange. Why did my friend use a bad word about such a nice man? Guess what? When speaking informally, “wicked” means “very nice”.

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Zheng Xu

I was part of a student exchange programme between a school in England and one in China. I knew I had done a good job writing my first English paper. But my teacher gave me “Not bad!” Not bad? There weren’t any mistakes! Actually, British people use “not bad” when things are pretty good! I got a good comment!

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1.Who posted the story about buying shoes?

A.Sophie. B.Yancy. C.Julien. D.Zheng Xu.

2.What happened to Maggie?

A.She ate a frog.

B.She had a dry throat.

C.She lost her penfriend.

D.She got a bad comment.

3.What does Julien think of his penfriend’s grandfather?

A.Strange. B.Funny. C.Strict. D.Nice.

On the north coast of Brazil, scientists once found something very strange-lost penguins(企鹅)far from home!The scientists did not know why the penguins were lost. Perhaps a warm current(洋流)took them to the north.But penguins cannot live for long in the warmer waters of the north. It was time to save the penguins.

Sadly though, some penguins were too sick to travel and some of them were dying. The scientists took the healthy birds and put them on a large plane. They flew to the south coast of Brazil. Many people came to watch the birds. But at first, the birds just looked at the water. Then some of the braver ones swam about in it. It was cold!It was good!

And so they began the last part of their journey. People cheered loudly as the younger penguins started swimming behind the older ones. Together, they were on their way home at last.

1.Where were the penguins when the scientists found them?

A. In the water B. Far from home

C. On a plane D. On the south coast of Brazil

2.Why were the penguins far away from home?

A. Scientists took them there B. They swam there

C. Maybe the warm water carried them there D. They flew there

3.What did the scientists want to do?

A. They wanted to make the penguins swim all the way home

B. They wanted to help the penguins get home

C. They wanted to take the penguins all back to Brazil

D. They wanted to make the penguins go to different places

4.How did the younger penguins get back home at last?

A. They swam behind the older B. They went by plane

C. They swam in front of the older ones D. They went by boat

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