话题链接：You will remember that the Bank of England once issued two notes of a million pounds each, to be used for a special purpose connected with some public transaction with a foreign country．For some reason or other only one of these had been used and canceled; The other still lay in the vaults of the Bank．Well, the brothers, chatting along, happened to get to wondering what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent stranger who should be turned adrift in London without a friend, and with no money but that million-pound bank-note, and no way to account for his being in possession of it．Brother A said he would starve to death; Brother B said he wouldn't．Brother A said he couldn't offer it at a bank or anywhere else, because he would be arrested on the spot．So they went on disputing till Brother B said he would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty days, anyway, on that million, and keep out of jail, too．Brother A took him up．Brother B went down to the Bank and bought that note．Just like an Englishman, you see; pluck to the backbone．Then he dictated a letter, which one of his clerks wrote out in a beautiful round hand, and then the two brothers sat at the window a whole day watching for the right man to give it to…．

　　他们物色了一个年轻人做试验。带着这张毫无使用价值的百万英镑钞票，年轻人经历如在梦中。年轻人得到了他想得到的，包括爱情和受人尊敬。他爱上的女孩正是兄弟B的女儿Portia，但是这个年轻人会过上幸福生活吗？

任务导入：Imagine what kind of life Henry will live with Portia and try to make up a short play between them．Then act it out before your classmates．

You can do it as the following steps：

1．Before write your play, read the novel of The Million Pound Bank-Note to get some background knowledge and refer to some play scripts to learn how to write a play; 2．Choose the right persons to be the roles of the play and learn some skills of performance from books or experts, etc．

3．Practice the play together and act it out before your classmates．

An example scene：

P＝Portia　H＝Henry

P：Oh, Henry．It's nice to see you home so early!

H：Mm, ah．

P：(looking worried)What's happened?

H：I can't hide much from you, can I, dear?We have lost our money．The railway company in Brazil has collapsed and all our money has disappeared．But I have a plan to help us．We can go back to America and start again．I can become a gold miner and we can make our fortune that way．

P：Leave London?Leave my father?Oh no, Henry, please!

H：I think it might be better for us．We would stand on our own feet．

P：(crying)I shall have to go home．You can't love me if you want to do this dreadful thing．

H：(putting his arms round her)Of course I do．It is for our sake that I suggest this．It will be an adventure．We will be able to travel where we like and I will be able to show you so many lovely places．

P：As long as you love me I shall be happy．

H：And I shall always do that!