大学英语精读预备1册 lesson 4

The Fun They Had

Margie kept her diary almost every day. One day she wrote, “17 may,2155” and then this sentence: “Today Tommy found a real book.”

It was a very old book. Its pages were yellow. Margie suddenly remembered that her grandfather once said that that centuries ago all stories were printed on paper. This must be a book on that time.

Tommy and Margie were anxious¹ to read the book. They turned the pages. It was very funny. The words stood still, and didn’t move as they did on a TV. And then, when they turned back, the same words were there.

“Oh,” said Tommy, “what a waste, when you finish reading² the book, you just throw it away. You can have a million books on our television, and even more, there is nothing throw away.”

Tommy and Margie were both thirteen. They had read a lot. Whenever they wanted to read, the books appeared on the TV. They had turned a page like they were doing now.

“What’s it about?” Margie asked.

“School.”

Margie didn’t like the idea. “School? All those lesson: chemistry, physics, arithmetic³! What can be interesting about school?” she hated school. Her school was a room next to her bedroom. There was a machine with a big TV set on it. The big TV showed her lessons, asked her questions and gave her exercises and examination⁴ papers⁵. “why did they write about school?”

“it’s not our kind school..” Tommy answered. “this is the old kind of school hundreds of years ago. They had teachers. All were people.”

“Really? How could that be? And I don’t think it’s pleasant to have a stranger⁶ in my house to teach me.”

Tommy laughed. “You don’t know much, Margie. The teacher didn’t lived in the house. They had a special building and all the pupils all there.

“And all the pupils learn the same thing?”

“Of course, if they were the same age, the book says.”

At that moment, the machine in the next room called, “Maregie! School!”

Margie went into her classroom. The TV was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time every day except Saturday and Sunday.

The TV announced⁷, “Today’s arithmetic lesson…”

Margie looked at the TV. But she was thing about the old school. All the pupils from the neighbourhood⁸ came. They laughed, and shouted when they played ball games in the schoolyard or at the stadium⁹. They sat together in the classroom, went together at the end of the day. They learned¹⁰ the same things, so they could help one another with their homework and talk about it. And the teacher were people… Oh, what fun they had!

 

1 anxious   

adj.忧虑的，焦急的；渴望的，急要的

参考例句：

• She is anxious about her job.她为工作而焦急。
• I'm sure Jordan will be anxious to see you.我确定乔丹急着要见您。

2 reading   

n.阅读，知识，读物，表演，对法律条文的解释；adj.阅读的

参考例句：

• Children learn reading and writing at school.孩子们在学校学习阅读和写作。
• He finds pleasure in reading.他从阅读中得到乐趣。

3 arithmetic   

n.算术，算法；adj.算术学的，算术的

参考例句：

• The waiter got his arithmetic wrong.服务员算错了账。
• John was competing against James for the prize in arithmetic.约翰和詹姆斯比赛争夺算术奖。

4 examination   

n.考试，考查，试题；检查，调查

参考例句：

• Teachers always judge their students on the final examination.老师常根据期末考试来评价他们的学生。
• He put up a good show in the final examination.他在期末考试中表现得不错。

5 papers   

n.文件，纸币，论文

参考例句：

• I want to check with my secretary before I sign the papers.在签署这些文件前，我要与我的秘书商议。
• The lawyer read all the papers relating to the case.律师阅读了与该案有关的全部文件。

6 stranger   

n.陌生人；外地人，异乡人

参考例句：

• A stranger walked up to me and asked me the time.一个陌生人走到我跟前，问我时间。
• It's hard for a stranger to make friends in this town.外地人在这个城里很难交朋友。

7 announced   

v.宣布，宣告，发表( announce的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指通过广播）通知；通报…到达；声称

参考例句：

• They haven't formally announced their engagement yet. 他们还没有正式宣布订婚。
• The government announced a cut-off in overseas aid. 政府宣布停止对外援助。

8 neighbourhood   

(美neighborhood) n.四邻；邻近地区

参考例句：

• Our neighbourhood police are very friendly.我们邻近的警察非常友善。
• She is a good aunt to all the children in the neighbourhood.她是街坊上所有孩子的好阿姨。

9 stadium   

n.露天大型运动场

参考例句：

• The new football stadium can hold eighty thousand people.新的足球场可以容纳八万人。
• The stadium is being used for a match.那个露天运动场正在进行一场比赛。

10 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。