学进去

“I hate Tuesdays,” said Finn.

“Wait and see,” said his mother. “You haven’t even met Miss Bea.”

Finn was starting piano lessons. Every Tuesday, at 3:30, right after school. At that time, he wanted to run and jump and he was also excited to build his new Star-Blaster. He had it with him, expecting that Miss Bea wasn’t home.

Finn’s mother knocked on the door. “Maybe she went shopping,” said Finn hopefully. But the door opened, and there was Miss Bea. “Hello there, Finn,” she said with a smile. “Come on in.”

Miss Bea’s piano was black and shiny. Finn sat on the bench. He held on to his Star-Blaster.

“That looks like a special box,” said Miss Bea. “Is it something new?”

“It’s going to be a Star-Blaster,” said Finn.

“You’re a builder,” said Miss Bea. “That’s very good. I’m sure that you can understand how this piano works. Why don’t you start by pressing some keys?”

Finn pressed some white keys. Then he pressed some black keys. Then he pressed a white one and a black one at the same time. It didn’t really make a song, but Miss Bea said she liked it.

Then, she opened the piano.

“I didn’t know it had a lid (盖子),” said Finn. “Every piano does. It has hammers, too,” said Miss Bea. “Stand on the bench and look inside.”

The hammers were pieces of wood with round ends. Some were fat. Some were skinny. There was a row of strings (弦) in front of the hammers.

Then Miss Bea had a question. “If you were going to build a piano, how many pieces would you need?”

“Fifty?” guessed Finn. “More,” said Miss Bea.

“A hundred and forty-two?” guessed Finn. “Many more.”

Finn guessed all the way up to nine hundred and fifty-seven, but it was “More, more, more.”

“Ten thousand pieces,” she finally said.

“Whoa,” said Finn. “My Star-Blaster only has sixty-two. But it’s still going to be hard to put it together.”

“But it will be worth (值得) it,” said Miss Bea. “Piano lessons are like that, too. You work and work to build a song. You use keys and hammers and strings. Your songs can be fast or slow, high or low, soft or loud.”

“I want to build a fast, loud one,” said Finn. “You will, when your fingers learn to run and jump. But for now, our time is up,” said Miss Bea.

On the way home, Finn asked his mother how many songs there were to learn. “There must be thousands,” she said. “Especially if you practice.”

“Then I’d better start soon,” said Finn. He looked at his building fingers. “How many days,” he asked, “till Tuesday?”

Ben couldn’t wait to go to Uncle Darrell’s farm. There, he could pick apples and pumpkins (南瓜). He ran to the field when arriving with his parents. In the field, he saw Uncle Darrel and thousands of crows (乌鸦).

“What’s going on?” Ben asked.

“Hey, Benny. I’m just driving away these crows. They’re trying to eat my pumpkins and apples,” Uncle Darrell said.

“Where’s the scarecrow?” Ben asked. Uncle Darrell usually had a large scarecrow to keep the birds away.

“It fell apart (解体) during the last rainstorm. I don’t have time to make a new one right now.”

“I’ll make a scary (吓人的) one for you.”

“You will? I thought you wanted to pick pumpkins and have fun,” Uncle Darrell said.

“I do, but this is more important. I need a shirt, some pants and a pumpkin to make the scarecrow,” Ben said.

“There are a lot of those in the house. Help yourself.”

Ben ran into the house and found an old pair of pants and a shirt. Then he ran back outside and picked the pumpkin he’d found earlier.

“Can I use the hay?” Ben asked.

“Sure. Anything else you need?”

“Yeah, a long piece of wood.”

Uncle Darrell helped Ben find the piece of wood and put the pumpkin on the top of it.

“I can take it from here,” Ben said. He stuffed (填充) hay in the clothes and put them on the piece of wood, too. Then Ben drew the scariest face he could think of on the pumpkin.

“Whoa, that is one scary scarecrow,” Uncle Darrell said. “Let’s see if the crows think it’s scary.”

Ben and Uncle Darrell placed the scarecrow in the middle of the field. Then they backed away and waited to see if the crows came back. None did.

“We did it!” Ben cheered.

“Yes, Ben. It’s the scariest scarecrow ever.”

Making Fun

Trevor’s father promised him they’d go to Game World together after work. But it was almost 7:00 pm and his dad was still working.

“Hey, little bro.” Anthony touched Trevor’s shoulder. “Are you going to sit there and be ________ all night or would you like to spend time with me?”

“He is always breaking his promises. I don’t want to go to Game World anymore.”

“Good, because I wasn’t going to take you to Game World. I have something else in mind.” Anthony asked Trevor to follow him.

Trevor got up and walked into Anthony’s room. Then Anthony picked up a box on his desk. “Today we are going to make bouncy balls (弹跳球).”

“No way. You can’t make those things yourself.” Trevor loved playing with bouncy balls. He had his own (自己的) ________. Surely he’d know if it was possible to make them at home.

“Oh really? I guess you don’t want to ________ it then.”

“I didn’t say that,” Trevor said.

Anthony opened the box, removed two cups and filled them with water. “Now, put the colors into the molds (模具).”

“Aren’t you making one, too?” Trevor asked.

“Sure.” Anthony came close to Trevor and said, “My ball will bounce higher than yours.” He smiled.

“You’re on!”

Trevor used blue and green for his ball. Anthony ________ red and black. They put the molds in the water and waited for the balls to form (成型).

Anthony removed the molds and placed them on the table for ten minutes. Trevor couldn’t wait to see if it ________.

“Okay, it’s time.” Anthony removed the balls from the molds and handed Trevor his blue and green ball.

Trevor looked at the ball. They were like the ones in his collection. “Think they really bounce?”

They each bounced their balls to the other. “Whoa! They work!” Trevor bounced Anthony’s ball back to him. “This is cool.”

“See, ________ your own fun is better than going to Game World.”

“You’re right. Let’s make some more balls.”

I usually go back to my hometown with my mum during holidays. Last summer, my aunt and cousins joined us. It was one of the best train journeys of my 1．. We took the train after a big meal my mum cooked for us. We planned to stay up late to 2． the journey in each other’s company. We began the fun by playing cards. Two boys who were sitting behind wanted to 3． us. We all thought it was fun to play cards with more players. After playing cards for almost four hours, we felt a little tired and 4．. We took out chocolates and biscuits from our bags. We were talking about funny things and laughing a lot while eating the delicious snacks. It was an unforgettable journey.