Meet Kathleen the mouse and Mark the elephant. Kathleen is very brave and likes adventure, but Mark is very shy and scared of many things. But friends stay together, so Mark follows Kathleen wherever she goes. Sometimes they get into some very sticky situations.
“New Skates”
Kathleen was excited. She had bought Mark a present. The only problem was, he was still sleeping. And because he wasn’t awake, he couldn’t see his present. If he didn’t see his present, they couldn’t go outside and play with it.
Kathleen stood outside Mark’s door and listened to him snoring. Then the snoring stopped. She heard a crash.
“Yay!” she yelled. Kathleen knew that the crashing sound meant that Mark had found his present.
“Kathleen!” he yelled. “Why did I trip over a pair of skates?!”
“Suprise!” she said. “I bought you a present. I bought myself one too!” she laughed. “Hurry up and come outside so we can play with our new skates.”
Thirty minutes later, Kathleen and Mark were sitting on a bench in the park with their new skates on.
“Ready?” Kathleen asked as she stood up.
“No.” Mark answered, looking scared. “I tripped over the skates before I even put them on my feet. What do you think will happen if I try to move when I’m actually wearing them?” he asked.
Kathleen pulled on his trunk and tried to skate away. “Let’s GO!” she said.
“I really don’t know about this,” said Mark, but he stood up and skated shakily after her. (Kayleen Hartman, staff writer)
凱薩琳很興奮，她買了一件禮物給馬克，問題是，馬克還在睡覺，他還沒醒來，所以沒辦法看見他的禮物，如果他沒看到他的禮物，他們就沒辦法到外面玩。
凱薩琳站在馬克的門外，聽他打鼾。接著，打鼾聲停止了，她聽見了撞擊聲。
「耶！」她高呼，凱薩琳知道那撞擊聲表示馬克已經發現了他的禮物。
「凱薩琳！」他大聲嚷嚷，「為什麼我被一雙溜冰鞋絆倒？」
「驚喜！」她說，「我買給你一份禮物，也買給我自己一份。」凱薩琳笑著。「趕快到外面來，這樣我們就可以玩新的溜冰鞋。」
1. snore v.i.
打鼾 (da3 han1)
例: Whenever Debby has a cold, she snores at night.
(戴比只要感冒，晚上就會打鼾。)
2. crash n.
撞擊聲 (zhuang4 ji2 sheng1)
例: When Jerry dropped the cups, plates, bowls and chopsticks, there was a loud crash.
(傑瑞放下杯盤碗筷時發出大聲響。)
3. trip v.i./v.t.
絆倒 (ban4 dao3)
例: Rachel would have won the race, but Teresa put her foot out and tripped her.
(瑞秋本來能在賽跑中獲勝，但是泰瑞莎伸出腳來絆倒她。)
4. shakily adv.
顫抖地 (zhan4 dou3 di5)
例: After I had turned in circles for five minutes, I shakily walked back to my chair and sat down.
(我做了五分鐘的原地自轉後，雙腳顫抖地走回椅子坐下。)
三十分鐘後，凱薩琳和馬克穿著他們新的溜冰鞋，坐在公園的板凳上。
「準備好了嗎？」凱薩琳起身問馬克。
「不。」馬克回答，看起來很害怕的樣子。「我在還沒穿上溜冰鞋前就被它絆倒，如果我真的穿上它移動，你覺得會發生什麼事？」他問。
凱薩琳拉著他的象鼻，想要溜去別處。「我們走！」她說。
「我不確定我是否該這麼做。」馬克說著，但他還是起身，搖搖晃晃地跟著凱薩琳溜。 （翻譯：鄭湘儀）
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