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The Adventures of Kathleen the Great and Mark the Meek 英勇凱薩琳與害羞馬克歷險記

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.

見見老鼠凱薩琳和大象馬克。凱薩琳非常勇敢又喜歡冒險，但馬克的個性十分害羞，對許多事情都感到害怕。不過，朋友都喜歡黏在一塊兒，所以凱薩琳走到哪兒，馬克就會跟到哪兒。有時候，他們也會碰上非常棘手的情況...

A dangerous plan 危險計畫

Kathleen and Mark were having a snack at Mark's house when Mark remembered something. "Oh no!" he cried. "I haven't paid my cell phone bill! I won't be able to make any calls."

"No problem," Kathleen replied. "We'll just go down to the phone company's office and pay."

"Great," said Mark. "Let's take the bus. I get scared when we ride on your scooter."

"It's not easy to drive with an elephant on the back of your motorcycle," Kathleen added. "Anyway, let's get going."

Mark and Kathleen washed up the dishes and went to the bus stop. There were many people there taking up the seats and shaded areas. Mark and Kathleen could only stand in the sun.

When the bus still hadn't come after 30 minutes, Mark was very hot and impatient. "What's taking so long?" he wondered. "I don't want to be here all day in the sun."

"I see it! The bus is coming," an equally hot Kathleen said.

But as the bus came closer, it didn't slow down. Kathleen decided it wasn't going to stop. "I'm not waiting," she said. And with that, she jumped onto the back of the moving bus ...

凱薩琳和馬克在馬克家吃點心，馬克突然想起一件事。「噢，不！」他哭著說︰「我沒繳電話帳單！會被斷話！」

「沒關係，」凱薩琳回答說︰「我們可以直接到電信公司付款。」

「太好了，」馬克說︰「我們搭公車好了。我怕坐你的摩托車。」

「用摩托車載隻大象可不容易，」凱薩琳又說︰「無論如何，我們走吧！」

馬克和凱薩琳洗完盤子，走到公車站。座椅和陰涼處都被佔滿了，馬克和凱薩琳只能站著曬太陽。

等了三十分鐘公車還沒來，馬克覺得很熱，也很不耐煩。「怎麼這麼久？」他心想︰「我不想一整天都站在太陽底下！」

同樣熱得發昏的凱薩琳說︰「我看到公車來了。」

不過，當公車駛近時，卻未減速下來。凱薩琳認為公車不會靠站了。她說︰「我不等了，」便跳上行進中的公車後方‥‥‥。

（翻譯：賴美君）

TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 1. company n. 公司 (gong1 si1) 例: Because Mary wants to be her own boss, she is going to establish her own company. (瑪莉想自己當老闆，所以打算成立自己的公司。) 2. shaded adj. 遮陽的 (zhe1 yang2 de5) 例: A shaded area can be 10°C cooler than a sunny area. (陰涼處比太陽下的溫度低攝氏十度。) 3. impatient adj. 不耐煩的 (bu2 nai4 fan2 de5) 例: I had waited for an hour, so I became impatient and just left (我已經等一個小時了，所以不耐煩地離開。) 4. decide v.i./v.t. 決定 (jue2 ding4) 例: Sarah can't decide if she wants the blue dress or the red dress. (莎拉無法決定藍色洋裝還是紅色洋裝好。)

WHAT HAPPENED? 究竟怎麼回事? 1. Where are Mark and Kathleen going? a. To the mall to eat a snack. b. To the phone company's office. c. To the main train station. d. To the scooter shop. 2. What is the weather like? a. Cool and cloudy. b. Windy and cold. c. Hot and sunny. d. Warm and cloudy. Ans: 1.b 2.c

FINISH IT 故事接龍 Write your own ending to the story! 寫下你的故事結局: Idea 1: Mark does not want to leave Kathleen alone so he also jumps on the bus. When does the bus stop? What do other people who see them do? How do Mark and Kathleen get off safely? 想法一: 馬克不想讓凱薩琳落單，也跳上了公車。公車何時才會停下來？看見他們的人會怎麼做？馬克和凱薩琳要如何平安下車？ Idea 2: Mark chases the bus, trying to tell the driver to stop. What things does Mark knock over while chasing the bus? How does he make sure nobody gets hurt? When does the driver see Mark and stop? 想法二: 馬克追著公車跑，想叫司機停車。馬克追車時會撞到什麼東西？他要怎麼確保無人受傷？司機何時會看到馬克然後停車？ Idea 3: Mark is too surprised to do anything. Kathleen rides the bus for a while. Where does she finally get off? What shops and people are around her? How do Mark and Kathleen find each other again? Do they ever pay the phone bill? 想法三: 馬克驚訝到動彈不得。凱薩琳搭上了公車，最後會在哪裡下車？附近會有哪些商店和人呢？馬克和凱薩琳要怎麼再度相見？電話費會繳清嗎？

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