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

Saturday, Dec 29, 2007,Page 13

New Year's disaster on Love River 跨年夜愛河大災難

Mr Wang, the Kaohsiung environmental director, was walking along Love River on New Year's Eve. He was full of sorrow.

"I tried hard to make this a very clean river, but it still kind of smells. I failed," he thought.

All around people were celebrating, which only made Mr Wang even more upset.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"The water in the mountains is clean. I just need to get rid of the water in the river, and it will be filled with clean water!"

Mr Wang was excited. He would give the river a brand new start. He rushed to the river dock and put on a wetsuit.

"If I remember correctly the drain is just five meters out from here. I just need to go pull the plug."

Mr Wang jumped into the river. As he swam down to the drain, a boat passed over him. Mark and Kathleen were at a New Year's party on the boat.

Mr Wang pulled the plug and got out of the river. The water started to drain very quickly. Mark and Kathleen's boat started heading toward the drain.

"What's going on?" Mark asked Kathleen.

"I think it's a whirlpool. But how could there be a whirlpool in Love River?"

Mark started to worry … (MICHAEL KEARNEY, STAFF WRITER)

高雄環保局長王先生在跨年夜沿著愛河散步，他滿心感傷。

「我努力想把愛河整治成一條非常乾淨的河，但至今它仍有一股怪味，我失敗了，」他心想。

身旁圍繞著慶祝的人們，這讓王先生更加沮喪了。

忽然之間，他有了一個想法。

「山上的水很乾淨，我只要想辦法把河裡的水排掉，這條河就會充滿乾淨的水了！」

王先生興奮極了，他將打造一條全新的愛河，他趕緊跑到碼頭，穿上潛水衣。

「如果我沒記錯的話，排水設備就在離這裡五公尺深的地方，我只需要過去拔掉栓塞就好了。」

王先生跳進河中，當他潛至排水管處時，有一艘船從他上方經過，馬克和凱薩琳就在船上參加一場跨年派對。

王先生拔起栓塞後上岸，河水開始快速排出，馬克和凱薩琳乘坐的船直朝著排水管前進。

「發生了什麼事？」馬克問凱薩琳。

「我想那是個漩渦，但是愛河裡怎麼會有漩渦呢？」

馬克開始感到不安...

（翻譯：袁星塵）

TODAY'S WORDS 今日單字 1. sorrow n. 悲傷 (bei1 shang1) 例: There was a feeling of sorrow after the team lost the game. 輸了比賽後，隊上瀰漫著一股悲傷的氣氛。 2. drain n. 排水管 (pai2 shui2 guan3)，使(水)排出 (shi2 shui3 pai2 chu1) 例: I need to clean the shower drain. 我得把淋浴間的排水管清乾淨。 3. plug n. 栓塞 (shuan1 sai1) 例: I can't find the plug for the sink drain. 我找不到排水槽的塞子。 4. whirlpool n. 漩渦 (xuan2 wo1) 例: There was a big whirlpool at the beach last week. 上週那個海灘出現一個大漩渦。

WHAT HAPPENED? 究竟怎麼回事 1. Why did Mr Wang decide to pull the plug in the river? a. He wanted to empty the water in the river. b. He wanted to find something he lost. c. He wanted to make the boat sink. d. He wanted to create a disaster. 2. What does Kathleen think happened? a. She thinks the drain plug was pulled. b. She thinks it hasn't been raining recently. c. She thinks there's a whirlpool. d. She thinks there's been an earthquake.

FINISH IT 故事接龍 Write your own ending to the story! 寫下你的故事結局: Idea 1: The boat starts to go down the drain. Where do Mark and Kathleen end up? What's it like there? Do they ever manage to get home? What happens to the river? 想法一：船被吸進排水管中，馬克和凱薩琳會被沖到哪裡？那裡是什麼樣的地方？他們到底能不能想到辦法回家？愛河結果又如何呢？ Idea 2: The boat plugs up the drain. What do Mark and Kathleen do? Does water come down from the mountains and fill up the river? What happens to the environmental director? 想法二：這艘船剛好堵住了排水管，馬克和凱薩琳會怎麼做？山上的水會流下來填滿河床嗎？環保局長後來怎麼樣了呢？ Idea 3: Mark jumps out of the boat and plugs up the hole. Does he get stuck? What happens to the boat? Does water come down from the mountain? 想法三：馬克跳下船，堵住排水孔，他會被吸住嗎？那艘船會如何呢？山上的水會流下來嗎？