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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...
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008,Page 17
Record breakers 勇破世界紀錄
“Today we’re going to break a world record,” Kathleen said with a mischievous smile on her face, as she slammed the 2008 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records on the table. “It says here that in 1981, Boris Skratofski from Belarus ate 3,861 baked beans with a toothpick in one hour. That should be an easy record to break.”
An hour later, Mark returned from the supermarket carrying 80 tins of baked beans. He was exhausted. He poured them onto a huge plate and counted down: “Three, two, one, go!” Kathleen immediately started eating the beans, but it was almost impossible to hold the toothpick in her tiny mouse feet. After an hour, she’d only eaten 57 beans. “Darn it!” she said. “Let’s find another record to break.”
“How about this one? In 1994, Elijah Forrester from Alabama ironed clothes continuously for 77 hours, 14 minutes and 26 seconds,” Mark said.
“That’s perfect! Grab the ironing board and get started,” Kathleen said. “OK , I’ll do it!” said Mark. Pretty soon, the record attempt became big news. TV stations from around the world arrived to cover the event. After 78 hours, Mark still hadn’t stopped ironing. Sweat was pouring down his trunk.
Suddenly the door swung open, and a strange figure stood in the doorway.
“I am Elijah Forrester,” he said. “And I can prove you have been cheating. Your ironing board is 3cm shorter than the regulation length. The record is still mine!”
“Oh no!” they said together. “Can this be true?”
(JOHN PHILLIPS, STAFF WRITER)
凱薩琳一面翻閱桌上的《二ＯＯ八金氏世界紀錄》，一面調皮地笑著說：「我們今天來打破一項世界紀錄吧。這上面說在一九八一年，來自白俄羅斯的薄禮斯．史夸托夫斯基在一小時內，用一根牙籤吃了三千八百六十一顆燉豆子。要破那項紀錄應該不難。」
一個小時後，馬克從超市扛了八十罐燉豆子罐頭回來，這可把他累壞了。他把豆子倒入一個大盤子中，然後倒數：「三、二、一，開始！」凱薩琳立刻開始吃豆子，但她的小手幾乎握不住牙籤。一小時後，她只吃了五十七顆豆子，她說：「可惡！我們找個別的紀錄來打破吧。」
馬克說：「這個如何？一九九四年，美國阿拉巴馬州的以利亞．佛瑞斯特連續燙衣服燙了七十七小時十四分又二十六秒。」
凱薩琳說：「這太棒了！把燙衣板拿來準備開始。」馬克說：「好，這次讓我來吧！」不久後，他們試圖打破紀錄的舉動成了一則大新聞，世界各地的電視台記者都跑來採訪。七十八小時過去後，馬克還在繼續燙著衣服，汗水從他的長鼻子上滴下來。
忽然，門被打開，一個奇怪的人影站在門口。
他說：「我就是以利亞．佛瑞斯特。我可以證明你們作弊，你們的燙衣板比正常規格短了三公分，所以我仍是紀錄保持人！」
他們同聲喊道：「噢，不！這是真的嗎？」 （翻譯：袁星塵）
| TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字 |
| 1. mischievous adj.
調皮的 (tiao2 pi2 de5)
例: I’m getting sick of that mischievous cat.
(我快受不了那隻愛搗蛋的貓了。)
2. exhausted adj.
精疲力竭的 (jing1 pi2 li4 jie2 de5)
例: Percival was exhausted after running the marathon.
(佩賽弗跑完馬拉松後精疲力竭。)
3. continuously adv.
連續不斷地 (lian2 xu4 bu2 duan4 de5)
例: Jimmy swam continuously for two hours.
(吉米連續游了兩個小時。)
4. prove v.i./v.t.
證明 (zheng4 ming2)
例: I’m sure you took the last cookie, but there’s no way I can prove it. (我確定你拿走了最後一片餅乾，但我無法證明。)
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| WHAT HAPPENED? 究竟怎麼回事? |
| 1. Why did Kathleen decide to break a record?
a. She wanted to be famous.
b. She wanted to make some money.
c. The story doesn’t say.
2. Did Mark iron for longer than Elijah Forrester?
a. Yes, he did.
b.No, he didn’t.
c. The story doesn’t say. |
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| FINISH IT 故事接龍 |
| Write your own ending to the story! 寫下你的故事結局:
Idea 1: They measure the ironing board, and it is too short to qualify for the record. How do they feel? Are they angry with Elijah Forrester?
想法一: 他們測量了燙衣板，發現它的確太短，不符合破紀錄的規定。他們作何感想？他們會生以利亞．佛瑞斯特的氣嗎？
Idea 2: Elijah Forrester is wrong, and they break the record. What happens next? Do they become famous? Why did Elijah Forrester lie?
想法二: 以利亞．佛瑞斯特錯了，馬克和凱薩琳的確打破世界紀錄。接下來發生了什麼事？他們會變成名人嗎？為什麼以利亞．佛瑞斯特要說謊？
Idea 3: They decide to break another record. Which record will they attempt? Who will do it, Mark or Kathleen. Will they fail or succeed?
想法三: 他們決定要打破另一項世界紀錄，他們會想打破什麼紀錄？誰要來打破呢？是馬克還是凱薩琳？他們會失敗還是成功?
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