Basic Reading — 第10冊

🔊Hi, my name is Jefferson. Yesterday, I went to the carnival with my brother, Billy Joe. There were lots of people there and all the rides had long lineups to get on them. We waited for almost thirty minutes just to get on the Ferris wheel. We even had to line up just to get something to eat or drink.

🔊Our favorite ride was the bumper cars. It was a great place to practice our ‘Taiwanese’ driving skills. The cars are surrounded by big rubber bumpers, so that they can hit each other without damaging anything. People raced around the floor madly trying to ram each other. It was so much fun I couldn't stop smiling.

🔊One time, I rear-ended Billy. He wasn't expecting it and let out a big scream. It was so funny that I almost peed myself laughing. He spent the rest of the time angrily chasing me and trying to crash into my car, but I was too fast. It was hilarious.

🔊I hope the carnival comes back to town soon. I can hardly wait to ride the bumper cars again. It was a blast. Billy can't wait, either. He wants revenge.

🔊It is the first day of class. All the new first graders are excited. They sit quietly in their desks listening to their new teacher, Wendy. It is a big day for them.

🔊The students' parents are also excited and stand at the door curiously looking on. Their little babies are growing up and now need to attend class every day. Some of the moms want to make sure that everything will be all right before they leave their kids alone.

🔊Wendy is a bit nervous being watched as she teaches. But most parents are just watching their children and aren’t too concerned about her. Besides, she knows they will only stick around for a couple of periods anyway and then they will leave.

🔊The new students don't yet know how to read Chinese characters. To help them out, Wendy has written the phonetic symbols on the chalkboard beside each character. They must first learn this phonetic system, called Be Pe Me Fe, to be able to pronounce words. When they have mastered this, they can then begin to memorize the Chinese characters. It will take them many years to learn to read and write Chinese, but, with Wendy's help, they will learn some very important lessons in the first grade.

🔊Paper cutters are very handy to make precise, clean cuts on paper or thin cardboard. They are very powerful cutters and can cut many sheets at a time. The back edge of the cutter has a ruler attached. This helps to line up the paper, making it square, and also for more accurate measurements. The rest of the board is covered with a grid, which also aids in alignment. The cutter is a long steel blade with a handle on the end.

🔊To use the paper cutter, lift up the cutter blade and insert some paper. Push the paper snuggly against the ruler on the back to keep it square to the blade. Use your left hand to hold the paper in place and then slowly lower the blade. Be sure to keep your fingers away from the cutting edge, as this device could easily cut one right off.

🔊When you are finished, make sure that you store the paper cutter with the blade down. This will prevent any unfortunate accidents. Also, make sure that it is out of the reach of curious little hands.

🔊Exit signs point the way to the outside door. They are required by law in most public buildings such as schools and apartment complexes, but even where it isn’t mandatory to have them they are still a good idea to have around.

🔊Their primary function is safety. They help occupants of buildings to quickly locate the nearest door in the case of an emergency. The signs should have bold writing on them or some type of symbol to make them more visible as well as an arrow to point the way to safety.

🔊Exit lights are best because power failures often accompany disasters like fires and earthquakes when you need to escape quickly. They can easily be read in the dark because the lights are connected to an emergency power source to keep them lit.

🔊Although safety is their main job, they also help you out of large buildings that you may not be familiar with. Big shopping malls and department stores are good examples because they are often difficult to find your way out of. This is not by coincidence either, but by design to keep customers inside longer. However, much to their dismay, it is mandatory that they have exit signs. So look for the signs when you are finished shopping before you are tempted into spending more money at the till than you had initially anticipated.

🔊This is the McDonald's located in Huatan. The infamous golden arches mounted on a pole next to the road make it very easy to find. Sitting on a bench outside of the main entrance is a life-sized statue of Ronald McDonald. He is McDonald's mascot. Feel free to sit and have lunch with him, he won't mind a bit.

🔊The cashiers stand behind the counter. Each one of them has their own cash register. Above and behind the front counter is the menu board. It lists meals you can order and individual items, too, along with the prices. When you're ready to order, you can tell one of the clerks what you want or point to it on the menu board. They will then key it into the register.

🔊Once you have paid, they will get your order for you. If you want it to go, then they will put your food in a paper bag. If you plan to eat in, they will put it on a tray with a paper liner. And once they have filled your order, you can take the tray to an empty table and sit down. Make sure to grab a straw, some ketchup and napkins.

🔊Here is a look at someone's McChicken (chicken burger) meal. A meal usually consists of a burger, french-fries and a drink. If you want, you can super-size it, too, but a regular-sized meal contains enough unhealthy calories for one person anyway.

🔊For those in a big hurry, this McDonald's also has a drive-thru window. You can order your food directly from the outside menu board via a microphone and speaker. By the time you get to the drive-thru window, your order should be ready. You give the person wearing a headset and a phony smile some money, they give you some food, and then you are on your way. All this without ever having to get out of your car. Life can’t get any lazier than that.

🔊Playing with interlocking blocks is a lot of fun. You can use your imagination to build all sorts of things. You can build a tower, a spaceship, a house or anything else you can dream up; the sky is the limit.

🔊The colorful blocks are helping these boys to explore and expand their creativity. The girl on the left has stacked the blocks on top of one another and made a long narrow column, like a tower. The other boy has invented some strange device that only he understands.

🔊As a child, my brother and I played with similar blocks called Lego’s. They kept us busy for hours on end. My favorite things to build were spaceships and trucks. My brother liked to build houses. Whenever we had extra allowance money to spend, we would quite often buy more Lego’s. We had boxes and boxes of the things.

🔊Now, when my nephews are playing with them, I like to join in as I still enjoy building things with them. And they enjoy the time we play together because adults don’t often play with toys.

🔊After two months of hard training, the race is finally over. What had taken so much time and preparation was finished in less than 20 seconds. But for at least one of the students, it was all worthwhile.

🔊The crowd watched as the third place competitor stepped onto the podium. She waved to everyone and quietly nodded, thanking them for the applause without saying a word. She was then congratulated with a handshake by the principal and presented with a bronze medal.

🔊Everyone cheered a bit louder as the second place runner stepped up. She did not wave or make any gesture of thanks. In fact, she seemed upset at being second. The principal patted her on the shoulder and said she had done well, but she felt he was being patronizing. Regardless, she accepted the silver medal.

🔊As the last of the three took her place on the top of the podium, the crowd gave her a standing ovation. The shy girl tried being modest, but couldn’t help but to smile uncontrollably amidst the cheers and whistles. She bowed several times to show her gratitude. The principal shook her hand, just as he had the others, and congratulated her on behalf of the school.

🔊She bowed once more and as she did, the head of the school placed a gold medal around her neck. When the young girl rose again, this time with the award around her neck, the audience went wild. She couldn't believe the reception she was getting, but it made her feel so good inside.

🔊Before stepping down, the polite girl gave her competitors a big hug. The other girls had done their best, too and were great athletes. Beating them was quite an accomplishment and will perhaps inspire her to train even harder in the future. With lots of practice and training, she may stand on top of the podium once again.

🔊When I walk into the night-market, the owners of this booth shudder. They know that if I decide to pick up one of their guns, prizes will start to disappear faster than Oprah's lunch. Lucky for them, the prizes are worth less than the cost of playing the game, which is about 30NT for 10 shots.

🔊Sometimes I use the AK-47 look-alike, but not often as this makes the targets that much closer and easier to hit. This is because rifles are far more accurate than handguns and make shooting the balloons like shooting fish in a barrel. It isn't much fun if the game is too easy, right?

🔊Even though the fake 9mm only shoots plastic bee-bees, holding it in my hands still makes me feel like a tough guy. There is something about staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic weapon that you just can't explain; kind of like the feeling you get when you sit behind the wheel of a '64 Mustang—it just makes the beast inside you come alive.

🔊I usually aim for the rotating wheel with the balloons stuck in it. A moving target is much more fun to shoot at than a stationary one. The first couple of shots usually go to waste trying to figure out where the gun is aimed, because the sights don't necessarily point in the same direction as the bee-bee is going to fly. I guess that's the price you have to pay when you use cheap toy guns.

🔊Shooting baskets is so popular that someone has even made an arcade game out of it. It costs approximately 20NT to play. Put your coins in and push the start button to get it going. The balls will roll down to the holding area in front of you and the clock will begin to count down. The idea is to score at least 50 points before the clock runs out. If you reach this goal in the given time, you will move on to the next stage. Each stage is progressively more difficult, requiring more and more points to be scored in order to continue. During some of the stages, the basket will even move from side to side and sometimes it even goes up and down—as if it wasn't difficult enough already. It seems easy, but when you are racing to shoot baskets, sometimes they just don't go in. If you get too flustered, just slow down and carefully line up your shot to get back on track. You can also link two or more machines together so that you can play against your friends. If you repeatedly lose to your friends, you can buy a machine of your own and keep it at home. This way you will be able to practice whenever you have spare time and ensure that you will be the "King of the Hoops" for a long time to come.

🔊Chuck is going shopping at Carrefour. Near the entrance he sees four rows of shopping carts for customer use. He tries to separate one from the bunch, but it is attached by a chain. He pulls on the pin several times but it won't budge. Suddenly he realizes that the carts have small coin-operated locks attached to them.

🔊Chuck digs a 10 dollar coin out of his pocket and sticks it into the slot. As he pushes on the coin, the pin that is attached to the chain pops out. He is now able to pull the cart out and use it.

🔊Inside the big store, Chuck pushes the shopping cart down the aisles. He is in search of a bargain. Soon he finds a sale on homeless children and decides to stock up.

🔊His first buy is a young girl in pink pajamas. He carefully sits her in the child's seat on the cart. She will be perfect for doing his laundry and dishes. She can also make his bed and tidy up around the house.

🔊Next, he picks up a small boy. For now he isn't much good, but as he grows older and becomes stronger he will be able to do yard work and house repairs. Besides, at 500NT, it’s a steal.

🔊The last little girl he finds near the checkout counter. He doesn't have much use for her, but he figures maybe his uncle Larry could use her to clean the bathroom. In any case, at these prices, who can say no?

🔊After paying he pushes his cart full of kids back to the car and loads them into the trunk. Then he returns the cart and slides it back into line. As he pushes the pin back into the lock, his coin comes back out of the front. He pulls it out of the slot and places it back in his pocket. He happily turns to go home, knowing that by tomorrow his house will be nice and clean.