26.
I am an art student and I paint a lot of
pictures.Many people pretend that they
understand modern art.They always tell
you what a picture is 'about'.Of course,
many pictures arc not 'about' anything.
They are just pretty patterns.We like
them in the same way that we like pretty
curtain material.I think that young child-
ren often appreciate modern pictures
better than anyone else.They notice
more.My sister is only seven,but she
always tells me whether my pictures are
good or not.She came into my room
yesterday.
' What are you doing ' she asked.
' I'm hanging this picture on the wall,'
I answered.'It's a new one.Do you like it '
She looked at it critically for a moment.' It's all right,' she said,'but isn't it
upside-down '
I looked at it again.She was right!It was!
27.
Late in the afternoon,the boys put up
their tent in the middle of a field.As soon
as this was done,they cooked a meal over
an open fire.They were all hungry and
the food smelt good.After a wonderful
meal,they told stories and sang songs by
the camp fire.But some time later it be-
gan to rain.The boys felt tired so they
pet out the fire and crept into their tent.
Their sleeping-bags were warm and com-
fortable,so they all slept soundly.In the
middle of the night,two boys woke up
and began shouting.The tent was full of
water!They all leapt out of their sleep-
ing-bags and hurried outside.It was rain-
ing heavily and they found that a stream
had formed in the field.The stream wound its way across the field and then
flowed right under their tent!
28.
Jasper White is one of those rare people
who believes in ancient myths.He has
just bought a new house in the city,
but ever since he moved in,he has had
trouble with motorists.when he returns
home at night,he always finds that some-
one has parked a car outside his gate.
Because of this,he has not been able to
get his own car into his garage even once.
Jasper has put up' No Parking' signs out-
side his gate,but these have not had any
effect.Now he has put an ugly stone head
over the gate.It is one of the ugliest faces
I have ever seen.I asked him what it was
and he told me that it was Medusa,the
Gorgon.Jasper hopes that she will turn
motorists to stone.But none of them has been turned to stone yet!
29.
Captain Ben Fawcett has bought an un-
usual taxi and has begun a new service.
The 'taxi' is a small Swiss aeroplane
called a 'Pilatus Porter'.This wonderful
plane can carry seven passengers.The
most surprising thing about it,however,
is that it can land anywhere:on snow,
water,or even on a ploughed field.Cap-
tain Fawcett's first passenger was a doctor
who flew from Birmingham to a lonely
village in the Welsh mountains.Since
then,Captain Fawcett has flown passen-
gers to many unusual places.Once he
landed on the roof of a block of flats and
on another occasion,he landed in a de-
serted car park.Captain Fawcett has just
refused a strange request from a businessman.The man wanted to fly to Rockall,
a lonely island in the Atlantic Ocean,but Captain Fawcett did not take him
because the trip was too dangerous.
30.
The Wayle is a small river that cuts
across the park near my home.I like
sitting by the Wayle on fine afternoons.
It was warm last Sunday,so I went and
sat on the river bank as usual.Some child-
ren were playing games on the bank and
there were some people rowing on the
river.Suddenly,one of the children
kicked a ball very hard and it went to-
wards a passing boat.Some people on the
bank called out to the man in the boat,
but he did not hear them.The ball struck
him so hard that he nearly fell into the
water.I turned to look at the children,
but there weren't any in sight:they had
all run away!The man laughed when he
realized what had happened.He called out to the children and threw the ball
back to the bank.