It's Mother Who Broke It
After supper mother and son were washing bowls and plates while father and daughter were watching TV．Suddenly a sound of bowls and plates broken came from the kitchen．And then the sound died out．The daughter said to her father,“It's mother who broke it．”“How do you know that?”asked the father．“Because mother said nothing．”
What's the Matter with You?
The phone rang and I picked up the receiver．
“Hello”,I said．
“Hello,”said a voice,“Bill here．Is Betty there?”
A few seconds later,the telephone rang again．Just as I expected,it was Bill．“You've made a mistake again,”I explained．
Then the phone rang a third time．This made me angry．I spoke in a loud voice,“Hello,Bill,Betty here．”
For a moment there was complete silence．Then someone said,“What's the matter with you,Tom?”
It was my mother．
New York City
New York City,is the largest city in the United States and one of the largest in the world,on New York Bay①at the mouth oftheHudson River．The total area of New YorkCity is about 300square miles．It hasfiveboroughs②：Manhattan,the Bronx,Queens,Brooklyn and Staten Island．The cityis acenter for commerce and business andoneof the three“world cities”（along with Lon-don and Tokyo）．The city is also a placewhere the headquarters of the UnitedNa-tions is located．People from all over theworld live in the city and work at the UnitedNations． New York City is often called“The BigApple”,which was termed by jazz musiciansto describe something that is the ultimate③insize,excitement and achievement．The cityreally has the wonders of the Big Apple—the Statue of Liberty,the World Trade Cen-ter,Wall Street,Broadway,RockefellerCenter and so on． Notes：①bay n．海灣 ②borough n．（美）紐約市行政區(qū) ③ultimate n．極限;頂點(diǎn)
“愚人節(jié)”,
每年四月一日是英美等西方國(guó)家傳統(tǒng)的節(jié)日,即“愚人節(jié)”,英語稱作“April Fools’Day”.無論男女老少,這天都可以互相開玩笑,就連英國(guó)正統(tǒng)的BBC廣播公司,為了增加節(jié)日氣氛,在每年的這天都不止一次地利用電臺(tái)和電視向聽眾、觀眾開玩笑.在學(xué)校里,學(xué)生們?cè)谡n堂上往往用粉筆偷偷在別人背后寫上“我是笨蛋”、“都來踢我”等字樣,互相捉弄.有時(shí)老師也會(huì)突然發(fā)現(xiàn)自己身上被學(xué)生畫上了可笑的圖案或字樣,對(duì)此哭笑不得.這一天被愚弄的人,在英格蘭被稱為“四月愚人”,在蘇格蘭被稱為“四月布谷鳥”,在法國(guó)則被稱為“四月魚”.