剑桥英语故事短文

（一）In The Air Matt and his wife lived in the country. Matt was very stingy(吝啬) and hated spending money. One day a fair(集市) came to the nearby town. “Let’s go to the fair, Matt,” his wife said, “We haven’t been anywhere for a long time.” Matt thought about this for a while. He knew he would have to spend money at the fair. At last he said, “All right, but I’m not going to spend much money. We’ll look at things, but we won’t buy anything.” They went to the fair and looked at all the things to buy. There were many things Matt’s wife wanted to buy ,but he would not let her spend any money. Then , in a nearby field, they saw a small airplane. “Fun flight!” the notice said, “$10 for 10 minutes.” Matt had never been in an airplane and he wanted to go on a fun flight. However, he didn’t want to have to pay for his wife, as well. “I’ve only got $10,” he told the pilot. ( 飞行员). “Can my wife come with me for free?” The pilot wasn’t selling many tickets, so he said , “I’ll make a bargain with you. If your wife doesn’t scream or shout, she can have a free flight.” Matt agreed, and got into the small airplane with his wife. The pilot took off and made his airplane do all kinds of things. At one moment it was flying upside down. When the plane landed , the pilot said, “O.K. your wife didn’t make a sound . She can have her ride free.” “Thank you,” Matt said. “it wasn’t easy for her, you know , especi ally (尤其 ) when she fell out.” 赏析：夸张是指借助艺术想象，以现实生活为基础，抓住描写对象的某些特征加以夸张，以突出事物本质。夸张的修辞手法往往能造成幽默的效果。这种修辞手法在我国的相声段子里面非常普遍，在外国的幽默故事中也随处可见。 这则幽默就是用夸张的手法讽刺了一位极其吝啬的男人。吝啬鬼在世界文学作品中并不少见，中国古有多点了一根灯草就不能安然死去的严监生，外国有临死前瞪着发金光的眼睛想夺取金色十字架的葛朗台。 吝啬是落后的生活方式、不健康的封建思想在人脑海中的根深蒂固。它不独存在于哪个制度，哪个社会。即便在享受现代物质文明----乘飞机旅行的今天，我们的主人公麦栋夫妇，为了那可怜的10美元，也会置生命安全于不顾，“宁死不叫”。他们的这种小气跟他们所享受的现代文明形成了极大的一个反差。 作者在文章的最后运用了夸张的修辞手法“it wasn’t easy for her , you know ,especially when she fell out”.一切显得那样的不尽情理，一切又似乎是那样的合情合理：一旦一个社会的精神文明不能赶上他的物质文明时，就有可能会产生一些变态的东西。 读之此，我们就不难体会我们国家为何一再强调两个文明一起抓了 下面几个英语网，有各个方面的，你可以根据自己的情况，参考下格写作式和内容：）~~ 这里也有不少英语的优秀短文：：）~~ 英语写作网，很全的,：）~~ 可以学习下：）~~ 英语书写范文：）~ 还有现成的： 英语小故事Who Deserves Help? 可以参考：）~ Many years ago, there lived a very rich man who wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help. So he placed a very large stone in the center of the main road into town. Then he hid behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow. "Who put this stone in the center of the road?" said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way. Another man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone in the center of the road, but not one of them tried to remove it. Late in the afternoon, a young man came along. He saw the stone and said, "The night will be very dark. Some neighbor will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone. " The young man then began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his strength to move it to one side. But imagine his surprise when under the stone he found a bag full of money and this message: "This money is for the thoughtful person who removes this stone from the road. That person deserves help." 其实你也可以用flash的： 剑桥英语不错的： 也可以直接找网址： 或者这个 翅 膀 一天，我工作的炸鸡店在关门前出现了一阵抢购狂潮，结果除了鸡翅外所有的东西都卖完了。当我正准备锁门时，一名喝醉了的旅客进来要进餐。我问他翅膀行不行，他从柜台上靠过身子来，回答道：“女士，我到这儿来是吃东西的，不是要飞！” Wings The fried-chicken restaurant where I was working had a big rush just before closing one day, leaving us with nothing to sell but wings. As I was about to lock the doors, aa quietly intoxicated customer came in and ordered dinner. When I asked if wings would be all right, he leaned over the counter and replied, "Lady, I came in here to eat, not fly." 真的是太多了： 这是保存在我的电脑里的哦 A Brother Like That A friend of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. "Is this your car, Mister?" he said. Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was astounded. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I wish . . ." He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels. "I wish," the boy went on, "That I could be a brother like that." Paul looked at the boy in astonishment, then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my car?" "Oh yes, Id love that." After a short ride, the boy turned with his eyes aglow, said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?" Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked. He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed to the car. "There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day Im gonna give you one just like it . . . then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that Ive been trying to tell you about." Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said: "It is more blessed to give . . . " 内容： 哥哥的心愿 圣诞节时，保罗的哥哥送他一辆新车。圣诞节当天，保罗离开办公室时，一个男孩绕着那辆闪闪发亮的新车，十分赞叹地问： "先生，这是你的车？" 保罗点点头："这是我哥哥送给我的圣诞节礼物。"男孩满脸惊讶，支支吾吾地说："你是说这是你哥送的礼物，没花你一分钱？天哪，我真希望也能……" 保罗当然知道男孩他真想希望什么。他希望能有一个象那样的哥哥。但是小男孩接下来说的话却完全出乎了保罗的意料。 "我希望自己能成为送车给弟弟的哥哥。"男孩继续说。 保罗惊愕地看着那男孩，冲口而出地说："你要不要坐我的车去兜风？" "哦，当然好了，我太想坐了！" 车开了一小段路后，那孩子转过头来，眼睛闪闪发亮，对我说："先生，你能不能把车子开到我家门前？" 保罗微笑，他知道孩子想干什么。那男孩必定是要向邻居炫耀，让大家知道他坐了一部大轿车回家。但是这次保罗又猜错了。"你能不能把车子停在那两个台阶前？"男孩要求道。 男孩跑上了阶梯，过了一会儿保罗听到他回来了，但动作似乎有些缓慢。原来把他跛脚的弟弟带出来了，将他安置在第一个台阶上，紧紧地抱着他，指着那辆新车。 只听那男孩告诉弟弟："你看，这就是我刚才在楼上对你说的那辆新车。这是保罗他哥哥送给他的哦！将来我也会送给你一辆像这样的车，到那时候你就能自己去看那些在圣诞节时，挂窗口上的漂亮饰品了，就象我告诉过你的那样。" 保罗走下车子，把跛脚男孩抱到车子的前座。兴奋得满眼放光的哥哥也爬上车子，坐在弟弟的身旁。就这样他们三人开始一次令人难忘的假日兜风。 那个圣诞夜，保罗才真正体会主耶稣所说的"施比受更有福"的道理。 A man came home form work late, tired and found his 5 years old son waiting for him at the door. "Daddy, may I ask you a question?" "Yeah, sure, what is it?" replied the man. "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" "If you must know, I make $20 an hour."" Oh," The little boy replied, with his head down, looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I please borrow $10" the father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy, then you go to bed." The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down. And started to think. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.” Are you asleep, son?" he asked. "no daddy," replied the boy. "I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier." said the man, "Here's the $10 you asked for." the little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father. "Why do you want more money? Is you already have some?" the father asked. "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do.”The little boy repiied, "Daddy , I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you." Little Red Riding Hood Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her a little riding hood of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called 'Little Red Riding Hood.' One day her mother said to her: 'Come, Little Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don't forget to say, "Good morning", and don't peep into every corner before you do it.' 'I will take great care,' said Little Red Riding Hood to her mother, and gave her hand on it. The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a wolf met her. Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him. 'Good day, Little Red Riding Hood,' said he. 'Thank you kindly, wolf.' 'Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?' 'To my grandmother's.' 'What have you got in your apron?' 'Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her stronger.' 'Where does your grandmother live, Little Red Riding Hood?' 'A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it,' replied Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf thought to himself: 'What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful - she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both.' So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red Riding Hood, and then he said: 'See, Little Red Riding Hood, how pretty the flowers are about here - why do you not look round? I believe, too, that you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the wood is merry.' < 2 > Little Red Riding Hood raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: 'Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that would please her too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time.' So she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood. Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmother's house and knocked at the door. 'Who is there?' 'Little Red Riding Hood,' replied the wolf. 'She is bringing cake and wine; open the door.' 'Lift the latch,' called out the grandmother, 'I am too weak, and cannot get up.' The wolf lifted the latch, the door sprang open, and without saying a word he went straight to the grandmother's bed, and devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her cap, laid himself in bed and drew the curtains. Little Red Riding Hood, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to her. She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself: 'Oh dear! how uneasy I feel today, and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.' She called out: 'Good morning,' but received no answer; so she went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking very strange. 'Oh! grandmother,' she said, 'what big ears you have!' 'All the better to hear you with, my child,' was the reply. 'But, grandmother, what big eyes you have!' she said. 'All the better to see you with, my dear.' 'But, grandmother, what large hands you have!' 'All the better to hug you with.' 'Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!' 'All the better to eat you with!' And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Red Riding Hood. < 3 > When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud. The huntsman was just passing the house, and thought to himself: 'How the old woman is snoring! I must just see if she wants anything.' So he went into the room, and when he came to the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying in it. 'Do I find you here, you old sinner!' said he. 'I have long sought you!' But just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf. When he had made two snips, he saw the little red riding hood shining, and then he made two snips more, and the little girl sprang out, crying: 'Ah, how frightened I have been! How dark it was inside the wolf.' After that the aged grandmother came out alive also, but scarcely able to breathe. Red Riding Hood, however, quickly fetched great stones with which they filled the wolf's belly, and when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead. Then all three were delighted. The huntsman drew off the wolf's skin and went home with it; the grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine which Red Riding Hood had brought, and revived. But Red Riding Hood thought to herself: 'As long as I live, I will never leave the path by myself to run into the wood, when my mother has forbidden me to do so.' It is also related that once, when Red Riding Hood was again taking cakes to the old grandmother, another wolf spoke to her, and tried to entice her from the path. Red Riding Hood, however, was on her guard, and went straight forward on her way, and told her grandmother that she had met the wolf, and that he had said 'good morning' to her, but with such a wicked look in his eyes, that if they had not been on the public road she was certain he would have eaten her up. < 4 > 'Well,' said the grandmother, 'we will shut the door, so that he can not come in.' Soon afterwards the wolf knocked, and cried: 'Open the door, grandmother, I am Little Red Riding Hood, and am bringing you some cakes.' But they did not speak, or open the door, so the grey-beard stole twice or thrice round the house, and at last jumped on the roof, intending to wait until Red Riding Hood went home in the evening, and then to steal after her and devour her in the darkness. But the grandmother saw what was in his thoughts. In front of the house was a great stone trough, so she said to the child: 'Take the pail, Red Riding Hood; I made some sausages yesterday, so carry the water in which I boiled them to the trough.' Red Riding Hood carried until the great trough was quite full. Then the smell of the sausages reached the wolf, and he sniffed and peeped down, and at last stretched out his neck so far that he could no longer keep his footing and began to slip, and slipped down from the roof straight into the great trough, and was drowned. But Red Riding Hood went joyously home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again. One Friday morning, a teacher came up with a novel way to motivate her class. She told them that she would read a quote and the first student to correctly identify who said it would receive the rest of the day off. She started with "This was England's finest hour." Little Suzy instantly jumped up and said, "Winston Churchill." "Congratulations!" Said the teacher, "You may go home." The teacher then said, "Ask not what your country can do for you." Before she could finish this quote, another young lady belts out, "John F.Kennedy". "Very good," says the teacher, "you may go." Irritated that he has missed two golden opportunities, Little Johnny said,"I wish those girls would just shut up." Upon overhearing this comment, the outraged teacher demanded to know who said it. Johnny instantly rose to his feet and said,"Bill Clinton. I'll see you Monday." 最后送你一网址： 啊，对了，如果你要有声的英语的话，我知道的。 你可以在这个网站里找——千源网 不过，他唯一的缺点是——必须下载的。 At last , good lucky to you.