学文网It was very difficult to find jobs in the north of England，and when John lost his，he found it was impossible to get a new one. He had soon spent all his money，so he decided to go down to the south of the country. He had heard that things were better there. The best way to go there was by train，so he went to the railway station and got into the train to London.
He was the only person in his compartment（车厢）when another man came in suddenly with a gun and said to him，“Your money but your life!”
“I have no money，”John answered in a frightened voice.
“Then why are you trembling（发抖）so much？”the man asked angrily.
“Because I thought you were the ticket-collector（检票员），and I haven’t even got a ticket，”answered John.
David was a young man who worked in an office in a big city. He liked fishing very much，but he did not often get a chance（机会）to go fishing.
Then one summer he decided to have a holiday in a beautiful place in the mountains where there were a lot of streams（小溪）.“ I will be able to have some good fishing there，”he said to himself.
The first morning after he arrived，he carried his fishing rod（钓鱼竿）and walked to the nearest stream. He saw an old man standing beside the water，so he asked him whether it was a private（私有的）stream. The old man answered that it was not. Then he asked，“Well，then it won’t be a crime（犯罪）if I catch some fish here，will it？”
“Oh，no，”answered the old man，“it won’t be a crime，but it will certainly be a miracle（奇迹）.”
Mrs Andrews had a young cat，and it was the cat’s first winter. One evening it was outside when it began to snow heavily. Mrs Andrews looked everywhere and shouted its name，but she didn’t find it，so she telephoned the police and said，“I have lost a small black cat. Has anybody found one？”“No，madam，”said the policeman at the other end. “But cats are really very strong animals. They sometimes live for days in the snow，and when it melts（融化），somebody may find them，they are quite all right.”
Mrs Andrews felt happier when she heard this“and”. She said，“Our cat is very clever. She always talks.”The policeman was getting rather tired.“Well then，”he said，“why don’t you put your telephone down？Perhaps she is trying to telephone you now.”
One day a pig went to the stable（马棚）to see his good friend，an old horse，and was going to stay there for sleep. The pig went into the straw heap（稻草堆）and lay comfortably. A long time passed，but the horse was still standing there and did not move. So the pig asked the horse why he did not go to sleep.
“Standing like this is the beginning of sleeping，”answered the horse. The pig found it hard to believe and said，“How can you stand there sleeping？It is not comfortable at all.”
The horse answered，“Comfort is your habit. As horses we have the habit to run quickly even if we are asleep.”
A teacher was describing（描述）the Statue of Liberty（自由女神像）to the second-graders. She explained that Liberty held a torch（火炬）in one hand and a tablet（一块碑文）. Then she asked if they knew why the statue held a torch. One youngest raised his hand and answered，“Because you’re not supposed to read in the dark.”