第42课（274字 2分钟）

Passage Forty-two

（K4 level）

1. Little Tommy was doing very badly in math.

2. His parents had tried everything—tutors, cards, special learning centers—in short, everything they could think of.

3. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic school.

4. After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face.

5. He didn’t kiss his mother hello.

6. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying.

7. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work.

8. His mother was surprised.

9. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word.

10. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before.

11. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.

12. Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card.

13. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books.

14. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math.

15. She could no longer hold her curiosity.

16. She went to his room and asked him what it was, wondering if it was the nuns.

17. Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head, saying no.

18. She then asked again what it was.

19. Little Tommy looked at her and said that on the first day of school, when he saw that man nailed to the plus sign, he knew they weren’t joking.

生词表（New Words）

1. badly 非常差 math 数学

2. parents 父母 tutors 辅导 cards 卡片

special 特殊 learning 学习 centers 中心

3. school 学校

4. serious 严肃 look 表情

5. kiss 亲吻 hello 打招呼

6. instead 相反 straight 直接 started 开始

studying 学习

7. papers 纸张 spread 散落

8.surprised 惊讶

9. without 没有

10. time 时间 back 回 hitting 用力

books 学习

11. time 时间 tried 尝试 understand 理解

12. report card 成绩单

13. quietly 安静地 books 书本

14. looked 看 surprise 惊讶

15. got 得到

16. curiosity 好奇心

17. asked 问 what 什么

18. nuns 修女

19. shook 摇 nailed 钉 plus 加号

joking 开玩笑

1. 小汤米的数学成绩非常差。

2. 他的父母尝试了各种方法，辅导、卡片、特殊学习中心，总之，他们能想到的所有办法都试过了。

3. 最后，他们把小汤米送到了一个天主教学校。

4. 第一天后，小汤米带着非常严肃的表情回到家。

5. 他没有亲吻母亲打招呼。

6. 相反，他直接走进自己的房间开始学习。

7. 书本和纸张散落在房间里，小汤米正在努力学习。

8. 他的母亲感到惊讶。

9. 她叫他下楼吃晚饭，等他吃完饭后，他又默默地回到了自己的房间。

10. 很快，他又开始像之前一样用力学习。

11. 这种情况持续了一段时间，日复一日，母亲努力理解发生了什么。

12. 最后，小汤米带回了他的成绩单。

13. 他安静地把成绩单放在桌子上，然后回到房间继续学习。

14. 他的妈妈看了一眼，惊讶地发现小汤米在数学上得了A。

15. 她再也忍不住好奇心了。

16. 她走进他的房间，问他到底是什么原因，是否是因为修女们的帮助。

17. 小汤米看着她摇了摇头，说：“不是的。”

18. 她又问他到底是什么原因。

19. 小汤米看着她说：“第一天上学时，当我看到那个被钉在加号上的人时，我就知道他们不是在开玩笑。”