第42课（288字2分钟）

Passage Forty-two

（K9 level）

1. Little Tommy was struggling with math.

2. His parents had tried everything they could think of, from tutors to special learning centers and even using cards.

3. In the end, they decided to send Tommy to a Catholic school.

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

5. He didn’t greet his mother with a kiss.

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

7. Books and papers were spread out all over the room, and Tommy was working hard.

8. His mother was very surprised by this.

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

10. Before long, he was back to studying as hard as ever.

11. This continued for some time, day after day, while his mother tried to figure out what was going on.

12. Finally, Tommy brought home his report card.

13. He quietly placed it on the table and went back to his room to hit the books again.

14. When his mom looked at the report card, she was amazed to see that Tommy had earned an A in math.

15. She couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore.

16. She went to his room and asked, "What happened? Was it because of the nuns?"

17. Tommy looked at her and shook his head, saying, "No."

18. She asked again, "Then what was it?"

19. Tommy looked at her and explained, "On my first day of school, when I saw that man nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t kidding."

生词表（New Words）

1. struggling 吃力 math 数学

2. parents 父母 tutors 辅导 learning 学习

centers 中心

3. decided 决定 Catholic 天主教

4. serious 严肃

5. greet 打招呼 kiss 亲吻

6. instead 相反 straight 直接

7. books 书本 papers 纸张 spread 散落

8. mother 母亲 surprised 惊讶

9. called 叫 dinner 晚饭 eating 吃

10. hitting 用力 books 学习

11. understand 理解

12. report 成绩

13. quietly 安静地 put 放 table 桌子

hit 学习

14. surprise 惊讶

15. got 得到

16. curiosity 好奇心

17. asked 问 nuns 修女

18. shook 摇 head 头

19. nailed 钉 plus 加号 knew 知道

joking 开玩笑

1. 小汤米在数学上很吃力。

2. 他的父母尝试了他们能想到的一切，从辅导到特殊学习中心，甚至使用卡片。

3. 最终，他们决定把汤米送到一所天主教学校。

4. 第一天后，汤米带着严肃的表情回到家。

5. 他没有亲吻母亲打招呼。

6. 相反，他直接走进自己的房间，开始了学习。

7. 书本和纸张散落在房间里，汤米正在努力学习。

8. 他的母亲对此感到非常惊讶。

9. 她叫他下来吃晚饭，等他吃完饭后，他又默默地回到自己的房间。

10. 很快，他又开始像以前一样努力学习。

11. 这种情况持续了一段时间，日复一日，母亲努力弄明白发生了什么。

12. 最后，汤米带回了他的成绩单。

13. 他安静地把成绩单放在桌子上，然后又回到房间继续学习。

14. 当妈妈看到成绩单时，她惊讶地发现汤米在数学上得了A。

15. 她再也忍不住好奇心了。

16. 她走进他的房间，问他：“发生了什么？是修女们的帮助吗？”

17. 汤米看着她摇了摇头，说：“不是的。”

18. 她又问：“那到底是什么原因？”

19. 汤米看着她解释说：“在我第一天上学时，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。”