铁路少年津津有味.docx

1、铁路少年 津津有味Chapter 1How it All BeganPreview Questions1. Where do you think the children lived at first?2.Why do you think the men will take the childrens father away?3.Why do you think the children and their mother will move to a smaller house?Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis were not railway children at f

2、irst. They were ordinary children. They lived with their mother and father in a large house in the city. Their mother stayed at home and looked after them. She read them stories and played games with them. Their father worked in a government office and came home only on weekends.Roberta was the elde

3、st. and then came Peter, and then Phyllis. When this story began, they were a happy family. They had nothing to worry about. Their father was able to pay for a cook and a maid, so their mother did not have to do a lot of housework.On Peters tenth birthday, he received a model railway engine for a pr

4、esent. It made real steam, and the steam made it move. But there was something wrong with it. It blew up and wouldnt work anymore.When the childrens father came home that weekend, he looked at the engine.“I can mend it,” he said, “but I havent time now. Ill mend it another day.”As the family sat hap

5、pily around the table eating their meal, there was a knock at the door. The maid went to answer it.She soon came back and said to the childrens father, “There are two men to see you, sir. I have asked them in to the front room.”The childrens father thanked the maid and went to see the two men. He wa

6、s gone a long time. The children heard their fathers voice. He seemed to be shouting.When he came back into the dining room, he said, “I must go away. I have a problem with the government.”He left the house with the two men. The children asked their mother what was happening.“Dont worry,” she said.

7、“Everything will be all right.”Every day for the next week, the childrens mother left the house early in the morning and did not return until late in the evening. She looked ill and worried all the time. “There is something wrong,” the children said. They asked the cook and the maid if they knew wha

8、t it was, but they would not say anything to the children.Then about a week after their father went away, their mother said, “Im sorry, children, but we must leave this house. We are going to live in a smaller house in the country.”At first, the children were excited. They thought this was a good id

9、ea. However, when they got to the house in the country, they were not happy. It was small and dirty, and Roberta thought she saw rats. The childrens mother. told them that they werent rats. They were just big mice, They did not really believe her, but they pretended that they did. Only some of their

10、 furniture from their old house was in the cottage. Everything else was in boxes. “Im hungry,” Peter said soon after they arrived. “Can we have some supper?”“Im afraid the lady I paid to clean here and buy some food hasnt done her work very well,” the childrens mother said. “The cottage is still ver

11、y dirty, and there isnt any fresh food.”“What are we going to do?” Roberta asked. “Theres some canned food in a box in the cellar,” her mother replied. “Lets go and see what there is.”They went down the stairs to the cellar. It was very dark under the house.“There are some candles somewhere,” the ch

12、ildrens mother said.”Lets all look for them.”They soon found the candles. Then they looked around for something to open the box with. Peter found a spade. He pushed it under the lid of the box and pulled up to slowly open it. Inside, there were tins of sardines and a box of biscuits.“It isnt much of

13、 a meal,” the childrens mother said, “but it will be enough until the morning. Then, we can go to the shop in the village and buy what we need.”The children were dirty and dusty. There wasnt any water in the cottage, so they went into the yard, where there was a pump. They had great fun washing unde

14、r the pump.After the meal, they all felt tired.“Its been a long and exciting day,” their mother said.”So lets go to bed early.”She found some sheets and blankets in another box, so they all went to bed, except for their mother. She stayed up very late, unpacking the many boxes and putting things awa

15、y in the drawers and cupboards. The next morning, the children woke up early. “Lets get up and explore,” Roberta said. “We havent looked at the garden yet.”The children washed quickly under the pump, got dressed, and ran out of the cottage into the garden. The house was on top of a hill, and the gar

16、den led down to a railway line at the bottom. There was a tunnel, too, but the children could not hear a train.The weather was already warm, and the children lay down in the sun and thought about their new life. The cottage was small but comfortable.“Well soon get used to it,” Roberta said.Phyllis s

17、aid, “We havent any servants here. Well have to help mother with the cooking and housework.”“I cant cook,” Peter said.“Dont worry,” Roberta laughed. “Well soon find something for you to do.”The children soon fell asleep in the warm sun. Their mother came outside and woke them up.“Ive got a surprise

18、for you,” she said.”Theres another room. I thought it was a kitchen cupboard, but its a small room. Come and see.”She led the way to a door in the cottage that opened from the kitchen into a small room. There was a table in the room. On the table there was roast beef, cheese, and apple pie.“The lady

19、 who cleaned the cottage, Mrs. Viney, did leave us food,” she said. “She just forgot to tell us where it was.The children sat up at the table and ate the biggest breakfast they had ever had.Mother said,” What are you going to do after breakfast?“Can we go and look at the railway?”Peter said. “Perhap

20、s a train will come,”“Im sure it will if you wait long enough,” Mother said. “Off you go, but dont stay out too long.”Review Questions1. where did the childrens father work?2.Why was the family poor now3.What did the children live near?Chapter 2Coal Mines!Preview Questions1.What kind of trains do yo

21、u think the children will see?2.What do you think the engines use to make steam?3. Who do you think the children will meet at the railway station?The railway was at the bottom of the garden. It was separated from the garden by a fence. The rails and telephone lines stretched away into the distance.S

22、uddenly, they heard a loud noise. Seconds later, a train rushed past. Smoke poured out of its funnel. The children saw a man on the footplate putting coal onto the fire.“Its like a big dragon,” Roberta said. “I felt the heat.”“Its better than a toy train,” Peter said.“Do you think that train is goin

23、g to London?”Phyllis asked.”Thats where Daddy is, isnt he?”The children thought their father was in London, but they werent sure.“Lets walk along the side of the railway line to the station,” Peter said. “We can ask where the train is going there.”When they reached the station, they saw that there w

24、ere many different railway lines. Some of them had trucks on them, just waiting for an engine to collect them. There were piles of coal between the rails. The piles had white lines on them.A porter came out of his room, and Peter asked him politely, “What are the white lines for on the piles of coal

25、?”“They are so we know how much coal should be there,” the porter said. “So dont you steal any.”The children thought the porter was joking because he seemed to be a friendly man.The children did not stay at the station very long on this first visit. Instead, they went back home. Although they missed

26、 their father, they were getting used to not having him at home. They were also getting used to not seeing much of their mother. She would be alone in her room all day and write many different stories. She read the stories at tea-time, and they loved them.One evening, Roberta said, “Can we light a f

27、ire, Mother?”“No, dear,” Mother replied. “Its summer, and coal is expensive. We cant afford to have fires in summer even though the evenings are cold,”At tea time that same day, Phyllis wanted to put butter and jam on her bread, but Mother wouldnt let her.“You can have jam or butter,” she said. “You

28、 cant have both. We cant afford it.”After tea, the children went to the attic, where they were allowed to play.“Im going to play a new game,” Peter said, “but you mustnt tell Mother.”“What kind of game?”Phyllis wanted to know. “Coal mines!” Peter said.His sisters did not understand. “You wait,” Pete

29、r said.”Youll soon know all about lit. But not a word to Mother.”Two days later in the evening when it was dark, Peter said, “I want you to follow me.”There was an old pram in the garden, and Peter pushed it along the side of the railway line to the station.“This is Peters Mine,” he said.”Now, lets

30、ill the pram with coal.” The children filled the pram with coal and pushed it home. They emptied the coal into the place where Mother kept her coal. They did this twice and were doing it the third time when the station master jumped out from behind a truck.“Caught you!” he shouted. “You young thief!

31、”“Im not a thief,” Peter said.”Im a coal miner.”“Youre a thief, and Im taking you to the police, “the station master said.“Oh, no! Not to the police,” two different voices cried. And Roberta and Phyllis came out of the darkness.“So, there are three of you!” the station master exclaimed. “A gang of t

32、hieves.”“Please dont take us to the police,” Roberta said. “We didnt mean any harm.”“Youre the children from the cottage up the line, arent you?” the station master said.“Yes, and we didnt mean to steal. Its just that we are very cold, and Mother cant afford to buy any coal.”“Does your mother know what youre doing here?” the station master demanded.“Oh, no,” Roberta said.”Shell be very angry if she finds out. Please dont take