关于经典英语故事短文阅读

关于经典英语故事短文阅读

“Why were you so rude to your brother?” Gladys asked. “He drove all the way over here to deliver that package to you. But you didn’t invite him

inside your apartment. You didn’t offer him

anything to drink or eat. Then, when he was talking to me, you kept

telling him to speak faster. He was speaking slowly because he knows my

English isn’t that good—he was just being polite.

Finally, when he and I sat down in the living room, you just went to

your computer and started typing away.”

William tried to explain to Gladys that what she saw between him and his brother was their normal interaction. Roland was simply delivering a package; there was nothing for the two of them to

chat about. Further, Roland felt that William's apartment had an odor;

he usually didn’t even come inside the apartment when he visited. In addition, Roland was very picky about what he drank

and ate—he wasn’t interested in eating William’s “junk food.”

Finally, William argued, he had told Roland many times not to “talk down” to Gladys. “He talks to you like you’re a two-year-old,” William said.

She said she didn’t mind; Roland was just trying to communicate. She just wished that William woul d be more polite to him. “When my sister visits me,” she said, “I hug her, I invite her

inside, we eat and drink and talk, and we just have a good time with

each other.”

Well, William told her, he and his brother were different. “No,” she correct ed him, “maybe you and I are different.”

It was the first day of class. Two of her new ESL classmates wanted to

know where Tara was from. They were both from Iraq. Because Tara looked Iraqi, one of the women asked Tara, in English,

if she was fro m Iraq. Tara replied, “No, I’m not.” Then the women

took turns asking Tara if she was from Iran, or Syria, or Jordan. To each question, Tara responded with a simple no. Laughing,

one woman said to the other, “She's not from anywhere!” The two went

to their desks, talking to each other in Arabic.

The next day, the teacher divided the students into groups of four. The students in each group asked introductory questions of each other. A student

in Tara’s group asked her, “Where are you

from?” T ara answered that she was from Iraq. The two women who had questioned Tara the day before were sitting only a few feet away. Both of them heard Tara’s response.

“Aha!” they both exclaimed. “You ARE from Iraq!” Tara smiled and said yes. Then she apologized to both of them for lying the day before. She explained that she had not wanted to get into an

Arabic conversation with them. It had been her experience that many ESL students continued to speak their native language in ESL class, and Tara had

not come to ESL class to practice her

Arabic. In her opinion, ESL students should try to speak English only.

“I agree,” said Rose.

“You’re 100 percent right,” agreed Jennifer. “Rose and I must stop speaking Arabic to each other. Right, Rose?” R ose nodded, and then said something in Arabic. All three women laughed.

Over the next four months, Tara became friendly with both women, although she never spoke a word of Arabic to them during class or break.

Jim went to the thrift shop. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular. He liked to go there just to browse. A big sign on the front door said OPEN. The shop was closed on Sunday and

Monday. The rest of the week, it opened at 10 a.m. and closed at 2 p.m.

Two women worked inside. They rang up sales and put the items into plastic bags for the customers to carry out. At the back of the shop was a big room where another lady worked. She sorted

the new donations and put price tags on them. At the end of each day,

she would bring the new donations out to the main part of the shop.

Everyone who worked at the thrift shop was a volunteer. The only "payment" they received was that they had the opportunity to see, and buy, any items in the shop before the customers did.

When Jim entered, the lady at the register told him hello. He smiled and said hello. She knew Jim because he was a regular customer.

Jim said, "What’s new?"