儿童故事集:Katie’s Magic Personality Part 2
时间:2019-01-18 作者:英语课 分类:Children’s Stories-儿童故事集
英语课
Hello, this is Natasha, and in the first part of Katie’s Magical Personality we heard how Katie created a long and complicated spell to make herself more popular. It involved changing various aspects of her personality so that she would be a little less unusual, and perhaps a touch more superficial. When we left her last, she had just arrived at school feeling a new spring in her step.
In class there was none of the usual fumbling 1 through her brief case for her pen – she found it clipped on the inside pocket of her jacket. She sat in her chair differently. For the first time ever, she had good posture 2.
The first lesson was History and her eyes were bright and attentive 3 as she watched Mr Old talk about the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It was the last time England was invaded, and William the Conqueror 4 lead his Norman soldiers to victory against King Harold and the Saxons. Actually Katie wasn’t listening. She was thinking about whether she should take the hem 5 of her skirt up a centimeter or so that evening.
“Katie,” said Mr Old, “can you give us four reasons why Harold lost the battle?” Without hesitation 6 Katie replied:
“He was late, his soldiers hadn’t had breakfast, and they weren’t dressed as well as the Normans.”
She had given only three reasons, and all of them were wrong. She obviously hadn’t done her homework very well – but she spoke 7 with such confidence that even Mr Old was almost convinced for a moment.
“Not exactly,” he said.
“But close,” replied Katie with a smile. It was almost cheeky, but she just veered 8 on the right side of being charming.
“Maybe,” said Mr Old and he asked Isis if she could give some reasons, which she did, because she remembered the history book word for word. She liked to get things perfect.
When the school bell rang to change lessons, Katie found herself walking down the corridor alongside Samantha. Normally Samanta had something horrible to say to Katie, but today she seemed to be short of evil inspiration.
“Nice weather we’re having,” said Katie.
“Hm, yes,” said Samantha. She wasn’t quite sure why she was agreeing with Katie when actually it was bitterly cold.
At lunchtime, Katie sat down on a table by herself, but it wasn’t long before Andy, who was one of the most popular boys in school, sat down opposite her and started talking to her about the band he was playing the drums for. Two of Andy’s friends sat at the table too, but he took no notice of them, and carried on chatting to Katie. This did not go unnoticed by Samantha, Arabella, and others.
After lunch, Isis asked Katie if she would like to stop off for a milkshake with her on the way home from school. Katie took out her pocket diary, which she had never actually used before, thumbed through the pages, and said:
“Sorry, I”m busy this week, but I could do Tuesday next.”
“Hm, suit yourself,” said Isis, and went off huffily. “No matter,” thought Katie. “It’s about time she learned she can’t take me for granted.”
In fact, as the week went on, Katie found that she was talking to more and more people about less and less. She never tired of making remarks about the weather or the latest boy band. Several people asked her over to have tea with them. None of the teachers seemed to mind when she got answers wrong in class, or even when she didn’t do her homework. She found that she was able to avoid any unpleasant consequences with a smile or a funny comment. If anyone else had tried it on like that, they would have been in hot trouble as fast as you could say “Detention!” But not Katie! And she wasn’t even using any magic to work her charm!
Yes, Katie was more content with herself than she had ever been. The only person who wasn’t really talking to her was Isis – but Katie didn’t mind about that, because she had so many new friends.
Her mother though, was not having such a good time. She had been out with Shumash and ended up having some prickly words with him. She felt rotten about it, because she really liked Shumash. Her shop had problems too. She had paid for a big consignment 9 of tribal 10 statues from Indonesia, but they hadn’t arrived. She was spending all day on the phone to the shipping 11 company, getting more and more frustrated 12. To top it all, her car was broken down, she couldn’t afford to get it fixed 13, and she was having to walk or go by bus everywhere. Late on Saturday morning she decided 14 to close the shop early and take the rest of the day off. She texted Katie:
“Come and meet me in town. We can stroll around the covered market and have tea together.”
And Katie texted back:
“Sorry Mum, I’m busy. See you when you’re home.” When she said “busy” she meant that she was still thinking about when she should get out of bed.
“Come on darling,” replied her mum. “The sun is shining and it might not last.”
“Okay,” texted Katie. “But give me a little time to take a shower and get ready.”
An hour and a half later she met her mum. It had turned quite bitter and gloomy and her mother was cross about waiting for her. But Katie did not seem to mind. She was thinking about the invitation she had received to go to the cinema with Andy.
That evening, when they were at home, her mum asked Katie if she would sort out the recycling bins 15. Katie looked up from her mobile phone and said “Sorry Mum, I’m busy.” A little later she stood up and walked airily across the kitchen and went upstairs to her room. Her mother sighed. Solomon the cat said:
“What’s got into Katie? She used to be such a nice girl?”
“It seems like she’s suddenly become a teanager a year too early,” said her mum.
Up in her room, Katie thought “Hmm, my desk looks messy.” – which was not something that would necessarily have occurred to her before she had changed her personality. “But we’ll soon fix that,” she thought, and she she snapped her fingers. Normally the pens would have hopped 16 into her pencil case, and the papers would have climbed on top of each other and formed a tidy pile. But that evening they just refused to obey orders. She snapped her fingers again – and still they refused to budge 17.
“Mmm – Be like that then!” said Katie annoyed, and she went to clean her teeth.
She didn’t think much of it, because even a witch can have an off-day when the magic isn’t flowing quite as it should. But the following day at school there was another sign that her powers were clogged 18 up. At lunch time, a little speck 19 of tomato sauce splashed on her white shirtfront. She could have been able to clean it off with the stain removing spell, but today it just stayed there and she had to rearrange her tie to hide it.
Poor Katie’s mum! She had enough problems on her plate. An American collector was coming to her shop. He was very interested in the magical statues and masks she was shipping over from Indonesia – but they ah! They were still lost! If he flew back to New York without buying them, they would be clogging 20 up her storage for a whole year! And she had paid good money for them already!
On Monday morning, she rang the shipping company, and they finally admitted that the cargo 21 had left two weeks late and was still off the coast of West Africa. She was furious – but what could she do?
When Katie got home from school, she found a note on the kitchen table from her mum saying she would be home late and that her dinner was wrapped in tin-foil in the fridge. She assumed she must have gone out to the Theatre with Shumash.
Around 9pm, she heard the Crystal Ball ring. It had a deep sonorous 22 sound like an old Grandfather Clock. The only person who ever called them on it was Great Aunt Chloe, and Katie wasn’t in the mood for speaking to her. But the Ball carried on ringing:
Bong! Bong!
And eventually, she put down her magazine, and went into the back room to answer it. She looked into the ball and saw not Great Aunt Chloe, but her mother. She was speaking breathlessly:
“Oh Thank Goodness, Katie you are there. I need your help. Put your hands on the Crystal Ball and make me invisible.”
“Why?” said Katie, “what’s up?”
“There’s no time, just do it!”
Katie sighed and put her hands on the ball. What kind of trouble could her mother be in? Was she playing hide and seek with Shumash? She said the magical spell for invisibility but she had a funny feeling that perhaps it hadn’t worked.
“There,” she said as confidently as she could. “That’s done, you’re invisible now. Let me know when you want to be visible again.”
Her mother replied, “Oh Thank you Katie!” and then: “Actually, I don’t think it’s worked. Try again…. quick… !”
“What’s going on mum? Are you in trouble?”
“Just do it!” called her mum.
Katie tried again. But when she pulled her hands off the ball, she could see that it hadn’t worked. She zoomed 23 out of the picture on the ball to see what was happening at her mothers end. And I can tell you, she was enormously surprised by what she saw:
“Mum, what are you doing on a broomstick?”
“No time to explain,” called back Mum. “But there are fighter planes on either side of me. They want me to land on an airfield 24 in Senegal!”
“In Senegal! Where’s that?”
“West Africa. If you must know, I was trying to get my lost statues off the cargo ship – but I’ve been picked up by radar 25 as a UFO and the French Air Force has been scrambled 26. I’m lucky they didn’t shoot me down. Now please – Katie – focus – make me invisible I can’t do it myself while I’m flying just under the speed of sound on this bloomin’ broomstick.”
And with that, she swerved 27 off to the left, but the fighter planes easily tilted 28 their wings and kept alongside her.
Katie tried one more time – she tried ever so hard – she concentrated more than she had ever done before – but it was no use, the magic just would not work.
“Mum!” she called desperately 29 “I can’t do it! My magic powers aren’t working!”
“Well, call Great Aunt Chloe!” shouted back her mum.
And Katie saw that there was nothing else for it – she was going to have to ask Great Aunt Chloe for urgent assistance. She got through to her Great Aunt right away, which was fortunate, because at this time of evening she could be in the middle of a long seance with her witchy friends from way back when.
“Aunty, this is an emergency. I need to you to make Mum invisible right away!”
“Can’t you do a simple spell like that yourself dear?” asked her Aunt.
“My powers aren’t working. Please do it. Really, she needs your help right now.”
And so Great Aunty Chloe summoned up Katie’s mum on her ball and did as Katie asked. Suddenly the French Air Force lost contact with their Unidentified Flying Object. The planes were ordered back to base. The whole incident was written up and sent to the President of France in a file marked “Top Secret” which funnily enough, is French for “Top Secret.” He read it as part of his briefing over croissants and coffee at 6am the following morning, and then forgot about it entirely 30.
Just a couple of hours earlier, an extremely weary Katie’s mum had arrived home safely and flopped 31 on her bed. She realised that she had done a very silly thing. But just before she fell asleep she thought “I wonder what has happened to Katie.”
But in the morning Katie would not say much. She really did not want to admit what she had done to her mother. She just said that she was feeling strange, and asked if she could go on her own to stay with Great Aunt Chloe at half term, which fortunately was coming up. She wanted to recuperate 32 in the countryside. Her mum worried that she might have glandular 33 fever, but she agreed that what she probably needed most was a good rest. And so Katie took the train by herself to her aunt’s. As she sat on the train, feeling very down and sorry for herself, she was clinging to one little bit of hope. It was a very good thing that she had written down all the ingredients she had used for her personality spell, and their exact quantities. In this respect at least, she had followed witch’s best practice.
“Oh dear Katie,” said Great Aunt Chloe when she admitted it all to her. “Didn’t you read the introduction to that spell book? It explains that witches need creative and original personalities 34. You can’t just be ordinary and expect to do magic you know.”
And fortunately, as Great Aunt Chloe is an extremely skillful witch, she was able, after a few days of experimentation 35, to reverse Katie’s spell and undo 36 all the damage. Katie went back to being just a little bit different. It’s not really fair that some people call her peculiar 37. In fact, she is warm hearted, witty 38 and original. She isn’t the most popular girl at school. She doesn’t have swarms 39 of friends. But the friends she does have, love her very dearly. And that is so much more important than popularity.
And that was the second and final part of Katie’s Magical Personality. Bertie would like to thank everyone who leaves comments and ideas for Katie stories at storynory.com. In this case, the initial spark came from a comment by Eliza who said:
You should totally do a story where Katie wishes to be popular then her wish works and she never gets left alone and everyone is always taking pictures of her and wearing I love katie shirts and stuff that would be a good story pls do that.
And although Katie is not the most popular girl at school, we are really glad that she is so popular with storynory listeners.
For now, from me, Natasha.
n.姿势,姿态,心态,态度;v.作出某种姿势
- The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
- He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣,摆出一副打架的架势。
adj.注意的,专心的;关心(别人)的,殷勤的
- She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
- The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。
n.征服者,胜利者
- We shall never yield to a conqueror.我们永远不会向征服者低头。
- They abandoned the city to the conqueror.他们把那个城市丢弃给征服者。
n.贴边,镶边;vt.缝贴边;(in)包围,限制
- The hem on her skirt needs sewing.她裙子上的褶边需要缝一缝。
- The hem of your dress needs to be let down an inch.你衣服的折边有必要放长1英寸。
n.犹豫,踌躇
- After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天,他终于直说了。
- There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
v.(尤指交通工具)改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 );(指谈话内容、人的行为或观点)突然改变;(指风) (在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向)逐渐转向;风向顺时针转
- The bus veered onto the wrong side of the road. 公共汽车突然驶入了逆行道。
- The truck veered off the road and crashed into a tree. 卡车突然驶离公路撞上了一棵树。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.寄售;发货;委托;交运货物
- This last consignment of hosiery is quite up to standard.这批新到的针织品完全符合规格。
- We have to ask you to dispatch the consignment immediately.我们得要求你立即发送该批货物。
adj.部族的,种族的
- He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
- The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船)
- We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
- There's a shipping charge of £5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
- It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
- The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
- Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
- Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 );宽口箱(如面包箱,垃圾箱等)v.扔掉,丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )
- Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
- Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事,你能欣然接受吗? 来自辞典例句
跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花
- He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
- He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车,向市区开去。
v.移动一点儿;改变立场
- We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来,但它连动都没动一下。
- She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。
(使)阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 ); 淤滞
- The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
- The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。
n.微粒,小污点,小斑点
- I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
- The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗,一星星云彩也没有。
堵塞,闭合
- This process suffers mainly from clogging the membrane. 这种过程的主要问题是滤膜的堵塞。
- And you know that eyewitness that's been clogging up the airwaves? 你知道那个充斥着电视广播的目击证人?
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物
- The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
- A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。
adj.响亮的,回响的;adv.圆润低沉地;感人地;n.感人,堂皇
- The sonorous voice of the speaker echoed round the room.那位演讲人洪亮的声音在室内回荡。
- He has a deep sonorous voice.他的声音深沉而洪亮。
v.(飞机、汽车等)急速移动( zoom的过去式 );(价格、费用等)急升,猛涨
- Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
- Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停,喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.飞机场
- The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
- The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。
n.雷达,无线电探测器
- They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
- Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞
- Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.(使)改变方向,改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 )
- She swerved sharply to avoid a cyclist. 她猛地急转弯,以躲开一个骑自行车的人。
- The driver has swerved on a sudden to avoid a file of geese. 为了躲避一队鹅,司机突然来个急转弯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v. 倾斜的
- Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
- She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
- He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
- He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
- The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
- His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
v.(指书、戏剧等)彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 );(因疲惫而)猛然坐下;(笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地)移动或落下;砸锅
- Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽,一屁股坐到椅子上。
- It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地,出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.恢复
- Stay in the hospital for a few more days to recuperate.再住院几天,好好地恢复。
- He went to the country to recuperate.他去乡下养病去了。
adj.腺体的
- Terry has been laid low with glandular fever for nearly a month now.特里由于功能性高烧已卧床近一个月了。
- A malignant tumor originating in glandular tissue.腺癌起源于腺性组织的恶性肿瘤。
n. 诽谤,(对某人容貌、性格等所进行的)人身攻击; 人身攻击;人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )
- There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
- Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。
n.实验,试验,实验法
- Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
- Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。
vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销
- His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
- I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
- He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
- He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
adj.机智的,风趣的
- Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
- He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。