Lesson 1 Make a Move

Mr. Kim couldn’t take it anymore. He needed peace①and quiet. But his two neighbors, Ms. Abrams and Mr. Green were the noisiest people he had ever known!

In the house on the left, Ms. Abrams gave tuba②lessons. In the house on the right, Mr. Green worked on cuckoo③clocks. And in the middle was Mr. Kim—sad,tired and crabby. Then he had an idea. He would pay his neighbors to move!

“Oh, boy!” Ms. Abrams said when Mr. Kim offered her $200 to move away.

“Hot dog!” said Mr. Green when Mr. Kim offered him the same deal.

The next day, he saw Mr. Green carrying his clocks to Ms. Abrams’ house and Ms. Abrams carrying her tuba to Mr. Green’s house.

“I thought you were both moving,” Mr. Kim said.

“We are,” Mr. Green said. “Ms. Abrams is moving into my old place, and I’m moving into hers.” Mr. Kim nearly fainted. What would he do?

The next day, Mr. Green and Ms. Abrams visited Mr. Kim. “We know why you asked us to move,” Mr. Green said. “So we got you this.” And they gave Mr. Kim a very fancy④ set of earmuffs. Finally, peace and quiet!

（202 words）

Notes

① peace [pi?s] n. 平靜；和平；和睦；秩序

②tuba ['tju?b?] n. 大號，低音兼次中音大號；（管風琴的）簧管音栓

③ cuckoo ['k?ku?] n. 布谷鳥；杜鵑鳥；傻子；咕咕聲

adj. 愚笨的；瘋狂的

vi. 學杜鵑叫

vt. 不停地重復

④ fancy ['f?ns?] adj. 奇特的；昂貴的；想象的；精選的

n. 幻想；想象力；愛好

vt. 想象；喜愛；設想；自負

vi. 幻想；想象

Exercises

Ⅰ. How well did you read?

1. [Grasp the main idea] What is one theme of the passage?

A. Sometimes your plans do not work as you expect.

B. Asking others for favors is not wise.

C. Good friends are better than money.

D. Do to others what you would want done to you.

2. [Check the details] How are Mr. Green and Ms. Abrams like?

A. They both work on cuckoo clocks.

B. They both teach tuba lessons.

C. They both annoy Mr. Kim.

D. They both want to move far away.

3. [Give the reason] Why did the author write the passage?

A. To explain how to trick the neighbors.

B. To entertain people with a funny story.

C. To instruct people on where to live.

D. To persuade people to give gifts instead of money.

Ⅱ. Read for words.

1. Choose one best paraphrase or Chinese meaning for the underlined words.

（1） Ms. Abrams said when Mr. Kim offered her $200 to move away. （Para. 3,line 1）

A. lent 　B. volunteered 　C. paid

（2） Mr. Kim nearly fainted. （Para. 7, line 2）

A. felt excited 　B. passed out 　C. passed away

（3） And they gave Mr. Kim a very fancy set of earmuffs. （Para. 8, line 3）

A. 耳套 　B. 耳機 　C. 耳環

2. Choose one best paraphrase or Chinese meaning for the underlined expressions.

（1） Then he had an idea. （Para. 2, line 3）

A. had a plan

B. thought a thought

C. had advice

（2） “Hot dog!” said Mr. Green when Mr. Kim offered him the same deal.（Para. 4, line 1）

A. 相同的價格

B. 一樣的生意

C. 同樣的待遇

Ⅲ. Writing practice.

1. According to the passage, what was the feeling of Mr. Kim after he got the earmuffs?

2. Please write the ending of the story. （At least 40 words.）

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