when I came to see you about a fortnight ago.

It's quite a new coat, it's dark blue with a black collar, and there may be a pair of my gloves in one of the pockets.

Could you look for it and let me know if I left it there? If so, I will come and collect it as soon as I can. (94 words)

Lesson 30 The death of a ghost 幽灵之死 The ghost of Endley

When I came in to work one morning I noticed that work had been done overnight-some hay had been cut and the cowsheds and other buildings had been cleaned, so I decided to stay up all the next night to try to solve the mystery. (I didn't tell Joe and Bob, of course.) I hid in the barn and waited. Obviously I fell asleep because I suddenly woke up to find that it was dark. I went straight to the cowshed and found that it had already been cleaned. Then I went out to the Felds where I could just see a figure working; I couldn't see whether it was a man, or a woman, or perhaps a ghost. I was scared, so I rushed back to the farmhouse and woke up the others. We all went out to the fields to see who it was, but when we got there, there was no one there.

When I was in the fields before, I didn't know what or who the figure was. But now I was sure it was a ghost so I immediately decided not to work at

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Endley Farm any longer and handed in my resignation. When I told my story to the villagers, many of them still didn't believe me, even though they knew that something strange had been going on at Endley Farm for years.(230 words )

Key to Letter writing A possible answer (body of letter only)

I have already written several letters to you in the past few weeks, but I have heard nothing from you. Do I have your correct present address? Just a few pieces of news about me and the family. I am just about to take my final exams and then I hope to leave school and go to college or university. My brother has a new job and my sister is getting married next year.

I would love to hear from you again. Please write as soon as you can and let me know all the latest news about you and your family. (102 words)

Lesson 31 A lovable eccentric 可爱的怪人 A true eccentric

Mr. Chew is a man who has lived in our small town for years. He is a large man (some would say ?fat?),he has a round face, a big black moustache and a bald head. He always wears the same clothes----black trousers, a white shirt and a red waistcoat, and is always polite to everyone he meets.

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He owns an antiques shop near the river, and he lives?over the shop?. No one knows where he gets his things, but there are always lots of diffecent interesting antiques in the shop window every week.

Mr. Chew is interested in politics, too. Every week he puts up strange notices in his shop window to passers-by. Usually the notices are trying to make people save a local building or stop a plan to build a road through the town. Every time there is a national election, he automatically stands for parliament and gives speeches almost every day in the town park saying what he would do if he were Prime Minister. (He usually says he would make sure that antiques dealers did not have to pay Income Tax and that no cars should be allowed into our little town at all.) Every year he gets a few votes, but not enough to worry the serious candidates.

For most people Mr. Chew is a harmless eccentric, and everyone likes talking to him. After all, he is someone who adds colour to the dull routine of their daily lives.

Key to Letter writing A possible answer (body of lever only)

I was extremely sorry to hear that John had passed away. Unfortunately, I did not even know that he had been seriously ill. Otherwise I would have written to him.

As you know, John and I were at university together and used to write to

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each other as often as we could.

We also used to meet at least once a year with others for an anniversary dinner. We shall miss him.

If there is any way I can help, please do not hesitate to ask me. You know that you can always phone me or write me a note. (100 words)

Lesson 32 A lost ship 一艘沉船 The last day

The journey has gone well so far. We are now on the way to Russia and hope that we shall arrive with no more problems. But we are watching the sea and sky. The convoy successfully fought off an air attack early this morning. No ships were lost and we managed to shoot down three enemy aircraft before they broke off the attack.

At 10 a.m. this morning we were attacked by a U-boat. This was the first time we had been attacked and for most men on board this was the first time they had been in action at sea. We were fortunate, but the ship ahead of us, the Dauntless, was torpedoed and sunk. After the ship sank, there were hundreds of men in the sea. We picked up as many survivors as we could in the Karen. In fact in the end we picked up 720 men, which meant that 50 men lost their lives in the attack on the Dauntless.

The Karen was packed with men, many crowded on the open decks, when we turned and attacked the Uboat. Depth charges were dropped and the

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