Not a Small Problem

◎供稿：游 鵬

Mr. Guppy was a very large man. He has a loud voice and a bad1)temper. He was not a2)giant,but he was much bigger than most men.

Life was not easy for Mr. Guppy. He could3)seldomfind clothes big enough. His feet were too large for most shoes.

In buses, trains and planes, he could not stand up straight. The4)roofswere too low.

In cars he could not move his legs.There was not enough room. At home, his bed was too short. Chairs were always too small.

In fact, wherever he went and whatever he did, Mr. Guppy had problems because of his size.

These problems were so bad that Mr.Guppy stayed at home most of the time. Life was easier at home.

Then one day, a friend said, “You spend too much time at home. You should go out more. There’s a good movie at the theater.”

“I can’t sit in theater seats,” Mr. Guppy said. “I’m too big.”

“That is no problem,” his friend said. “I’ll buy you two tickets. You can get them at the theater when you go.”

The friend sent money to the theater for two tickets. When the day came, Mr. Guppy put on his best clothes and went to the theater.

“You have two tickets for me,” he said to woman in the ticket office. “My name is Guppy.”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Guppy,” the woman said. “Here you are seats G4 and P12. l’m sorry, you and your friend can’t sit together because we are very full this evening.”

Poor Mr. Guppy. He smiled sadly,walked out of the theater and went home.

1) temper ['temp?] n. 脾氣

2) giant['d?a??nt] n. 巨人

3) seldom[?seld?m] adj. 不常，很少

4) roof[ru?f] n. 屋頂

參考譯文

Guppy先生是一個高大的男人,他有一副響亮的聲音和一個火爆的脾氣。雖然他不是個巨人，但他的體型要比一般人高大很多。

生活對Guppy先生來說并不簡單, 他很少能找到合身的衣服，并且他的腳也太大了，所以沒有合適的鞋子。

在公交車、火車和飛機上,他不能直立，因為那的頂太低了。

在車里,他不能挪動自己的腿,因為車里沒有足夠的空間。在他的家里,床和椅子對于他來說都太小了。

事實上,無論他去何處，無論他做什么,他都會因為他的體型遇到問題。這些問題導致了他大部分時間都會呆在家里。因為對于他來說,家里的生活舒服多了。

有一天,一個朋友對他說：“你呆在家里的時間太長了,你應該多去外邊走走,今天劇院里有一場很好的電影。”

“我坐不上劇院的椅子，” Guppy先生回答說，“我太大了。”

“這不是問題。”朋友繼續說，“我會給你買兩張票,你去的時候可以在劇院那拿到票。”

朋友把錢打給劇院然后預定了兩張票。終于電影播出的這天來了,Guppy先生穿上他最好的衣服去了劇院。

“這有我的兩張票，”他對劇院的售票員說,“我的名字叫Guppy。”

“哦,是的,Guppy先生，”售票員說,“這里有您的兩張票G4和P12,實在對不起,您和您的朋友不能坐在一起了,因為我們劇院今天晚上人實在是太滿了。”

不幸的Guppy。他苦笑著離開劇院回家了。

語法

Cost和Spend的區別

Cost可以用作名詞，解釋為“價錢”，也可用作動詞，解釋為“值……錢”。Spend只可用作動詞，解釋為“花費”。

Cost

That book costs $5. (verb)

How much does it cost? (verb)

The cost of that book is $5. (noun)

The cost of the ticket was too high. (noun)

Spend

I spent $25 on that dress.

How much did you spend last night?

Spend還可用來指“花費時間”。如：

I spend three hours at the library.

How long did you spend on that exam?