The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any place where humans live. Therefore you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by a strange little voice. It said, “If you please—draw me a sheep!” “What!” “Draw me a sheep!”

I jumped to my feet, really surprised. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most special small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Remember, I had the accident in the desert a thousand miles from any place where humans live. And yet my little man seemed neither to be lost in the sands, nor to be fainting (晕倒) from tiredness or hunger or thirst or fear. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him, “But—what are you doing here?”

And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great result, “If you please—draw me a sheep…”

When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey (不服从). I took out of my pocket a piece of paper and my pen. But then I remembered how I had only studied geography, history, math, and grammar, and I told the little person that I did not know how to draw. He answered me, “That doesn’t matter. Draw me a sheep…”

But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the snake from the outside. And I was surprised to hear the little boy greet it with, “No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a snake. A snake is a very dangerous animal, and an elephant is very heavy and big. It will take up too much place. Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.” So then I made another drawing. He looked at it carefully, then he said, “No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another.” So I had to draw again.

Two weeks later, the children made another note. They held it up as The Green Dragon rushed past. The notice said, “MOTHER IS NEARLY WELLAGAIN. THANK YOU. ”

The old gentleman saw the notice. He smiled and waved to the children.

When they told Mother about the old gentleman, she was very angry with them. “It was wrong to ask a stranger for help,” she said. Then, she stopped being angry and began to cry. The children thought this was worse.

“I’m sorry I was angry with you,” she said. “I know you don’t really understand. We’re poor, but we have enough money for food. You must never ever again ask anyone to give you things.”

The next day was Roberta’s birthday. Mother told her to go away and stay away until teatime.

She felt very lonely in the garden, so she walked out of it and down the lane to the canal. While Roberta was standing on the bridge looking down at the barges(驳船), the doctor came up in his small horse and cart. “Hello, head nurse,” he said. “Do you want a ride home?” Roberta got into the cart and sat next to the doctor.

Roberta let the doctor go on to his house and she stayed in the garden until teatime. When she went inside, there were twelve candles on the table, flowers, and some little parcels. As she walked into the room, Mother, Phyllis, and Peter sang a song to her.

Mother wrote the words for a birthday song every year.

Our darling Robert

No sorrow shall hurt her

If we can prevent it

Her whole life long.

Her birthday’s our party day

We'll make it our great day

And give her our presents

And sing her our song

At the end of the song, Mother said, “Three cheers for Roberta.” And she, Phyllis, and Peter shouted, “Hip! Hip! Hooray!”

—Taken from The Railway Children

Every student should read one of the plays by William Shakespeare. It will be a chance to read some of the most amazing poetry(诗歌). But it will be hard. Shakespeare didn’t use language like us.

Wiliam Shakespeare lived in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. The language at that time is known as Elizabethan English. Why is it so difficult to understand the plays of William Shakespeare?

One problem is the meaning of the words. Though about 95% of Shakespeare’s words are still used in English today, a few of them now have different meanings. For example, the word “weird”. To us, it means strange. In Shakespeare’s day, it meant being able to see the future. Another example is “quick”. It now means fast, but 400 years ago it meant alive.

While word meanings may be one problem, Shakespeare’s order of words is another problem. Words are usually put together in certain order in English. For example, we usually say, “John caught the ball.” But Shakespeare was as poet(诗人), and he did not have to keep language rules. He would sometimes use the form, “John the ball caught.” He did this to make the beats and sounds of each line of his poems come out a certain way. But any high school student can easily understand Shakespeare’s creative word order. The problem, it seems, must be something else.

The biggest problem, perhaps, is understanding Shakespeare himself. He was, after all, a poet. Even great modern poets write things that readers might have trouble understanding.

Students will always have trouble understanding the language of Shakespeare. But if they don’t give up, they will enjoy the greatest works written by the greatest of poets.

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