One day, when l was walking down the street. I happened to find a small wallet 1 there. I 2 and opened it to see if I could find out the owner's name. There was 3 inside except a little money and an old photo--a picture of a woman and a girl about sixteen years old. The young one 4 the woman's daughter. l put the photo back and 5 the wallet to the police station. I handed the wallet to a policeman.
That evening I went to 6 with my aunt and uncle. They also invited a young woman. So there were 7 people at table. Her face was familiar. I was quite sure that we had met before, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her. 8 the talk, the young woman happened to mention(提及) that she had lost her wallet that afternoon. Suddenly I knew where I had seen her. She was the mother of the young girl 9. She was very 10, of course, when l was able to tell her about her wallet.
A few minutes ago, walking back from lunch, I started to cross the street when I heard the sound of a coin dropping. As I turned, my eyes caught the heads of several other people turning, too.
The sound of a coin dropping on the ground is an attention-getter. Whatever the coin is, no one ignores(忽视) the sound of it. It got me thinking about sounds again.
We are circled by so many sounds that attract the most attention. People in New York City seldom turn to look when a police car comes ringing along the street.
When I'm in New York, I'm a New Yorker. I don't turn either.
At home in my little town in Connecticut(康涅狄格州), it's different. The distant ringing of a police car brings me to my feet if I'm in bed.
It's the quietest sounds that the most effect on us, not the loudest. In the middle of the night, I can hear a dripping tap a hundred yards away though three closed doors. How come I never hear the sounds in the daytime?
I'm quite clear in my mind what the good sounds are and what the bad sounds are.
I've turned against whistling(吹口哨), for instance. I used to think of it as the mark of a happy worker. But lately, I've been connecting the whistler with a nervous person making noise.
The tapping(轻敲) of my typewriter as the keys hit the paper is a lovely sound tome. I often like the sound of what l write better than the looks of it. But whatever sounds there will be, and whether we love them or not, we can't break away from them in our life.
Dick was born in a poor family. His father had a small boat and went fishing in the morning and sold the fish in the market in the afternoon. Then he bought some food for his family. When winter came, they were often hungry. One morning the hungry man fell into the river and wasn't found. Dick's mother left her three-year-old son without saying good-bye. His aunt had to look after him.
Twenty years passed. Dick became a tall, strong man. He found work on a farm. He worked hard and wanted to get more money. He often went to see his aunt with some nice presents. The woman was very happy but one day she died in a traffic accident. The young man was very sad. After he buried her, he decided to buy a beautiful tombstone (墓碑)for her. He went to town and came in a shop, but all the tombstones were too expensive. He asked, "Do you sell an old tombstone, sir?" "Yes, we do, sir," answered the shopkeeper. "Is it as expensive as the new one?''
"No, it's much cheaper," said the man. "But another name was engraved(刻) on it." "It doesn't matter," said Dick. "My aunt couldn't read."
Shenzhen's fast development has made it become China's most crowded city! Here are about 15 million people living on its 1,991 square kilometers. On each square kilometer averagely(平均地) live 7, 500 people. It is 1, 080 more than that in Hong Kong, and nearly 800 more than that in Guangzhou.
Besides, Shenzhen owns 2 million local vehicles, and about 300, 000 vehicles from other places also run on the local roads every day. The total length of the city's roads is 6, 041 kilometers. It means each resident only owns 0. 58 meters of road!
As a result, the city is facing serious environment and resource(能源) problem. One of the problems is water shortage. The amount of fresh water for each person of the city is only 25％ of the country's average. What's more, most of the water drunk by Shenzhen people comes from other areas.
