阅读理解

　　Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush．He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly．He looked at it, and all joy left him．The fence was long and high．He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence．He repeated the operation．He felt he could not continue and sat down．

　　He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day．They would walk past him and laugh．They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday．The thought burned him like fire．

　　He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned．Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him．But there was nothing of value in his pockets －nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom．So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea．

　　At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him．It filled his mind with a great, bright light．Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash．

　　While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared．Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street．As he walked along, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat．First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain．Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat．And he made other strange noises．When he came close to Tom, he stopped．

　　Tom went on whitewashing．He did not look at Ben．Ben stared a moment and then said：“Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”

　　No answer．Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist．Ben came nearer．Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working．

　　Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”

　　Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing．”

　　“Say－I’m going swimming．Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work－wouldn’t you? Of course you would．”

　　Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said “What do you call work?”

　　“Why, isn’t that work?”

　　Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly．

　　“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t．All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer．”

　　“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to say that you like it?”

　　The brush continued to move．

　　“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it．Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

　　Ben stopped eating his apple．Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again．Ben watched every move and got more and more interested．Soon he said,

　　“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little．”

　　Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind．

　　“No－no－it won’t do, Ben．You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect．It has got to be done very carefully．I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand that can do it well enough．”

　　“No－is that so? Oh come, now－let me just try．Only just a little．”

　　“Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly…”

　　“Oh, I’ll be careful．Now let me try．Say－I’ll give you the core of my apple．”

　　“Well, here－No, Ben, now don’t．I’m afraid…”

　　“I’ll give you all of it．”

　　Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart．And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help．There were enough boys．Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash．By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought in for a dead rat－and so on, hour after hour．And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures．

　　And he had not worked．He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company－and the fence had been whitewashed three times．If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends．

　　He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get．

阅读理解

　　The Garden Burgers located in Truman was recognized by the Garden Burgers head office in Kansas City, Missouri．The Truman location of Garden Burgers recorded the highest sales last year．It brought in over ＄ 1 ,500,000 for the entire year．But what is more important is that Truman only has a population of 40,000．The store directly behind the Truman store in terms of sales is located in a city of over 300,000．

　　Fred Laster and Jasper Watts bought into the Garden Burgers franchise(特许)only 3 years and a few months ago．They have used the combination of a good restaurant location and a series of promotional events to make Garden Burgers one of the most visited restaurants in Truman．However, they are quick to add that these are not the main reasons the store has done so well．"We found a franchise with a solid image and great franchise - wide marketing, " Watts said in a phone interview．

　　Laster and Watts expect this year to be just as productive as last year．After 4 months, they are on pace to exceed last year' s sales by more than ＄70,000．Each year the head office awards the owners of the store achieving the highest sales with a weekend stay at the best hotel in Kansas City and tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs football game．However, due to the extremely good sales performance of the store in Truman, the head office decided to change the tradition．Laster and Watts said their staff, which consists of only 5 university students, would be joining them in Kansas city as well．

　　Tom Justins, the president of Garden Burgers has also sent his congratulations and he hopes that all their stores can look at the example the store has set．