资料简介
The best days of your life
The first day was always the worst. You didn’t
know anyone; you had no friends. You didn’t
know who to avoid; you didn’t know where to go
to get away. His mother’s latest job had meant yet
another family move to a new town and this was
Michael’s fourth secondary school in five years.
He hated changing schools, but he never
complained. His mother had enough worries of
her own.
He was small for his fifteen years; smaller
than other boys his age. He tried to smile at people
on his first day, hoping that this time it would be
different. And when a few of the boys from a
higher class came up to speak to him during the
break, he tried to appear confident while showing
that he wanted to be friendly. At first they seemed
pleasant enough.
‘Where’ve you come from?’ they asked.
‘What do you think of the school?’
But it didn’t last long. The tallest one looked
down at him. ‘There are a few things you need to
know about this school,’ he said with a smile.
‘Take a good look at my face. And now look a my
two friends here.’ Michael looked, as instructed.
‘You’ll be seeing a lot of us, because we look after
new boys … Do you understand me?’ Michael
looked back up at him. ‘I said, do you understand
me?’ The smile was gone now.
‘Er … yes. I think so,’ he said, his voice
shaking slightly. The tall boy showed his teeth.
‘Good.’
They turned to walk away. Suddenly the tall
one turned back and slapped Michael hard across
the cheek, sending his glasses to the floor.
Michael gasped with shock.
‘Good,’ said the tall boy again.
‘How was your first day?’ his mother asked,
when she got home from work.
‘Fine, thanks,’ Michael answered. ‘Just fine.’
But when he was alone with his sister, he told her
what has happened.
‘Look, Mike, you’ve got to tell someone about
it,’ she advised with concern. ‘Or you’ve got to
stand up for yourself. If they hit you, hit them
back.
Exercises:
I. Do you think these statements about Michael are true (T) or false (F)?
1. His mother supports the family. ( )
2. His sister is older than him. ( )
3. He makes friends easily. ( )
4. He really wanted to be friendly. ( )
5. He has had similar experiences before. ( )
II. Summarize the first episode of the story in two or three sentences.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Michael didn’t talk to anyone else about what
happened on his first day at Greenhill School. He
avoided the older boys as much as he could and
hoped that the problem would go away. He was
enjoying most of his lessons, and he worked hard
at his homework to get good grades. He got on
with his teachers, and his classmates were
pleasant enough.
A week later, though, the bullies were ready
for more, and they were waiting for him near the
school gates. There was no escape now from the
tall boy, who held the top of Michael’s shirt
tightly in his fist. His eyes drilled into Michael’s,
and he had an ugly, threatening expression on his
face.
‘I said give it to me now, Jenkins, or there‘ll
be trouble!’
Michael’s body shook with terror. He tried to
open his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Sweat dripped from his hair on to his glasses until
his attacker’s face disappeared from view.
‘Check his pockets, Gary,’ the tall boy ordered,
holding Michael’s collar even more tightly.
There wasn’t much, but Gary took it all — a
couple of pounds for his bus fares, a telephone
card, and a bar of chocolate. Then the tall boy
threw him to the ground, tearing his shirt before
walking off out of the gates with his friends.
Michael picked himself up slowly. Out of the
corner of his eye he saw a teacher hurrying
towards him.
‘What’s happened, Michael? Who did this?’
Michael was silent.
‘Look, we know what goes on here, but we
don’t know who’s responsible. If you tell me, I
can try to do something about it. If you don’t, it’ll
keep happening — to you and other people.
Won’t you come inside and talk about it?’
Exercises:
I. Who do these statements apply to: the tall boy (TB), Gary (G), Michael (M) or the teacher (T)?
1. He was frightened. ( )
2. He threatened Michael. ( )
3. He couldn’t see very well. ( )
4. He took things from Michael. ( )
5. He tore Michael’s shirt. ( )
6. He was sympathetic. ( )
II. What do you think bullies are? Complete the definition.
Bullies are people who __________________________________________________________________
III. Write sentences explaining what you think these people should do now
1. Michael
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. The teacher
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. A boy who saw what happened
____________________________________________________________________________________
查看更多
