A Thief in the Bus

Mr. Smith gave his wife ten pounds for her birthday – ten pretty pound notes. So the day after her birthday, Mrs. Smith went shopping. She queued for a bus, got on and sat down next to an old lady. After a while, she noticed that the old lady’s handbag was open. Inside it she saw a wad of pound notes exactly like the one her husband had given her. So she quickly looked into her own bag – the notes were gone! Mrs. Smith was sure that the old lady who was sitting next to her had stolen them. She thought she would have to call the police; but, as she dislike making a fuss and getting people into trouble, she decided to take back the money from the old lady’s handbag and say nothing more about it. She looked around the bus to make sure nobody was watching, and then she carefully put her hand into the old lady’s bag, took the notes and put them in her own bag.

When she got home that evening, she showed her husband the beautiful hat she had bought.

“How did you pay for it?” he asked.

“With the money you gave me for my birthday, of course,” she replied.

“Oh? What’s that, then?” he asked, as he pointed to a wad of ten pound notes on the table.

Vocabulary:

l   thief[Z`i] (n.)賊,小偷

l   pound[dANng] (n.)(重量單位)磅;英鎊;

l   note[ncf] (n.)紙鈔

l   queue[hsb] (v.)佇列;排隊

l   next to 緊鄰著;幾乎;在...旁邊

l   after a while 過了不久

l   a wad of 一疊

l   wad[rFg] (n.)捲;疊;【美】【口】大量(尤指金錢)

l   exactly[avtl@hfpa] (ad.)確切地,精確地;完全地;恰好地,正好地;(用於答語)一點不錯

l   look into在...裡查資料;深入地檢查,研究;調查

l   steal[kf`p] [stole-stolen-stealing] (v.) 偷;竊取

l   make a fuss小題大作;大驚小怪;誇大地活動;不斷抱怨

l   take back拿回;收回

l   look around四下環顧