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Unit 2:  A Street Performer

One day, a man stood outside a temple playing a strange musical instrument. He played non-stop for quite some time and even played when no one was there to listen.

Passersby had mixed reactions to his playing. Some applauded, some simply smiled at him, but others frowned as if they thought he had no business in being there. One little boy took a special interest in the man. The boy watched and listened intently, as only a child could. He was fascinated by how the man could make such beautiful music come from the strange instrument.
  After some time, the young boy spoke to the musician, “Excuse me, sir. I am sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering what the instrument you are playing is called.”

 “It’s an erhu,” the man told the boy. 

“An er who. I’ve never heard of one of those before,” the boy admitted. 

“Not an er ‘who’, it is an erhu,” the man calmly said to correct the boy. 

“An er what?” the boy asked with a very confused look on his face. 

“Erhu, erhu, erhu!” the man exclaimed. He waved his hand in the air in a ‘forget about it’ sort of way and then spoke slowly, “It’s a Chinese violin!” 

“Why didn’t you just say that in the first place,” the boy asked. 

“Because its real name is an erhu,” the man again explained.

“Huh!” The boy was confused again. 

“Get out of here you little punk before I…” the man stopped, took a deep breath and started to play again. He closed his eyes and let his anger dissipate into the happy land of music.

  The boy continued to listen for a while, but then lost interest just as quickly as he had gained it. He skipped home and soon he could hear the erhu no more.

第二課：街頭藝人

有一天，一個男人站在寺廟外彈奏奇怪的樂器。他沒有間段的演奏了相當長的時間，甚至沒人聽的時候也在彈奏。

路過的人有各種的反應。有的鼓掌，有的只是對他微笑，但其他人對他皺眉，彷彿覺得他不該出現在這裡。一個小男孩對這個男人特別感興趣。男孩用只有小孩能做到的專注，一心一意的看和聽。他驚艷於男人如何用這麼奇怪的樂器彈奏出美妙的音樂。

一段時間過後，年輕的男孩對男人說：「先生，不好意思。抱歉打斷你，但我想知道你在彈奏的樂器較甚麼名字？

「這是二胡。」男人告訴男孩。

「額戶。我從沒聽過其中任何一個。」男孩坦言。

「不是額戶，是二胡。」男人冷靜地糾正男孩。

「額什麼？」男孩臉上充滿困惑的表情問道。

「二胡，二胡，二胡！」男人大喊。他用一種"算了吧"的手勢在空氣中揮舞著手，並且慢慢的說：「這是中國的小提琴！」。

「你幹嘛不一開始就這樣說？」男孩問。

「因為它真正的名字叫二胡。」男人再次解釋。

「蛤！」男孩再次困惑。

「離開這裡你這個小屁孩，不然我就...」男人停下，深呼吸一口氣然後再次開始演奏。他閉上眼睛讓怒氣消散在音樂的樂土之中。

男孩繼續聽了一會兒，但就像他感興趣時一樣快的失去興趣。他蹦蹦跳跳地走回家，很快就聽不到二胡的聲音了。