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Unit 5: Wendy's Disappearing Pens

  Once, there was a little girl named Wendy. She was a very good girl because she always did her homework and helped around the house. She was her mother's little angel.
But like everyone, Wendy wasn't perfect. For some reason, she was always losing her pens and pencils. She just couldn't keep track of them no matter how hard she tried. It was as if they were disappearing into thin air.
One day, her teacher, Mrs. Martin, got angry because Wendy was always bothering other students to ask them for something to write with. Mrs. Martin had had enough. She took a pencil out of her desk, tied a piece of string around it and then loosely secured it to Wendy's wrist.
“Let's see you lose it now,” Mrs. Martin said proudly, as if she had solved a great problem.
Five minutes later, Wendy slowly walked up to her teacher's desk. “Um, Mrs. Martin.” she said politely.
“Yes, Wendy. What is it?” Mrs. Martin asked.
“I seem to have lost my pencil again,” she shyly admitted.
Her teacher was confused. She looked at Wendy's wrist and the string was still there, but as she pulled it up she could see that there was nothing on the end. Mrs. Martin was completely and utterly baffled.
“What did you do with it?” Mrs. Martin inquired. “Did you eat it or something?”

“It’s just gone,” Wendy stated.
They searched all around Wendy's desk the same way an investigator might go over a crime scene, but they found nothing. There seemed to be no trace of it. The search was then expanded to cover the entire classroom. Every nook and cranny was looked into and nothing was left unturned, but the pencil was nowhere to be found.
“Well, I don't know what to say Wendy,” Mrs. Martin confessed. “Short of putting a homing device on your pencil, there is really nothing more I can do.”
  “But how can I do my work?” Wendy whined. “I need something to write with.
“Ok then. Here is 10, 000 dollars. Take it and go to the stationary store around the corner and buy every pen and pencil they have in the place. It may not keep your pencils from disappearing, but, if we have enough, it might at least get you through the rest of the semester,” Mrs. Martin explained.
“And then?” Wendy wondered.
“And then!” Mrs. Martin cackled like an old witch. “And then you are out of my hair and your next teacher can worry about it!”
Everyone in the classroom roared with laughter.

第五課：溫蒂消失的筆

一天，有一個叫做溫蒂的小女孩。她是個很乖的女孩，因為她總是完成自己的功課並幫忙家裡。她是媽媽的小天使。

但就像每個人一樣，溫蒂並不完美。因為某些原因，溫蒂總是弄丟原子筆和鉛筆。不論她多努力，都無法找到它們。就像它們消失在空氣中一樣。

有一天，溫蒂的老師馬丁小姐因為溫蒂一直打擾同學，向他們要筆來寫字而生氣。馬丁小姐受夠了。她從桌子拿出一枝筆，綁上一條線然後鬆鬆的纏在溫蒂的手腕上。

「讓我們看看你現在還會不會掉。」馬丁小姐驕傲的說，好像她解決了什麼大問題似的。

五分鐘過後，溫蒂慢慢地走到馬丁小姐的桌子前。「嗯，馬丁小姐。」她禮貌地說。

「是的，溫蒂。怎麼了？」馬丁小姐問道。

「我好像又弄丟筆了。」她小聲的承認。

她的老師感到疑惑。她看像溫蒂的手腕，繩子還在，但她拉起繩子時另一端卻沒東西。馬丁小姐完完全全的感到困惑。

「你對它做了什麼？」馬丁小姐問道。「你是把它吃了還是怎樣？」

「它就是不見了。」溫蒂說。

他們在溫蒂的桌子周圍尋找，就像一個偵探在犯罪現場找一樣，但他們什麼也沒找到。似乎沒有它的蹤跡。然後搜索範圍擴大到整間教室。每個角落和縫隙都被找過，沒有東西不被翻找過，但在任何地方都沒找到鉛筆。

「嗯，我不知到該說什麼，溫蒂。」馬丁小姐說。「除了在你的筆上裝導航之外，我真的沒有辦法了。」

「但我要怎麼做我的功課？」溫蒂嗚咽。「我需要東西來寫字。」

「好吧，這裡有一萬元。拿去買街角那間文具店有的每一隻原子筆和鉛筆。這或許不能讓你的筆停止消失，但如果我們有足夠的筆，至少可以讓你撐過這學期。」馬丁小姐解釋。

「然後呢？」溫蒂問

「然後！」馬丁小姐笑的像個老女巫。「然後你就不干我的事了，那是你的下一個老師要擔心的。」

教室裡的每個人放聲大笑。