2017 國中組朗誦稿

國中-1

A Working Gorilla

  One day the oldest gorilla in the city zoo died. The zookeeper couldn’t find a new gorilla, so he hired an out-of-work mime to dress up in order to act like a gorilla. The mime was happy with his new job. “This is the greatest job for me! The pay is good. I can sleep if I want, and I can make fun of people. It’s great to be a gorilla!”

  However, the crowd soon got bored of him. Everyone was paying more attention to the newest animal in the zoo—the lion in the next cage. The mime did not want to lose his job, so he climbed out of his cage and swung from the top of the lion’s cage. This made the lion angry, but the crowd just loved it. The next day the owner of the zoo gave the mime a raise. He thought, “This sure is the best job ever.”

  One afternoon, the mime was swinging over the angry lion as usual. Suddenly, he lost his grip and fell into the lion’s cage. The lion stared at the mime angrily and began to move toward him. The mime was the most frightened ever. “I don’t want to die!” he thought. “But if I have to, I want to die as a man, not a gorilla.” Then the mime started screaming, “Help me! Help!”

  With a loud roar, the lion quickly jumped on the mime. “You are the biggest fool. Shut up, will you?” said the lion. “Do you want to get us both fired?” 

國中-2

Eat, My Fine Coat!

  Gordon has been working in his garden since early morning. In the afternoon, the mayor came by and spoke to Gordon, “Tonight I will have a dinner party with many important guests. Don’t be late!” Gordon was happy to be invited by his friend, the mayor, but he had a lot of work to do in the garden. So he kept working until sunset. Mud was all over his clothes, and Gordon decided that he did not have enough time to clean up, so he just ran straight to the mayor’s house.

  Gordon wasn’t late for the party, but he was panting and dripping with sweat. He was greeted by no one. The mayor saw Gordon. But he didn’t say hello and sat Gordon far away from the most important guests. Nobody spoke to him.

  Before dinner was served, Gordon sneaked out and hurried home. He washed himself from head to toe. He put on his best suit and a brand new coat. He entered the mayor’s house. The mayor jumped up from the table and said, “Welcome! Sit here, beside me!”

  Finally, the main dish was brought in by the servants. Gordon put it into his coat pocket.

  The mayor surprisingly said, “What are you doing?”

  “I am feeding this fine guest!” Gordon said, “I came in my gardening clothes, and nothing was said to me. I was ignored by everyone. But in this coat, you make me the guest of honor. I was the same person both times. Since the coat is your guest of honor, it must have some of this delicious food!”

國中-3

I’d Better Walk

  An old farmer named Jim had to take some wheat to the mill where he gets it ground into flour. He loaded four sacks full of wheat onto his donkey.

  His neighbor saw him far away and thought, “I wonder where Jim is going. Let’s see if he can do me a favor.” He yelled, “Jim! Are you going to the mill?”

  “Yes, I’m on my way.” Jim answered.

  “Could you take my wheat, too?” Jim couldn’t refuse what his neighbor was asking. His donkey has been carrying his own four sacks, so he had to take another donkey to carry his neighbor’s wheat.

  Then another friend saw him and asked if Jim could take his wheat, too. Jim agreed and so he took another donkey, and then another neighbor came, and another. In the end, he has had nine more donkeys loaded down with sacks of wheat. This has given him a total of ten donkeys.

  Jim was riding his own donkey but he looked ridiculous on the road with all those other ones too! He yelled at the other donkeys all the way. It was hard to keep them all together. Jim decided to count the donkeys. He counted only nine.

  “Where’s my donkey? There should be ten!” Jim was surprised when he found out one animal was missing. He got off his donkey and counted again. This time there were ten. He got back on his donkey and continued on his way.

  On the way to the mill, Jim decided to count the donkeys again. There were only nine again. He got off his donkey and counted them again. This time, there were ten. Finally, Jim said, “I’d better walk. Every time I ride my donkey, one is missing!”