An English boy is showing a foreign visitor around London.
“What's that strange building?”asks the visitor.
“That's the Tower of London .”
“I see. How long did it take to build ?”
“About 500 years.”
“In my country, we could build it in five months.”
A short time after that, they come to St. Paul's Cathedral .
“Very interesting!”says the visitor.“How long did it take to build?”
“Nearly 40 years,”says the English boy.
“In my country, we could finish it in 40 days,”says the visitor.
This goes on all day. Every time they see a famous building, the visitor asks the same question. Then he says that they can do the same thing much faster in his country.
The English boy gets angry. A few days later they come to the House of Parliament and the visitor asks his usual question,“What's that?”
The English boy answers,“I don't know. It wasn't there last night.”
-build ［bɪld ］ vt. 建造，建设
-finish ［'fɪnɪʃ ］ vt. 完成，做完
-fast ［fɑ:st ］ adv. 很快地，迅速地
-usual ［'ju:ʒuəl ］ adj. 通常的，惯常的
show somebody around a place 带领某人参观某地
Tower of London 伦敦塔
St. Paul's Cathedral 圣保罗大教堂
House of Parliament 国会大厦
1. An English boy is showing a foreign visitor around London.
一个英国男孩正领着一位外国游客参观伦敦。
An English girl is showing a group of foreign visitors around Lancaster.
一个英国女孩正领着一队外国游客参观兰卡斯特。
A Chinese girl is showing a group of foreign visitors around the Summer Palace in Beijing. 一个中国女孩正领着一队外国游客参观北京颐和园。
2. How long did it take to build? 花了多长时间建成的？
How long did it take to build the Summer Palace? 建造颐和园花了多长时间？
How many years did it take to build the Great Wall?
建造万里长城用了多少年？
参观伦敦
一个英国男孩正领着一位外国游客参观伦敦。
“那个奇怪的建筑物是什么？”游客问道。
“那是伦敦塔。”
“我明白了。花了多长时间建成的？”
“大约500年。”
“在我们国家，我们5个月内就能把它建成。”
没过多久，他们来到圣保罗大教堂。
“真是引人注目！”游客说道。“用了多长时间建成的？”
“将近40年。”英国男孩说道。
“在我国，我们在40天内就能把它建成。”游客说道。
这样的对话持续了一整天。他们每次看到一幢著名的建筑物，游客总是提出相同的问题。
接着他又会说他们国家建造相同的建筑可以快得多。
英国男孩很生气。几天以后他们来到国会大厦，游客又问了他的老问题，“那是什么？”英国男孩回答道：“我不知道。它昨晚还不在那儿。”