Mr. Black was young and able. The boss liked him. Last month he was sent to China on business. Before he went back from China, he decided to buy something for Tony, the son of his boss. At first he didn’ t know what to buy for the boy. Suddenly he remembered that the boy liked birds very much, so he went to the bird market. He was glad to find that there were so many kinds of birds there. He bought four beautiful birds, then he told the boy about it on the telephone.

As soon as Mr. Black returned to London by air, he went to Tony with the four birds. But on his way to the boss ’s home.one of them flew out of the cage(笼子)and there were only three birds left in it.Then Mr.Black bought a local(当地的)bird to take the place of the missing Chinese one.

Tony of course was very happy when he saw the birds.But soon he found one of them was different from the other three.He asked， “It’s a local bird，isn’t it，Mr.Black?’’

“Yes, it is”Mr.black answered,“It’s an interpreter (译员).”

参考译文

布莱克先生很年轻也很能干。老板很喜欢他。上个月他因公务被派往中国。在离开中国以前，他决定为老板的儿子托尼买点东西。开始，他不知道该为小孩买点什么。突然他记起他很喜欢鸟，所以他决定去鸟市。他很高兴地发现那有很多鸟。他买了4只漂亮的鸟，然后在电话里告诉了托尼。

布莱克先生坐飞机一回到伦敦，就带上4只鸟去找托尼。但是在去老板家的路上，1只鸟飞出了笼子，只剩下3只了。布莱克先生就买了一只当地的鸟代替那只飞走的中国鸟。

托尼看见那些鸟的时候很高兴。但他很快发现其中的1只和另外3只不一样。他问： “这是一只本地的鸟，不是吗，布菜克先生?”

“是的。”布莱克先生回答道，“它是一个译员。”

Why did the boss send Mr. Black to China on business?(B)

A.Mr. Black had never been to China before.

B.Mr. Black was an able and hard-working man.

C.Mr. Black could buy something interesting for Tony.

How did Mr. Black return to London?(C)

A.By train.

B.By ship.

C.By plane.

Whom did Mr. Black buy a present for?(B)

A.His boss.

B.The son of his boss.

C.Mr. Black’ s wife.

Mr. Black said the local bird was an interpreter because _C_

A.the three Chinese birds didn’t know English

B.it was different from the Chinese birds

C.he was making a joke

What happened to one of the four birds?(B)

A.It was dead on the way to London.

B.It flew away from the cage.

C.It was stolen by someone.