When they're together, my five-year-old son and his cousin tend to cause mayhem. one Saturday, I put my foot down. "All right, you two," I said sternly. "No screaming , grabbing, whining¹, hitting, teasing, tattling, breaking toys, scratching or fighting."

 

　　As I turned to leave, I heard my son say, "C'mon, Steven, let's get dirty . "

 

Notes:

 

　　(1) tend to（do）倾向；趋向

 

　　(2) mayhem n.大混乱；大灾害

 

　　(3) put one's foot down开始抗议

 

　　(4) sternly adv.严厉地

 

　　(5) whine² v.哭闹

 

　　(6) tease v.取笑

 

　　(7) tattle v.扯淡

 

Exercises:

 

根据短文回答下列问题：

 

　　① How old is the son?

 

　　② What do they tend to do when the son and his cousin are together?

        ③ What does "Put one's foot down" mean here?

 

　　④ Did the boy obey the father's order?

 

　　⑤ What did they do then?

 

61.让人无奈的孩子

 

　　我五岁的儿子和他的表弟在一起的时候，总要招来大乱。一个星期六，我开始抗议了。“好啦，你们两个，”我严厉地说，“不许叫喊，不许乱拿，不许哭闹，不许乱敲，不许取笑，不许扯淡，不许弄坏玩具，不许乱抓，不许打架。”

 

　　我刚转身要走，就听我儿子说：“来，斯蒂文，我们来把自己弄脏吧。”

 

练习参考答案：

 

    ① Five.

 

　　② They tend to cause mayhem.

 

　　③ it means "to make up one's mind to stop sth from happening".

 

　　④ No, he didn't

 

　　⑤ They began to get dirty.

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