A Surprise Message惊喜留言

Eli walked to school every day. Whenthe last bell rang， he also walked home. Histrip took him across the playground， an oldhouse， and across the street near his house.The house burned down years ago， butthere were still flowers and trees to showthat people used to live there.

One day， Eli watched a blue jay1 flyinto the old tree near the house. Blue jayswere always the loudest birds in town， butEli wasn’t afraid of them. The jayshouted and then flew up to a higherbranch2. With the bird gone， Eli noticedthat there was a bright red streak3 on thebranch. Eli walked toward the tree to geta closer look.

The red streak was an old balloon. Elitook it and found there was still a longstring4 attached5. At the end of thestring， Eli was surprised to see a plastic6bag. There was a piece of white paperinside. He opened the bag to find outwhat it was. Oh， it was a letter！ Eli read it：

伊莱每天步行上学。当最后一声铃响时，他也步行回家。这一路他穿过操场，经过一所老房子，然后穿过他家附近的街道。那所房子几年前烧毁了，但仍然有鲜花和树木生长，表明曾经有人住在那里。

一天，伊莱看到一只蓝松鸦飞到那所房子附近的一棵老树上。蓝松鸦一直是镇上声音最大的鸟，但伊莱并不害怕它们。那只松鸦叫了几声，然后飞到更高的树枝上。鸟儿飞走后，伊莱注意到树枝上有一道鲜红色的条纹。伊莱朝那棵树走去，想近距离看一看。

那道红色条纹是一个旧气球。伊莱把它拿下来，发现它还系了一根长长的绳子。在绳子末端，伊莱看到了一个塑料袋，他感到很惊讶，里面有一张白纸。他打开袋子想看看那是什么。噢，原来是一封信！伊莱念道：

Dear Friend，

If you have found this letter， it means myballoon popped7 at last. I used the balloonto see how far my letter would travel. Istarted from Wisconsin on May 1. Pleasewrite back to me and tell me where andwhen you found it.

Sincerely8，

Joe Valentino

Eli was excited. Wisconsin was adifferent state， so the balloon traveled veryfar. He ran home to get a pen and paper towrite back to the address in the letter.

Eli spent the rest9 of the afternoonwriting to Joe Valentino. He answered Joe’squestions and asked what he liked to do forfun. Eli was happy and asked Joe to be hispen pal and friend.

亲爱的朋友：

如果你找到了这封信袁那就意味着我的气球最后还是爆了。我放飞气球是想看看我的信能飞多远。5 月1 日，我从威斯康星州放飞了气球。请给我回信吧，告诉我你在何时何地找到这个气球的。

乔·瓦伦蒂诺谨上

伊莱很兴奋。威斯康辛州是另一个州，可见这个气球飞了很远。他跑回家去拿笔和纸，准备按信上的地址回信。

伊莱整个下午都在给乔·瓦伦蒂诺写信。他回答了乔的问题，还问他喜欢玩什么。伊莱很高兴，让乔做他的笔友和朋友。

（英语原文选自：readingvine.com）