典范英语8-10

10. Jem Stone Genie -the Crash

1Test time at the Three Wishes School

It was test time again at the Three Wishes School for genies.

Miss Genius put a pile of test papers in her cupboard. Then she beamed at the class.

‘Tomorrow is your end of year test, ‘she said. ‘Work hard and don’t worry. Then you will all pass.’

Jem Stone groaned. He’d forgotten all about the test. Flying was sure to come up in the test and his magic carpet had a hole in it. He’d been meaning to fix it for ages. Now he’d have to spend all evening mending the hole. He wouldn’t have time to practice for the test. But there was worse to come.

‘Today we are going to practice flying our carpets, ‘said Miss Genius. ‘Line up at the window with your carpets, class.’ Pearl stood up and accidentally-on-purpose trod on Jem’s foot.

‘Ouch! He cried. ‘Look out, clumsy clogs!’

‘Me? Clumsy?’ said Pearl, spitefully. ‘You’re the most clumsy genie in the whole of school, Jem Stone!’

Jem forwned. It was true. He didn’t mean to be clumsy, but he did have a lot of accidents. Only last week, he’d fallen into the lake when the class were learning about frogs.

‘Don’t listen to Pearl, ‘said Pebble, kindly.

Pebble was Jem’s best friend and she didn’t like Pearl at all.

Miss Genius frowned at Jem and Pebble. ‘No talking!’

Miss Genius went on, ‘Pearl. Thank you for tidying up my room after class, yesterday. You can go first.’

Pearl smirked. ‘Out of my way,’ she said.

‘Teacher’s pet, ‘hissed Jem.

‘Don’t listen to her,’ said Pebble. ‘She’s not worth it.’

Pearl had the best magic carpet in the school but she wasn’t very good at flying. She almost bumped into the window when she flew out of the classroom. Her carpet wobbled and then she was gone.

‘I can catch her, easy peasy,’ said Jem. He jumped onto his carpet, and shouted, ‘Fly!’

‘Mind that hole!’ Pebble told him.

‘I will, ‘said Jem, and he whizzed out of the window.

2 Jem gets into trouble

Jem’s old carpet could not fly as fast as Pearl’s posh new one, and the hole made it flying than Pearl and soon he was just behind her.

He was getting ready to overtake, when Pearl flew her carpet in front of him.

‘Oi!’ shouted Jem. ‘Look out! I’m trying to get past.’

But Pearl wouldn’t move out of the way. When Jem flew left, she flew left, too. When Jem flew right ,Pearl flew right. When Jem flew up, Pearl flew up.

Then Jem had a clever idea. He would fly under Pearl’s carpet! It would be dangerous but Jem hoped he could do it. ‘Carpet, fly down,’ he said.

Pearl heard him and grinning spitefully, she flew her carpet down, too.

Jem tried to fly down even faster, so Pearl wouldn’t hit him. But his foot got stuck in the hole. He tired and tried to tug it free and the carpet wobbled closer and closer to Pearl.

BANG! The two carpets crashed. Then Jem and his carpet began to fall.

Jem could see Miss Genius standing on the playground. He tried to move the carpet out of her way but the hole was making it very hard to steer.

Miss Genius was a bit deaf and she hadn’t noticed Jem was about to fall on her head.

Jem did some fast thinking. Spells were against the school rules. He would be in big trouble if Miss Stick, the head teacher, found out. But he had to do something, or he would crash onto Miss Genius.

‘Carpet,’Jem wished, ‘Please land beside her, as softly as a spider.’

There was another bang and a cloud of green smoke. Jem landed with a bump.

Something small ran over his hand and then scuttled away.

Pebble helped him up and she looked very upset.

‘What did you do that for?’ she said. ‘Why did you turn Miss Genius into a spider?’

‘I didn’t, ‘said Jem, hotly.

‘You did!’

‘Didn’t!’

‘Did!’

‘Didn’t, didn’t didn’t! I washed for my carpet to land beside her, ‘said Jem.

‘Well it sounded as if you wished our teacher into a spider, and now she is one,’ said Pebble. ‘Poor Miss Genius. Turn her back again, quickly!’

‘I’m trying to! ‘Cried Jem.

He knew he had to act very fast. Miss Genius mustn’t find out that he had used a spell on her. If she found out that Jem had turned her into a spider she would be very cross. She might not let him take the test tomorrow. That would be awful. Jem would have to for another year.

But as Jem began the spell, the school cat came running towards them. His green eyes were lii up like lamps.

‘It’s Claws! Cried Pebble. ‘Quick! Jem, he’s after the spider. He mustn’t catch Miss Genius!’

Jem tried to grab the cat, but he slipped though Jem’s fingers.

3 Where is Miss Genius、

Jem and Pebble raced after the cat as he headed across the playground after the spider.

The cat was quick but the spider was quicker. It scuttled across the playground and into school. Then it slipped under the door of the girls’ room. The cat spat, crossly, and put his paw under the door.

‘Oh, no, you don’t!’ cried Jem. He picked the cat up and took him back to the playground. Then he shut the school d oor so that the cat couldn’t get back inside and ran back to the girls ‘room. Pebble was waiting for him.

‘She’s under there,’ said Pebble, pointing to a small cupboard. ‘ Look, you can just see one of her legs.’

Jem picked up a glass and handed it to Pebble.

‘I’m going to move the cupboard. Put this glass over the spider to stop her running away again. It won’t hurt her.’ All of a sudden, the door burst open.

Pearl came in followed by the rest of the class. ‘ Get away from my things, Jem Stone,’she yelled.

‘Don’t be silly, Pearl,’said Pebble.’ ‘Jem is only trying to catch Miss Genius.’

‘It’s my cupboard. I’ll catch her,’said Pearl, angrily. ‘Come away from my things or I’ll tell Miss Stick, the head teacher, what you did to Miss Genius. She’ll throw you out of school, Jem Stone. You know it’s against the rules to do spells on the teachers!’

‘Oh, go away!’ said Pebble.

She pushed Pearl out of the room and locked the door.

‘You can’t lock me out of the girls’ room!’ yelled Pearl and she rattled the door handle. ‘I’m going to get Miss Stick. Then you’ll be sorry.’

Pebble looked worried. ‘ Hurry up, Jem. We haven’t got much time.’

Jem pushed the cupboard very carefully. A piece of paper fluttered out from under it.

‘Can you see the spider ?’he asked.

‘No,’said Pebble.

Jem pushed the cupboard again.

‘There she is!’yelled Pebble, excitedly. ‘Move it again, Jem.’

Jem moved the cupboard again.

Pebble lifted up the glass and put it carefully over the spider. ‘ Got her!’cried Pebble.

Everybody in the room cheered.

Jem raced over to pebble. He was in such a hurry to turn the spider back into Miss Genius that he tripped and crashed into Pebble.

‘Look out!’ Pebble cired. She was still holding the glass against the floor.

‘Sorry!’said Jem, and he started to make a new spell.

‘Spider, goodbye, Miss Genius, hi.’

There was a loud POP and a cloud of green smoke. When it cleared, Miss Genius was back to herself. Well, almost. She was sitting on the floor with a glass on her head.

4Miss Genius has a surprise

All of a sudden, there was a bang on the door. It sounded angry.

‘Let me in,’shouted the head teacher.

Jem opened the door. He knew he was in very big trouble now. Miss Stick sounded very cross. Pearl was with her, looking smug.

‘There he is!’ she said. ‘In the girls’room, and poor Miss Genius...’

Pearl stopped and stared at her teacher in surprise. Miss Genius was holding up a piece of paper.

‘What was this doing under your cupboard,Pearl?’ she asked.

‘I...I...’For once, Pearl was lost for words.

‘This is a copy of tomorrow’s test paper,’went on Miss Genius.’When did you take it? Was it when you tidied up my room after school,yesterday? And I thought you were being helpful!’

Miss Stick took the test paper from Miss Genius. She looked very cross. ‘Does this mean you were going to cheat, Pearl Gates?’she said. ‘Come to my office!’

She turned to Miss Genius and said, ‘Pearl cannot take the end of year test, now. She will have to stay in the beginners’class.’

Miss Stick marched form the room with Pearl following her.

Nobady said anything for a moment and then Miss Genius smiled.’Class is over. You can use the rest of the day to practise for the test.’

‘Yes!’Shouted everybody. ‘Thanks, Miss Genius.’

‘You can thank me by getting top marks, tomorrow,’said Miss Genius.

‘And Jem, you mustbe very careful with your spells. You know, I might accidentally turn you into a fly.’

Everybody laughed and Jem laughed too. He was glad he wasn’t in trouble for turning Miss Genius into a spider. ‘Come on,’said Pebble, taking Jem’s arm. ‘let’s go and practise for our test.’

‘Later,’said Jem, heading for the door. ‘But first of all,I’ve got a hole in my carpet that needs fixing.’