超8 · Lesson 7

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Little boy Tom was an orphan. His parents died when he was young, so his mother's sister, Polly, took him into her house. Tom loved mischief and adventure. But sometimes he was too mischievous.

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Suddenly, she heard footsteps and caught Tom sneaking out of the closet, his hands and mouth covered in dirt. "Go back into the closet and get me my stick."

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As Aunt Polly raised the stick, Tom shouted, "Look behind you!" When Aunt Polly looked away, Tom quickly ran off.

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Aunt Polly giggled, "Oh, that naughty Tom! He tricks me all the time."

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After a playful day, he returned home in time to share his stories with Jim, Aunt Polly's young slave, and his half-brother Sid. Sid was the opposite of Tom in almost every way.

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"Tom, was it hot at school today?"

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"And didn't you want to swim in the river?"

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Aunt Polly felt Tom's collar, and it was dry. Tom tried to hide his smile and thought, "She hasn't figured out my dry collar trick yet."

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Aunt Polly was upset that she didn't find Tom's wet hair first. She was sure he had skipped school. She decided to use her secret weapon: each morning before school, she sewed Tom's collar shut with thread. If he had taken his shirt off to swim, the thread would break.

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"Tom, show me your shirt collar," said Aunt Polly in a serious tone.

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To her surprise, the collar was still sewn. "Tom, I'm sorry I thought you skipped school today. I was wrong," said Aunt Polly.

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Tom said thank you and was about to leave when Sid said, "Didn't you sew Tom's collar with white thread this morning? Look, it's black."

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The next day, Tom was standing in front of a big fence with a bucket of paint and a brush. He had to paint it all day. After painting the first board, he saw his friend Ben coming and he started painting again.

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"Let me try," he begged Tom.

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"No," said Tom. "Aunt Polly told me to do it. She said it was important. Only an excellent painter can paint the front side." Tom thought for a moment. "Maybe you can do the back side," he said.

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"I'll give you my apple," said Ben. Tom agreed and gave Ben the brush. While Ben painted, Tom sat in the shade, eating the apple and smiling. His plan had worked!

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She was so happy that she gave Tom a shiny red apple and let him go play.

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On his way home, Tom noticed a new girl. He thought she was very pretty, with sparkling blue eyes and braided blond hair. At once, Tom forgot all about his old love, a girl named Amy Lawrence.

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Tom wanted to play tricks to make the new girl notice him. An idea dawned on him. Tom balanced a stick on his nose, and walked up and down the street where they both lived.

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The next day, Aunt Polly asked Tom to put on his Sunday best for church. After a quick breakfast, she took Tom to church to make sure he went to Sunday school.

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The lesson for that day was to memorize five verses from the Bible, but Tom couldn't focus. After the lesson was over, Tom and the other students had a short break before church service started.

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These tickets were given as prizes to students who could recite verses from the Bible. For every two lines correctly recited, children got one blue ticket. Ten blue tickets could be traded for a red ticket; ten red tickets could be traded for a yellow ticket. For ten yellow tickets, a child could get a Bible. That's two thousand lines of verses for a Bible!

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"Does anyone have enough tickets for a Bible?" the minister asked all the children.

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Everyone was surprised when Tom stood up. He proudly walked up to the minister to give him his tickets.

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Tom thought it was time for him to go, but the judge went on, "Learning is important. It's what makes people great, and I can tell you'll be great. I bet you know all of Jesus' helpers, but who were his first two helpers?"

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Tom wasn't sure if he should answer, so he stayed silent.

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"Thomas, answer the question," the minister urged him.

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Then, Tom told the only two names from the Bible he could think of, "David and Goliath!"

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The whole church burst into laughter. Feeling embarrassed, Tom returned to his seat, where his aunt scolded him.

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"Hi, Huck," Tom said. He saw that his friend had something in his hand. "What's that?"

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"It's something that can cure warts," Huck replied.

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"So join me at the graveyard tonight, and I can remove all of them for you," Huck offered.

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After he sat down, Tom put a peach on the new girl's desk. Then he wrote on his board, "You can have it. I have more." The girl read the board and quickly looked away. Soon Tom began to draw, and he hid what he was drawing with his left hand.

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"I'm Becky Thatcher. What's your Oh, I remember. I saw you at church. You're Thomas Sawyer."

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"But what do we use to cure the warts?" asked Tom.

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"We use the Indian herbs. They're just over there," said Huck, pointing to a large tree.

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All of a sudden, Tom and Huck heard some soft voices. Freezing in place, they were certain that the voices must come from those angry spirits.

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"Huck, they're not spirits. They're people," whispered Tom. "Look over there! I know them. One is Muff Potter, another is Injun Joe, and the last one is Doctor Robinson!"

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Then Muff Potter said, "You'd better give us another five dollars, or the body stays here."

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Injun Joe waved his fist to beat Doc. Robinson. Doc. Robinson put the lantern down, and hit Injun Joe in the face. Seeing this, Muff ran to help his friend, Injun, but he was too drunk to stand steadily. Then he fell to the ground.

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Suddenly, Injun Joe pulled out a knife and drove it into the doctor's chest. Then he put the knife in Muff Potter's hand, robbed the doctor's pockets and fled into the night.

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However, Injun Joe said that it was Muff Potter who had killed the doctor. So Muff Potter was put into jail, and Injun Joe remained free.

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Aunt Polly also worried about Tom. To make him feel better, she tried different remedies she read about in a magazine. One of them involved giving Tom a cold bath every evening, followed by wrapping him in layers of blankets until he started sweating.

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She gave Tom a teaspoon of the strong spicy medicine. And instantly, Tom felt like his mouth, throat, and stomach were on fire. He screamed and ran around the room.