Lesson 92    Asking for trouble

It must have been about two in the morning when I returned home. I tried to wake up my wife by ringing the doorbell, but she was fast asleep, so I got a ladder from the shed in the garden, put it against the wall, and began climbing towards the bedroom window. I was almost there when a sarcastic voice below said, 'I don't think the windows need cleaning at this time of the night.' I looked down and nearly fell off the ladder when I saw a policeman. I immediately regretted answering in the way I did, but I said, 'I enjoy cleaning windows at night.'

'So do I,' answered the policeman in the same tone. 'Excuse my interrupting you. I hate to interrupt a man when he's busy working, but would you mind coming with me to the station?'

'Well, I'd prefer to stay here,' I said. 'You see. I've forgotten my key.'

'Your what?' he called.

'My key,' I shouted.

Fortunately, the shouting woke up my wife who opened the window just as the policeman had started to climb towards me.

我回到家时，肯定已是凌晨两点左右了。我按响了门铃，试图唤醒我的妻子，但她睡得很熟。于是，我从花园的小棚里搬来了一个梯子，把它靠在墙边，开始向卧室的窗口爬去。快要爬到窗口时，下面一个人用讽刺的口吻说：“我看不必在夜里这个时候擦窗子吧。”我向下面看去。当我看清是一个警察时，差一点儿从梯子上掉下去。我回答了他的话，但马上又后悔不该那样说，我是这样说的：“我喜欢在夜里擦窗子。”

“我也是的，”警察用同样的声调回答，“请原谅我打断了您。当一个人在忙着干活时，我是不愿意去打断他的，但请您跟我到警察局去一趟好吗？”

 “可我更愿意呆在这儿，”我说，“您瞧，我忘带钥匙了。”

 “什么？”他大声问。

“钥匙！”我喊道。

幸运得很，这喊声惊醒了我的妻子。就在警察开始向我爬上来时，她打开了窗子。

Grammar

动名词是中考考查的重难点之一，是由动词原形+ing构成。它既有动词的特征，又有名词的特征。 同学们应掌握动名词作不同成分时的情况。如：动名词做主语、宾语、定语、表语。另外，请熟记后面常接动名词的动词和短语（介词后面）的情况。

Exercises.

1. I regret __________  Amy the bad news .

A. to tell          B. to telling      C. telling       D. tell

2. Children get gifts __________ Christmas(圣诞节) and _________ their birthdays.

A. on; on             B. at; on              

C. in; in                D. in; on

1. 解析：本题考查regret的用法，regret doing sth “遗憾做了某事”，所以答案为C

2. 解析：本题考查介词的用法，在圣诞节有两种表达“at Christmas”或者“on Christmas Day”。生日是具体的某一天用on，所以此题选B。