典范英语8-9

9The Luckless Monster

1 Monsters

Do you think you know all about monsters?

You’ve probably heard of the deadly dragon. It was famous for fighting knights.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Loch Ness Monster. She’s being spotted.

The Loch Ness Monster is so famous she’s even got her own nickname. They call her Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.

She calls me Luckless becau I never em to have any luck at all, but Luckless isn’t my real name.

My real name is Flossie.

This is where we live.

It’s a a a bit wet, but it’s home to us. I love it here.

But it can be lonely.

I belong to the same family as Nessie. I live in the same loch as Nessie. I live in the same water. I hunt for the same

fish. But we’d have our differences.

For instance, the Loch Ness Monster is huge and scary.

But I’m a bit on the small side. Sometimes Nessie calls me Scaredy Cat.

The Loch Ness Monster swims swift and sure.

But I’m not all that keen on water.

I don’t like the cold and wet. I don’t like the high waves. I don’t like the deep pools and I HATE the whirlpool.

This is the whirlpool.

It goes round and round, and whatever is in the whirlpool goes round and round with it.

Nessie LOVES it. ‘Wheee!’ she yells.

‘Yeeeeeeeeh!’ she yells, and, ‘Come and have a go if you think you’re brave enough!’

I had a go once. I HATED it. The water went up my no, I couldn’t e anything and I felt dizzy and sick.

‘You’re scared!’ Nessie tead. ‘You’re frightened!’

But I wasn’t frightened.

I was TSRRIFIED!

Nessie called me a landlubber, a chicken.

Nessie calls me lots of names: Titch! Scaredy cat! Cry baby!

To tell you the truth, Nessie is a bit of a bully. But nothing Nessie can do would make get back in that whirlpool again.

Never!

2 No one cares about YOU!

You probably know that the Loch Ness Monster (or Nessie for short) is good at hiding. We monsters have learned the

art of camouflage. This means we can hide by changing our colour or making ourlves look like other things.

If someone spots Nessie, she changes.

People who make films, and people who write for newspapers and magazines, are always trying to stop Nessie. They

want to take her photo. They want to make a film about her. They want her to be in their newspapers or magazines. She’s

famous. She’s a celebrity. Everyone tries to spot Nessie.

But nobody has ever tried to spot me.

I WANT to be made a fuss of. But no matter what I do, nobody notices me at all.

That’s why Nessie calls me the Luckless Monster. ‘No one knows you exist. No one cares if you exist!’ she says.

‘Na na na na na,’Nessie sings.

No one tries to take photos of you!

No one talks about you.

No one cares about YOU at all.’

It’s true. I don’t have any real friends.

There’s Nessie of cour ---but she only talks to me when she feels like it. She only plays with me when she feels like

playing. So I’m lonely, and that’s why I think Nessie is right when she calls me the Luckless Monster.

3 How do you find a friend?

One day, I woke up and I said to mylf, ’Enough is enough. Today is the day I will find a real friend, a good friend.

Nessie doesn’t care if she has a friend, but I do.’

I want someone who cares for me. I want someone who can e the real me.

But how do you find a friend?

What exactly is a friend?

I thought about this for a long, long time. I even asked Nessie.

‘What exactly is a friend?’ I asked.

‘A friend is someone who is like you, just like you,’ she said. ‘But none is like us, so we CAN’T have friends. Better just

to ttle for scaring people.’

Then she gave a roar that nt me skittering away.

‘It works for me. ’She grinned. ‘I love scaring people!’

But I didn’t give up. I was determined to find a friend.

I asked all the animals I met, ‘Plea be my friend.’

This is what they said: They thought I was too big, too wet, too scary looking and too fishy smelling.

Then I asked some children and this is what they said:

The grown ups said, ‘Don’t be silly. There are no such things as monsters. That’s just a shadow. Come along, now.

Hurry up.’

People were either scared of me --or they didn’t believe in me.

It was hopeless. So I sulked. I’m very good at sulking. I can do it for ages.

I stayed perfectly still, crosd my arms, drooped my bottom lip and got ready for a HUGE sulk. I was just getting into

it, when I heard a noi.

A group of children were going up to a little girl. They were saying things that sounded very familiar to me.

The girl was crying and she was wearing glass--but not for long.

The other children took her glass and started to pass them to each other.

Each time she tired to grab them back they threw them to someone el. They were throwing faster and faster and

harder and harder until-

SPLASH! The gass landed in the water.

They were light and plastic landed in the water.

They were light and plastic. So they bobbed about on the surface. Then they drifted in little circles.

The girl cried, ‘Oh! No!’

Some of the children said, ‘Ha ha!’

Some said, ‘Oh, no! Sorry.’

Then all of the children went away, except for the girl, who stood peering at her glass in the water.

First she tried reaching for them, but they were too far out.

Then she tried to hook them with a branch, but that didn’t work. The glass drifted further and further out.

Then the girl took a deep breath, and waded in after them. They were going towards the whirlpool.

That’s when she should have given up--but on she You can guess what happened next.

‘Aaahh!’ screamed the girl as she slipped and her head went under the water.

‘AAAGH!’ She cried out again, and down she went for the cond time.

Well, I had no choice. A monster’s got to do what a monster’s got to do!

I grabbed her and kept her head out of the water.

Then off we went.

First we swirled, then we whirled.

Then we swooshed and we whooshed.

Funnily enough, after we almost started to enjoy it.

At last we landed in a soggy heap.

We were out of breath but safe and sound and the girl was still holding onto her glass.

She put her glass on and peered at me. It must have been the first time she had en me clearly and she looed a little

surprid.

‘I know I look a different,’ I apologized.

‘That’s what people say about me!’ she said, ‘They think I’m different!’

‘Is that why tho children were calling you names?’ I asked.

She nodded.

‘I get called some of tho same names,’ I said, sadly.

‘My rea name is Flossie,’ I told her.

‘My real name is Fran,’ she said. Then she smiled a little and said, ‘We should be friends! Will you be my friend?’

‘But I’m too big! I’m too wet! I’m too weedy,’ I said. ‘I’m different, too.’

‘We’re both different,’ Fran said. ‘So, in we’re both the same!’

She went on, ‘I like you. You’re kind and you’re friendly. That’s what makes a friend for me.’

So we decided to be friends.

4 Can you e me?

Just then, the other children came rushing up t Fran.

Quick as quick, I made mylf look like a very handsome tree. Well, I don’t want them screaming and running away or

calling me names, do I?

The other children ran up to my new friend.

Sometime I can hide mylf just too well. But I don’t mind.

Now, Fran and I often play together. We swim. We play tig and hide and ek and skipping and football. I help her--and

she helps me.

Yes, she’s taught me to look at things differently.

Fran has lots of friends now but she’s still my friend too.

I’m often around. But not everyone can spot me.

It takes a real friend to e me.

Can you?