**的时间很短，但**之内发生的事情却可以改变生活。住在巴斯市莫兰路上的四家人正为各自的烦恼而忧愁，贾森想去伦敦的艺术学校读书，却一直未收到通知；戴维的妻子尼娜希望去纽卡斯尔的银行工作，而戴维的梦想却是买下他工作的法国餐厅；玛吉在智利度假时与泽维尔相爱，但之后却收到泽维尔一封奇怪的邮件；塞姆的女儿埃玛想去挪威度假，可他却没钱给她。当所有人陷入困境之时，市邮件中转站里燃起的一场大火却改变了他们的生活……
** | 剑桥双语分级读物·小说馆 （剑桥原版引进，全国**中学教师编译**）&nbsp_Helen Naylor_北京语言大学出版社_

Introduction
Moreland Road is a street in the city of Bath, England.
One Friday evening in March, at six o’clock, people were coming home from work as usual. The schoolchildren were already at home.
A woman’s voice was coming from number 12. ‘Jason, are you doing your homework? You’ve got to do it before you go out to see Maria tonight.’ But there was no answer. Jason was listening to music and couldn’t hear his mum.
At number 48 David Sen wasn’t home yet, but his wife was. Thirty-two-year-old Nina Sen was tired after a long week of work at the bank. She had some news for her husband, but she wasn’t sure how to tell him.
Across the street was number 75. Maggie was in the living room, sitting on the sofa. She was thinking about something. It was a nice something, because she had a smile on her face.
And then there was Sam Davies, from number 56. He was walking slowly home, looking a bit worried. Actually, he always looked worried. Money was his problem. He never had enough for everything. How was he going to tell his wife that they couldn’t have a holiday this year?
So, just another ordinary Friday…
引子
莫兰路是英国巴斯市的一条街道。
三月的一个星期五的晚上，6 点钟，人们像往常一样下班回家，上学的孩子们已经到家了。
一个女人的声音从12 号住宅传来。“贾森，你在做作业吗？你今晚得做完作业才能出去见玛丽亚。”但是，没有人回答。贾森正在听音乐，听不见他妈妈说话。
住在48 号的戴维?森还没到家，但是他的妻子已经回来了。32 岁的尼娜?森在银行工作，辛苦了漫长的一周后，她觉得很累。她有些消息要告诉丈夫，但是还没想好怎么说。
街对面是75 号。玛吉坐在客厅的沙发上，想着事情。看来是件好事儿，因为她的脸上带着微笑。
接下来是住在56 号的塞姆?戴维斯。他正慢慢地往家走，看起来有点儿发愁。事实上，他总是看起来愁眉苦脸的。他总是为钱所困，钱总是不够花。他要怎么告诉妻子今年不能去度假了呢？
所以，这只是又一个平常的星期五……

People in the story / 故事中的人物 / 6
Places in the story / 故事中的地点 / 7
Before reading / 读前思考 / 8
Introduction / 引子 / 9
Chapter 1 Jason’s future / 贾森的未来 / 10
Chapter 2 Nina’s new job / 尼娜的新工作 / 14
Chapter 3 Dinner at Maggie’s / 玛吉家的晚餐 / 20
Chapter 4 Sam has money problems / 塞姆为钱所困 / 26
Chapter 5 Jason and Maria / 贾森和玛丽亚 / 32
Chapter 6 Nina and David talk / 尼娜和戴维的谈话 / 39
Chapter 7 Maggie’s visitor / 玛吉的访客 / 43
Chapter 8 What Sam didn’t know / 塞姆不知道的事儿 / 49
Chapter 9 Fire! / 着火了！ / 54
Conclusion 尾声/ 59
After reading / 读后活动 / 62
Learning guide / 学习指导 / 63
Translation / 参考译文 / 72

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