Mr．Brown was busy writing letters in his room when his servant，a very stupid boy， rushed hastily¹ into his master's room and shouted loudly in an excited voice，“Fire，Fire！The kitchen is on fire！”

Mr．Brown got up quickly， and he and the boy ran as fastas they could to the kitchen．

“Look there，” shouted the boy， pointing to the leaping² flames． He had carelessly left some dry wood near the fire and this was alight and blazing³ hard． Mr．Brown saw a big pot of boiling water on the top of the stove．“You silly fellow，”he said．“Why didn't you throw that on the burning wood？That would have put it out quickly．”

“Oh， no，” said the boy slowly，“That water would beuseless；it's hot water．”

当布朗先生正在自己的房间里忙着写信时，他的仆人，一个傻小子急匆匆地闯进屋来，异常紧张地大声喊道：“火！火！厨房着火了！”

布朗先生迅疾起身，和仆人一起尽快地跑到厨房。

“看那儿！”傻小子指着蹿跳的火焰喊着。原来是他不小心把几块干木头落在火旁烧着了，并且火着得很猛。当布朗先生看到炉子上的一大锅开水时，他说：“你为什么不把这锅水泼到着火的木头上呢？那样的话，火不就会被迅速地熄灭了吗！”

“唷，那可不行，”傻小子慢吞吞地说，“这水泼上也没有用，它是热水呀！”