"Daddy, can I learn to play the violin?" young Sarah asked her father. She
was1 always asking for things and her father was not very
pleased2.
"You
cost3 me a lot of money, Sarah," he
said4."First you wanted Io learn horse riding, then dancing, then swimming. Now it's the violin."
"I'll play every day. Daddy." Sarah said, "I'll try very hard."
"All fight," her father said. "This is what I'll do. I'll
pay5 for you to have lessons for six weeks. At the end of six weeks you must play something for me. If you play well, you can have more lessons. If you play
badly6, I will stop the lessons."
"OK. Daddy," Sarah said, "That is
fair7."
He soon
found8 a good violin teacher and Sarah began her lessons. The teacher was very expensive, but her father kept his
promise9.
The six weeks passed quickly. The time
came10 for Sarah to play for her father.
She went to the
living11 room and said. "I'm ready to play for you, Daddy."
"Fine, Sarah," her father said, "Begin."
Her father
had14 one of his friends with him, and the friend put his hands over his ears.
When Sarah
finished15, her father said, "Well done, Sarah. You can have more lessons." Sarah
ran16 happily17 out of the room. Her father's friend turned to him. "You've spent a lot of money, but she still plays very badly." he said.
“爸爸，我能学拉小提琴吗？”小莎拉问她的父亲。她总是要这要那，所以她的爸爸很不高兴。
“你已经花了很多钱了，莎拉，”他说，“起初你想学骑马，然后想学跳舞，后来是游泳。现在又想学拉小提琴。”
“我会每天都练习的，爸爸，”莎拉说，“我会认真刻苦的。”
“好吧，”她爸爸说。“我会这么做：我付6个星期的小提琴课的钱，6个星期后你必须拉首曲子给我听。如果你拉得很好，就可以继续上小提琴课，如果你拉得很差，就不要再学了。”
“行，爸爸，”莎拉说，“这很公平。”
很快，她的父亲就找到了一个很好的小提琴老师，莎拉开始学拉小提琴了。虽然学费很高，但她的父亲兑现了诺言。
6个星期很快就过去了。该莎拉拉小提琴给她的父亲听了。
她走进起居室说：“我准备好拉小提琴给您听了。”
“好啊，莎拉，”她的父亲说。“开始吧。”
莎拉开始拉了，她拉得很差，小提琴发出可怕的噪音。
刚好她父亲的一位朋友也在旁边，朋友再也无法忍受，只好用手捂着耳朵。
一曲终了，她的父亲说：“很好，莎拉。你可以继续学琴了。” 听到父亲这么说，莎拉高兴地跑出门去。在场的朋友对她的父亲说：“你已经花了不少钱了，可她还是拉得不怎么样。”
“噢，的确如此，”她爸爸说，“但自从她开始学小提琴以后，我就可以以很便宜的价格买下这幢楼的5个公寓。再过6周，我就可以拥有整幢楼啦！”
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