初级Zorro

Chapter Six: Friar Felipe

Captain Ramon returns to the Presidio. He is furious .

"I must punish Lolita, her family and Zorro for their insults!" he thinks. "I must write a letter to the Governor. I must tell him that Don Carlos Pulido and his family are traitors . They are Zorro's friends. They help him."

He writes the letter and sends it to the Governor. He smiles and says" I want to see the Pulido family in prison!"

"I want to see you in prison!" says a man's voice. Captain Ramon turns around and sees Zorro.

"You are a villain. Fight me but don't hurt the Pulido family!" says Zorro.

"Sergeant Gonzales, come quickly!" says the Captain. "Zorro is here."

Zorro disappears.

"I am here, Captain," says Sergeant Gonzales.

"Take all the soldiers and find Zorro! We must capture him."The soldiers follow Zorro. The night is dark. It is difficult to follow him because his horse is very fast. The next morning the soldiers return to the Presidio. They are tired and angry. Zorro is still free.

There are many people in front of the Presidio that morning. Don Diego is there too. Something is happening.

An old friar is standing before the magistrate . The old friar is in chains . "I am not a thief," says the old friar. "I am a poor friar. "

"What is happening?" asks Don Diego.

"This old friar is a thief . He must be punished," answers the magistrate.

"That is impossible. Friar Felipe is an honest man. I know him," says Don Diego.

"No, you are wrong," says the cruel magistrate.

He calls two soldiers and says, "Whip  this friar 15 times."

The soldiers whip the old friar and he falls to the ground. Don Diego is very angry because Friar Felipe is his friend. He returns to his father's hacienda.

"Good afternoon, my son," says his father, Don Alejandro Vega. "I am happy to see you. come and tell me about Lolita. Does she want to marry you?"

"I like Lolita, but she doesn't like me. She likes romantic men. What can I do?" asks Don Diego.

"Girls like courageous, romantic  men. You must talk about love. You must play the guitar  and sing love songs. Give her some flowers. This is what young men do. Wake up, Diegol" says Don Alejandro.

"How ridiculous ! I cannot do these stupid things," says Don Diego.

"You must try. Lolita is a lovely girl," says Don Alejandro.

"There are many problems in my life. I want to rest and meditate ," says Don Diego.

中级 Alice

Chapter Eight: Croquet with the Queen

Alice was in a beautiful garden with all types of flowers. She wasn't alone;there were three gardeners working very hard, but they weren't men, theywere cards.

They were painting white roses red. Alice was very curious so she walkedtowards them and asked timidly: 'Excuse me, why are you painting theseroses red?'

The gardeners looked sad and quite embarrassed. 'Well,' answered Two in a low voice, 'this should be a red rose-tree but. . .'

'Well, you see, we put in a white rose-tree instead,' said Five.

'It was a mistake, ' added Seven, 'if the Queen discovers it, she'll cut offour heads.'

'Cut off your heads!' repeated Alice totally surprised.

'Look! The Queen! The Queen!' shouted the cards, and they lay face down on the ground.

Alice turned round and saw a great crowd of people. It was a pack of cards,

walking through the garden. There were soldiers carrying clubs courtiers

with diamonds and the royal children with hearts.

Then Alice saw the White Rabbit and behind him the Knave of Hearts.

Last of all came the King and Queen of Hearts!

Suddenly everybody stopped. The Queen looked at Alice and asked:

'What's your name, child?'

'My name is Alice,' Alice answered and she said to herself, 'I must not be afraid, they are only cards.''And who are these?' asked the Queen pointing at the three gardeners.

'Don't ask me. How should I know?' Alice was very rude to the Queen, thistime.

The Queen looked at Alice. She was red with anger. She shouted: 'Off with her head!'

The King tried to calm her: 'Don't be so angry, my darling. She's only a child.'

'I want to look at their faces, now! ... Get up! ... What! White roses! I wanted red roses not white! Off with their heads!' shouted the angry Queen.

The gardeners were very frightened. They shouted: 'Alice! Alice, help us!''Come here!' said Alice and she put them in a flower pot.

'Don't worry. I'm here,' Alice whispered, 'Are their heads off?' inquired the Queen.

'Certainly, your Majesty,' answered the soldiers.

'Good! Let's play croquet!' said the Queen, 'Can you play croquet, my dear?' she asked.

'Of course!' answered Alice.

'Go to your places!' ordered the Queen. The players took their places and the game started.

'What a funny game,' thought Alice. 'When I play at home we use croquet balls rill but here they have these little animals: hedgehogs. In England we use mallets but I can't see any here. They use birds with long legs: flamingos.

It's so difficult to play.'

'You're my mallet, come here!' shouted Alice to a running flamingo.

'Nobody follows the rules and the Queen seems so angry,' thought Alice.

'Off with his head! Off with her head!' shouted the Queen.

'Poor me,' thought Alice, 'they like cutting people's heads off down here.

What will happen to my poor head?' she wondered.

Alice looked round and there he was, the Cheshire Cat! His eyes ... head ..,teeth.

'How are you, my dear?' asked the Cat.

'Well, you see, I don't like this game. They can't play. They are always fighting and they are so loud,' replied Alice.

'I see,' said the Cat, 'and how do you like the Queen?'

'I don't,' said Alice but then she realised the Queen was behind her so she added, 'I don't think there is a Queen like her.'

The Queen smiled and walked on, The King saw Alice talking to the Cat's head and asked her, 'Who are you talking to?'

'It's a friend of mine, the Cheshire Cat,' said Alice.

'Don't look at me like that!' said the King.

'A cat can look at a king, I read it in a book,' said Alice,The King looked very angry. 'My darling ... ' the King said.

'Yes, my dear?' answered the Queen.

'This cat must go!' said the King in a firm voice.

'Of course, dear. Cut off its head!' ordered the Queen.

Everybody gathered round the Cheshire Cat. A soldier said, 'You can't cut off its head. There's no body to cut it off from.' The King didn't agree. 'It has a head so you must cut it off!' he insisted.

'I will cut off all your heads if you don't cut this head off immediately!'threatened the Queen.

'You should ask the Duchess. It's her cat,' said Alice.

'The Duchess is in prison because she boxed the Queen's ears. Don't you know?' said the Queen. Then she added, 'Bring her here!'

The soldier followed the Queen's order and left. Just then the Cat's ears disappeared, then the mouth, eyes, head, teeth ... It was gone!

Suddenly a cry was heard in the distance.

'The trial's beginning! The trial's beginning!'

'Whose trial is it?' asked Alice.

But nobody answered because they were all leaving.