The Grand Hotel

　　 「原山饭店」

　　From the freeway you will see the beautiful looking buildings set high on the on the green mountain in the suburb of Taipei. The Chinese-style architecture of the Grand Hotel is very colorful; it has been ranked as one of the world's top ten. The lobby is very large, and the roof has hand- carved wooden panels; the supporting columns are colorfully painted. The most impressive item in the lobby is the large, beautiful, all-marble staircase that comes down from the second floor on two sides of the lobby; a huge bronze wall painting separates the two staircases. Standing in the lobby you feel as if you have walked into a king's palace because of so many beautiful things around you.

　　「挤公车」

　　I am a senior high student who has to commute from home to school every day. It is always an ordeal for me to try to get on a crowded bus. I am often squeezed so hard that I can't breathe.

　　Once I felt someone pushing me very hard, and then he touched my rear. I couldn't turn around to see who did it because I was sandwiched between two tall men. I was so angry that when the bus arrived at my school, I clenched my fists and elbowed my way through the crowd and got off. Then, to my dismay, I found that my purse had been stolen from my school bag.

　　我是一位每天必须通学的高中生。对我来说，要挤上公车总是一种很痛苦的考验。我常常被挤得喘不过气来。

　　我一次我觉得有人一直在挤我，然后他摸我屁股。我无法转遛去看是谁做的，因为我被夹在两名长人中间。在公车到达学校时，我气得紧握拳头从人群中挤下车。然后，令我惊慌的是，我发现书包的钱包被偷走了。

　　The Fire

　　「火灾」

　　There was a big fire in one office building in our neighborhood at about nine4 o'clock last night. Many firemen and fire engines came. In the beginning, we saw flames with thick black smoke coming out from the sixth floor; and we also heard the explosion of the gas tank mixed with the noisy sounds from shattering windows. Soon the fire spread one by one to the floors above, and finally reach the top floor. Some aluminum window frames and some brick walls meted and collapsed from the heat. Many people like myself stood outside on the streets watching the fire in horror as we heard the sirens and gas explosions. Luckily there was no one in that office building when the fire broke out. The fire-men were unable to control the fire until the top floor was burned out; it took about one and a half hours for the firemen to put out the big fire. The next morning newspapers carried the story and pictures of the fire.