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Roy’s Story I remember the first time I met Roy. He was standing in the centre of a group of boys, and he was telling a joke. When he reached the final line, everyone burst out laughing. Roy laughed too. A loud happy laugh. “Popular boy,” I thought to myself. My name is Daniel. I was from the north of England, but my father had been offered a better job in London, and our whole family had moved there. I was twelve and, having lost all my old friends, I felt shy and lonely at my new school. There were 33 students in my new class, and most people weren’t very interested in a shy new boy. Roy was one of the few people who were kind to me. He often invited me to join his particular group, and as a result, I started getting to know people. Roy and I become good friends. We trusted each other and we could talk about personal matters, things that were important to us. Five years later, Roy and I are still in the same class. But just under a year ago. Roy’s father was knocked over by a car. He died a few days later. The family had to move to a much smaller house in order to manage financially. Roy, who had always been very close to his father, changed completely, becoming silent and moody. He had always been a clever, hard-working student but now he seemed to lose all interest in his work. He started losing friends. These days, Roy and I see each other from time to time, but we no longer close. About three months ago, a group of us were playing football together after school. Having left something in the cloakroom, I went inside to get it, and found Roy going through the pockets of people’s coats. In his hand he had a wallet – and I knew it wasn’t his! My mouth fell open and I just looked at him. Roy went bright red. ”I’ll put it back right now,” he said, and he did so. I turned round and walked out without saying a word. I really hoped that Roy would explain why he had been stealing, but instead he started avoiding me. At the same time, small amounts of money started disappearing from students’ lockers. I wonder if the thief was Roy but decided not to say anything to anyone. I hope it wasn’t him. Last week our school had a big fair in order to raise money for a charity. It was very successful and by the end of the day, we had made about $500. Our class teacher, Mr White, came and chatted to a group of us that included Roy, and held up a box for us to see. “There’s $500 in here,” he said with a smile. But to our surprise, the next morning, we were told that the money had been stolen. Mr White had left the box in a classroom for a few minutes, and when he came back it had disappeared. The head teacher asked anyone who thought they might know something about the theft to come to him. This weekend, having thought about the situation for a while, I decided to ask Roy about the theft, and this morning I went to see him. Roy was out, and I went upstairs to his bedroom to wait for him. It was a cold day and his jacket was lying on the back of a chair. I put it on and put my hands in the pockets. I could feel a lot of paper notes and I pulled them out. It looked as if there was about $500 there. I was so surprised that I just stood there, holding the notes in my hands. At that moment, the door swung open, and Roy walked in. Roy’ Story 罗伊的故事 我还记得第一次见到罗伊的情景。他站在一群男孩中间，正说着笑话。他说道最后一句的时候，大家都哄堂大笑起来。罗伊也笑了，是那种开心的大笑。我当时心想：“他是个受欢迎的男孩。”我叫丹尼尔，是这个班里的新学生。我们家在英格兰北部，因为父亲在伦敦找了份更好的工作，我们全家就搬到这里来了。当时我12岁，由于失去了我所有的老朋友，在这所新学校里我感到害羞、孤独。 在我的新班里有33名学生。他们大都对我这样一个害羞的新学生不感兴趣。只有少数几个同学对我友善，罗伊是其中一个。他经常邀请我加入他的特殊团队，结果我开始结识其他人。罗伊和我成了好朋友，我们互相信任，谈论一些对我们都重要的一些事情。 现在五年过去了，罗伊和我还是在同一个班。但就在不到一年前，罗伊的父亲遭遇车祸，几天后就去世了。他家不得不搬到一个比以前小很多的房子里，以减轻经济上的负担。罗伊原来和他父亲关系十分亲密，而父亲去世后他彻底改变了，变的沉默寡言、闷闷不乐。他曾经一直是一个聪明和勤奋的学生，但现在他似乎对学习完全失去了兴趣。他开始失去了很多朋友。最近，我和罗伊还时而见面，但已经不再那么亲密了。 大约三个月前，我们一群人放学后在踢足球。因为我把东西落在衣帽间了，我就进去取，这时我发现罗伊正在翻别人的衣服口袋。他手上捏着个钱包——我知道那不是他的！我张大了嘴，直盯着他。罗伊满脸通红。“我马上放回去，”他说着就把钱包放了回去。我转身就走了，没说一句话。 我真希望罗伊能跟我解释他偷东西的原因，可他却对我避而不见。同时，同学们放在衣柜里的零花钱开始丢失。我不知道小偷是不是罗伊，但是我没跟任何人说起，因为我希望不是他。 上周我们学校开了个大型义卖会，为一个慈善机构筹款。 这次活动非常成功，一天下来我们就募集到了大约500英镑。我们的班主任怀特先生进来和我们中的几个人聊了一会儿，也包括罗伊，并给我们看了一个盒子。“这里面有500英镑”，他笑着说。但使我们吃惊的是，第二天早上有人告诉我们说那些钱被人偷了。怀特先生把盒子放在教室里几分钟的功夫，当他回来时盒子已经不翼而飞。校长要求，不管是谁，只要觉得自己多少知道点这起盗窃案的线索，就去找他谈谈。 周末，我想了有又想，决定去找罗伊谈这次失窃的事。今天早上我去找他，发现他出去了，便上楼去他的寝室等他。天很冷，他的夹克衫搭在椅背上。我穿上他的夹克，把手伸进了口袋。我能感觉到里面有很多纸币，便把它们拿了出来。 这叠钱看似约有500英镑。我手中抓着钱，不知所措，只是吃惊地站着。正在这时，门开了，罗伊走了进来。 |
