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阅读理解
Heidi spoke schoolgirl English with a slight American accent to her own complete satisfaction．She had clearly no intention of doing any work．
When I tried weakly to suggest a plan for lessons, she kept interrupting to offer me chocolate, coffee, and cigarettes．“Excuse me, there isn’t any fruit,” she smiled, then picked up the house telephone, “Anna．Please bring some oranges．”
When the maid arrived with the oranges, I was forced, despite my unwillingness, to make a regular meal, with plate, knife, and fork．This destroyed the last pretence of a teacher-pupilrelationship．
It was a waste of time even pretending to teach her anything．If she didn’t know a word, she said it in German．If I corrected her, she repeated it in German．I was glad, of course, that she was so lazy, and only afraid that her mother might discover how little progress she was making．
But this was very unlikely．Most rich people, once they have decided to trust you, can be cheated to almost any extent．The only real problem for the private teacher is to get inside the door．
As for Heidi, she seemed to enjoy my visits．From something she said, I understood that she boasted to her school friends that she had got a real English teacher．We came to understand each other very well．I was bribed with fruit not to be troublesome about the English language; she, for her part, told her parents that I was the best teacher she had ever had We talked in German about the things that interested her．And every three or four minutes we were interrupted while she played her part in the family game of exchanging entirely unimportant messages over the house telephone．
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