1.一天，一个叫詹姆斯的小男孩正在院子里的谷仓附近的地上玩耍，他以前从没有听到过回声。
2.“哦哦……”他大声叫着，紧接着，他抬起头来想看一看是谁来了。
3.因为他好像听到有个人像他一样“哦哦”地叫喊，而且叫喊声和他的一模一样。
4.但是，他没有看到有人来，因此他认为是自己听错了，于是继续自己玩了起来。
5.“哦哦！”他又大声喊了起来，刚刚要跳起来，他就肯定他确实听到有人喊：“哦哦！”
6.他环顾四周，还是没有人。他自言自语：“谷仓里肯定有人。”
7.他大叫一声：“谁在谷仓里？”“谁在谷仓里？”这时有一个人也在问，只是声音没有那么大。
8.詹姆斯走进谷仓想看看到底是谁，但是他没有看到里面有人。他走出谷仓继续玩，很奇怪是谁在捣乱。
9.“你好！在吗？”他刚刚跳起来说了一句，脚下一滑，倒在了草地上。
10.“你好！在吗？”有人也喊了一声。
11.“你是谁？”詹姆斯喊着，有些生气。
12.“你是谁？”这就是他得到的答复。詹姆斯认为不管这个人是谁，他都是个小气鬼，所以这么回答。
13.“你是个小气鬼，”詹姆斯于是说。
14.“--小气鬼。”对方说。詹姆斯开始有点生气了。
15.“你出来，你出来试试看。”
16.但是对方没有出来，只是重复詹姆斯的话，“--你出来试试看。”
17.詹姆斯实在忍不下去了。
18.“你出来，我要揍你，”詹姆斯气愤极了。
19.“--我要揍你，”对方的声音传了过来，可是就是没人出来。
20.“你敢！”詹姆斯说道。
21.“--你敢！”对方说。
22.“你是个懦夫，”詹姆斯又说。
23.“--懦夫，”对方说。
24.詹姆斯再也不能忍受了，他哭着跑进了屋里，气愤难消，告诉了妈妈谷仓里有一个特别小气的家伙，但是却找不到他。
25.“那个家伙一直在做什么？”妈妈问道。
26.“他一直对我说难听的话，对我非常小气。”
27.“我的乖儿子也对他说了难听的话了吗？”
28.“妈妈，我实在忍不住了才说的。他太让人气愤了。”
29.“我们一起去看看该怎么办。”妈妈说完，领着詹姆斯的手来到了谷仓旁的草地上，她说：“我来和他说话。”
30.于是她大声喊道：“我的儿子！”
31.同样的声音传了过来，但并不是气愤的语调。
32.“詹姆斯！”他妈妈又大喊一声，同样大的声音返了回来：“詹姆斯！”
33.“现在你可以说话了，詹姆斯。”于是詹姆斯说：“你好！”
对方也说：“你好！”
34.“你还没明白吗？我们说什么，对方就说什么，而且声音语调都相同。
35.”如果你用生气的声音大声喊，回答也会一样。
36.“所以实际上谷仓里没有别人，孩子，你听到的只不过是你自己的回声而已。
37.”谷仓反射了你说的话，就像玻璃可以反映你的外貌一样。
38.“如果你好好说话，返回来的声音肯定也会是好听的。
39.”这给我们上了很好的一课，孩子。这告诉你：我们怎么对待别人，别人就会怎么对待我们。
40.“如果我们对别人好，别人也会对我们好；但如果我们粗暴、恶意对待别人，别人也会同样对待我们。”
CAPITAL FUN
富家子弟的一次戏闹
1.It was a little past twelve o‘clock，and a merry group of boys were seated on the grass，eating their dinners，under a clump of shadetrees that were in the school-yard.
2.“I should like to know，”said Howard Colby，“why Joe Green never comes out here to eat his dinner？”
3.“I guess he brings so many goodies he is afraid we shallrob him，”said John Allen.
4.“Pooh！”said Will Brown，“more likely he does not bringanything at all.”
5.“I heard father say，the family were badly pinched，sinceMr.Green was killed，”said James Bates.
6.“Mother says，’Folks have no business to be poor，‘and I don’t care if he does not have any dinner，”added Will Brown.
7.“Well，”said Sam Morell，“I know Mary Green asked my mother for some plain sewing the other day；but folks do that who are not so very poor.”
8.“And Joe is wearing his winter clothes all this warm weather，”said Howard Colby，as he looked at his own new suit of light gray，in a kind of satisfied way.
9.“I tell you what，boys，”said Will Brown，“let us lookto-morrow，and see what the fellow does bring.You know heis always in his seat when the first bell rings.”
10.The boys agreed to this-all but Ned Collins，who had not spoken before，and now he simply said，“I can‘t see what fun there will be in that.”
11.“You are always such a granny，Ned，”said Will；“you have every one of your old Aunt Sally’s notions.”
12.Ned could not bear to be laughed at，and it made him a little angry to hear his kind aunt spoken of in that way.
13.His eyes flashed-only for a minute-and then he sprung up and shouted，“Hurrah，boys！for foot-ball；”and in five minutes the whole school-yard was in an uproar of fun and frolic.
14.The next morning，at the first stroke of the bell，a half-dozen roguish faces peeped into the school-room，and sure enough，there was Joe Green busily plying his pencil over the problems of the algebra lesson.
15.It was but the work of an instant to hurry into the little clothes-room，and the whole group were soon pressing around Will Brown，as he held the mysterious basket in his hand.
16.Among them，in spite of the remonstrance of yesterday，was Ned Collins，with his fine face fairly crimsoned with shame-or with something else；we shall see.
17.“It is big enough to hold a day‘s rations for a regiment，”said Howard Colby，as Will pulled out a nice white napkin.
18.Next came a whole newspaper，a large one，too；and then，in the bottom of the basket，was one poor little cold potato！That was all.
19.Will held it up with a comical look，and the boys laughed and cheered as loudly as they dared in the school-house.
20.“See here，”said Howard，“let us throw it away，and fillthe basket with coal；it will be such fun to see him open it.”
21.To this the boys agreed，and soon the basket was filled，and the napkin placed carefully on the top，as before.
22.Ned Collins was the last to leave the room；but no onenoticed it，for he was in his seat as soon as any of them.
23.Noon came，and there was the usual rush to the clothes-room for dinner-baskets but instead of going out to the yard，the boys lingered about the door and hall.Straight by them marched Ned Collins，with his pail on his arm.
24.“Halloo，Ned，”said Sam Merrill，“where are you goingnow？”
25.“Home，”said Ned，laughing.“I saw Aunt Sally makinga chicken-pie this morning，and they can’t cheat me out of myshare of it.”
26.“Ask me to go，too，”shouted Howard Colby；but just at that moment they spied Joe Green carrying his basket into the school-room.
27.“I should think he would suspect something，”whispered Will Brown，“that coal must be heavy.”
