1. The bag-snatcher

One Saturday afternoon in a small town, Emma Carter came out of a shoe shop with some new shoes. They were cheap shoes, but Emma was very pleased with them. She was seventy-three years old and did not have much money. She began to walk home. 'A nice cup of tea,' she thought, 'and then I can go for a walk in my new shoes.'

It was a quiet town and there was nobody in the street. Suddenly, Emma heard something behind her. She did not have time to look, because just then somebody ran up behind her, hit her on the head, and snatched her bag out of her hands. Emma fell down on her back. Then she looked up, and saw a tall young man with long, dirty brown hair. He stood and looked down at her for a second; then he ran away with Emma's bag under his arm.

He ran away with Emma's bag under his arm.

Help! Help!' Emma cried.

But nobody came, and after two or three minutes Emma slowly got up and went to the nearest house. The people there were very kind. They gave Emma a cup of tea, and soon an ambulance came and took her to hospital.

At the hospital a doctor looked at Emma's head and back. 'You're going to be OK,' he said. 'Just take it easy for a day or two. Can your husband help you at home?'

My husband died eight years ago,' said Emma. 'There's only me at home.'

Well,' the doctor said, 'we don't want you to feel ill and fall downstairs at home. So I think you must stay in hospital for tonight, and perhaps tomorrow night, too.' Later, a policeman came to the hospital and Emma told him about the bag-snatcher.

Emma made a picture of the young man's face.

Did anybody see this young man?' he asked.

I don't know,' said Emma. 'But there was nobody in the street when I called for help.'

Oh dear,' the policeman said. 'What was in your bag?'

A little money – and a lottery ticket,' said Emma. 'I buy a ticket every Saturday. Then on Saturday evening I watch the lottery on television. I always have the same numbers –5, 12, 23, 24, 38, 41. All those numbers are important to me. I was born on 5th December, 1923. I lived at number 24 Sandwich Road for 38 years...'

Yes, yes,' said the policeman. 'I understand.' He wrote everything down in a little black book. 'Did you see the man's face?' he asked.

Yes,' said Emma. 'I did. I fell on my back, and he looked down at me for a second. So I saw his face.'

The policeman opened a small bag. In it there were a lot of pictures of eyes and ears, hair and mouths. 'I need a picture of the man's face. Can you help me?' he said.

Yes,' said Emma. 'He was tall and he had long, dirty brown hair. He wore blue trousers and a white shirt with a picture of a footballer. He had brown eyes...' Carefully she took the small pictures and made a big picture of the young man's face. She checked the picture carefully.

What colour were his shoes?' asked the policeman.

Shoes! Suddenly Emma remembered her new shoes. Where were they? She told the policeman about her shoes, but then she began to cry and could not stop.

A nurse came up to Emma's bed. 'Please go now,' she said to the policeman. 'Mrs Carter needs to sleep.'

snatch v. to take something away from someone with a quick, often violent, movement 夺去；抢走

fall v. to suddenly go down onto the ground 摔倒

ambulance n. a special vehicle used for taking people who are very sick or badly injured to the hospital 救护车

lottery n. a game of chance in which people buy tickets, in order to try to win a lot of money 彩票

1. 抢包的歹徒

一座小城的星期六下午，埃玛·卡特拿着双新鞋走出了鞋店。鞋子很便宜，不过埃玛很满意。她73岁了，没什么钱。她开始往家走。“喝杯好茶，”她想，“然后我可以穿着新鞋子散散步。”

这是座安静的小城，街上没有人。突然，埃玛听到身后有动静。她来不及看，因为就在此时有人飞速地从她身后跑来，照她头上一击，从她手里抢走了包。埃玛仰面摔倒在地。随后她抬眼望去，看到一个高个子的年轻人，顶着一头脏兮兮的棕色长发。他站着低头看了埃玛一眼，便用胳膊夹着她的包跑了。

“救命！救命！”埃玛喊道。

但是没人过来。两三分钟后，埃玛慢慢地站起来，向离得最近的人家走去。那家人很友善，他们给了埃玛一杯茶，很快救护车就来了，把她送到了医院。

在医院里，一位医生检查了埃玛的头和后背。“你会好起来的。”他说，“只需休息一两天。你丈夫能在家照顾你吗？”

“我丈夫八年前就死了。”埃玛说，“家里只有我一人。”

“好吧，”医生说，“我们可不想你在家生病或摔下楼梯。所以我认为你今晚必须呆在医院，或许明晚也是。”过了不久，一名警察来到医院，埃玛将抢包歹徒的情况告诉了他。

“有人看到这个年轻人吗？”他问。

“我不知道。”埃玛说，“不过我喊救命时，街上没人。”

“哎呀！”警察说，“你包里有什么？”

“有一点钱，还有一张彩票。”埃玛说，“我每周六都会买一张彩票，然后周六晚上看电视上的彩票开奖。我总是买同样的号码——5，12，23，24，38，41。这些数字对我来说都很重要。我的生日是1923年12月5日，我在桑威奇路24号住了38年……”

“好的，好的。”警察说，“我知道了。”他把这些都记在一个小黑本上。“你看到那个人的脸了吗？”他问。

“是的，”埃玛说，“我看到了。我仰面摔在地上，他低头看了我一眼，所以我看到了他的脸。”

警察打开了一个小袋子，里面有很多张眼睛、耳朵、头发和嘴的图片。“我需要那个人的脸部图片。你能帮我吗？”他说。

“可以。”埃玛说，“他个子高高的，有一头脏兮兮的棕色长发。他穿着蓝裤子和一件白色衬衫，衬衫上印有一个足球运动员的图像。他的眼睛是棕色的……”她认真地挑着小图片，拼出了那个年轻人的脸。她仔细地核对了拼图。

“他的鞋是什么颜色的？”警察问道。

鞋！突然，埃玛想起了她新买的鞋。它们在哪儿？她把鞋的事情告诉了警察，然后便哭了起来，难以自持。

一位护士来到埃玛的床前。“现在请离开吧。”她对警察说，“卡特太太需要休息。”