Mrs. Smith asks some friends to her house for dinner. She wants to cook a good dinner of meat and soup.
She has five daughters. They are busy all day. Mrs. Smith is cleaning the house. Her hands are dirty. Suddenly she thinks of the soup. She forgets to add (添加) any salt (盐) to it. So she calls one of her daughters to help her
"Mary, "she says," please add some salt to the soup. My hands are very dirty now. "
"I can't, Mom. I'm washing my hair," Mary says.
"Jane, go and add some salt to the soup." "Sorry, Mom," Jane answers. "I'm washing my dress."
Mrs. Smith asks the other girls, but gets the same answer. So she washes her hands and adds some salt to the soup. Then she begins to clean the house again.
Now Mary thinks that she should help her mother, so she goes quietly into the kitchen and adds some salt to the soup. Then Jane begins to feel sorry, too. So she goes to add some salt to the soup, too. One by one, the other three girls do the same thing.
The friends come and sit at the table, and they say the soup smells (闻起来) good. But when they have a little soup, their faces look strange. They put down the spoons (汤匙) and drink a lot of water. Nobody says a word. They just look at each other.
"Why?"
……
