五个小故事，都与圆圈有关，都能让人从微笑中获得思考：一位舞狮者在小餐馆中双脚旋转，一个古老的舵轮挂在酒馆的外墙上，一个“问题男孩儿”为抛锚的汽车自制了一只轮胎，一位三轮车夫救助了受伤的女孩儿，一个考古学专业的学生发现了一张神奇的碟片……一个个与圆圈有关的故事娓娓道来，一个个生动的人物形象跃然纸上。
“剑桥双语分级阅读-小说馆”系列图书适合小学高年级到大学低年级英语学习者阅读使用，其中“第2级”8册，适合初二至初三英语学习的学生，本级别核心词汇量为800词，适合初二、初三学生及相当水平的读者阅读。本册图书为第2级8册之一。本系统图书包括如下特点： 原创英文小说，未经改编，原汁原味。 当代小说题材，学习当代实用英语，了解欧美风土人情。 英语语言教育专家+小说作家合力创作，兼具文学欣赏与英语学习的双重作用。 读本+录音，阅读与听力双重学习与欣赏。 小说题材丰富，侦探、情感、历险、惊悚、悬疑、科幻、
Frank Brennan，作家、教师、英语语言教育专家。他早期在学校戏剧团工作，担任演员和编剧，后来在英国和新加坡的中学教授英语和戏剧，编写过多部英语短篇小说、戏剧和文学导读类图书。
龚源来，华中师范大学第一附属中学英语高级教师，教研组长兼年级备课组长，武昌区学科带头人，学科指导小组成员。多次受《湖北招生》《楚天都市报》《武汉晨报》等媒体邀请做大型名师讲座，反响热烈；曾参与编写图书100余本。
兰芬芳，华中师范大学第一附属中学英语教师，在一线教学之余，参与多本英语杂志及教辅图书的编写。
Before reading/读前思考
Quick Man Tan/快手谭
The Wheel on the Wall/墙上的舵轮
Special Clay/特别的黏土
The Trishaw Man/三轮车夫
Beautiful Thing/漂亮东西
After reading/读后活动
Learning guide/学习指导
Translation/参考译文
Quick Man Tan
Everybody called him ‘Quick Man Tan’ when he was a young man. That was a long time ago. Now people called him by his real name – Caleb Tan.
Caleb liked to talk about the old days. He talked to anybody who was interested. He told them that when he was younger he could catch a fly in his hand.
That was how quick he was. Sometimes tourists came to his café for coffee or maybe some chicken with rice. When they had a meal was best. Then Caleb had more time to tell them how quick he once was. ‘I was the best,’ he told them. And, just to show them, he moved his hands in the air. He moved like the fighters in kung fu films.
‘Nobody could fight like me,’ he always said. ‘I was the best in Singapore.’ But he wasn’t very quick now. He still knew what to do, but he was slower.
他是个年轻小伙子的时候，大家都叫他“快手谭”。那是很久以前了。现在，人们叫他的真名——凯莱布·谭。
凯莱布喜欢聊过去的事。谁感兴趣，他就和谁聊。他说他年轻时能用手抓住苍蝇。
他就是那么敏捷。有时游客来他的小餐馆喝咖啡或要份鸡肉饭，要是点正餐就最好了。这样凯莱布就有更多时间给人们讲自己曾经是多么敏 捷。“我最棒，”他跟大家说。为了向大家展示，他就在空中挥舞双手，就像“功夫”电影里的打斗士一样。
“没人能像我那样打，”他总是说，“我曾是新加坡最厉害的。”不过现在他已经不十分敏捷了。尽管他仍然知道怎么做，但他动作慢了。
书单推荐
