Boy asks town to lift snowball fight ban 9岁男孩推翻“禁雪令”

周艳霞

雪花常常能勾起许多人未泯的童心，好像只有玩了雪才像是完整地过了冬天，但是在美国的一个小镇上，打雪仗竟然是违法行为。镇上有位小男孩不乐意了，用行动推翻了“禁雪令”。

[听力扫障]

1.go sledding  滑雪橇;玩雪橇

2.missile n. 导弹;发射物;投掷物

3.mission n. 使命;天职

4.overturn v. 倾覆;推翻

5.outdated adj. 过时的

6.define v. 界定;明确

[扫码听测]

Ⅰ.听力理解

1.How much snowfall does the town Severance get a year？

A.About 100 centimeters.

B.About 200 centimeters.

C.About 300 centimeters.

2. Who is Kyle Rietkerk？

A.Danes mother.

B.A worker in Severance.

C.One of Danes classmates.

3.What does Dane Best think about the law

against snowball fights？

A.Unbearable.

B.Reasonable.

C.Outdated.

4.Who did Dane Best turn to for help to overturn the ban？

A.His parents.

B.A newspaper.

C.His classmates.

5.Which is the result of Danes efforts to overturn the ban？

A.Creative.

B.Successful.

C.Ineffective.

Ⅱ.聽写练习

The town of Severance has considered snowball fights to be 1. for about 100 years. It deprives children of fun. Dane Best was a boy at the age of 2. . Thinking that the law was out of date， the boy wrote letters with his 3.  in support of overturning the ban. He also made a speech about the issue at a Severance town 4. . Luckily，he persuaded the leaders of the town and the ban was 5. .

[文本解说]

对孩子们而言，玩雪是冬天的最大乐趣。有雪却不能玩是不是令人匪夷所思呢？但美国的Severance小镇却禁止人们打雪仗长达100年。为此，9岁的小男孩 Dane联合了自己的同学，一起推翻了这一禁令，从而重获了玩雪的乐趣。

Cold， snowy weather has arrived in many places. That means young people are enjoying building snowmen， going sledding and having snowball fights. But in one small American city， snowball fights are illegal.

Welcome to Severance， Colorado. The town， north of Denver， gets about 100 centimeters of snowfall a year. For almost 100 years， city rules have said it is illegal to throw or shoot stones or missiles at people， animals， buildings， trees， property or vehicles. Snowballs were considered to be part of the towns definition of “missiles”.

Kyle Rietkerk works for the town of Severance. He said children cannot believe that it is illegal to have snowball fights in their hometown. He said town leaders have for years told the children“You have the power， you can change the law.” But no one had tried—until now.

Nine⁃year⁃old Dane Best lives in Severance with his parents and little brother. He has made it his mission to get the snowball⁃fight ban overturned. Dane says he believes the law is “outdated”.

“I want to be able to throw a snowball without getting in trouble，” he said.

Danes mother， Brooke Best， told the Greeley Tribune newspaper that her son found out it was illegal to throw snowballs within town limits about a month and a half ago. Since then， he has been talking about how to change that. Dane wrote letters with his classmates in support of overturning the ban. And on Monday， he spoke about the issue at a Severance town meeting. Leaders listened as Dane presented his arguments. Then， they all voted to lift the ban. Dane says the first person he hopes to hit with a snowball is his four?year⁃old brother.

Dane and his family have researched other Severance rules， including one that defines pets only as cats and dogs. Dane has a guinea pig， which appears to be illegal in Severance， too.

[Language][Study]

写作推荐

“make it + n. + to do...”使……成为……

He has made it his mission to get the snowball⁃fight ban overturned.他把推翻打雪仗的禁令当作了他的使命。

句中的it为形式宾语，实际宾语为名词后的动词不定式。

【仿写】他把帮助别人当作自己的义务。