（外文电子版资料）ASIMOV, Isaac - The Fun They Had.docVIP

PAGE 4 TITLE \* MERGEFORMAT The Fun They Had by AUTHOR \* MERGEFORMAT Isaac Asimov The Fun They Had.by Issac Assimov Margie even wrote about it that night in her diary. On the page headed May 17, 2155, she wrote, Today Tommy found a real book! It was a very old book. Margies grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper. They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to-on a screen, you know. And then, when they turned back to the page before, it had the same words on it that it had had when they read it the first time. Gee, said Tommy, what a waste. When youre through with the book, you just throw it away, I guess. Our television screen must have had a million books on it and its good for plenty more. I wouldnt throw it away. Same with mine, said Margie. She was eleven and hadnt seen as many telebooks as Tommy had. He was thirteen. She said, Where did you find it? In my house. He pointed without looking, because he was busy reading. In the attic. Whats it about? School. Margie was scornful. School? Whats there to write about school? I hate school. Margie always hated school, but now she hated it-more than ever. The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse until her mother had shaken her head sorrowfully and sent for the County Inspector. He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at her and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart. Margie had hoped he wouldnt know how to put it together again, but he knew how all right and, after an hour or so, there it was again, large and black and ugly with a big screen on which all the lessons were shown and the questions were asked. That wasnt so bad. The part she hated most was the slot where she h