Ted had not seen his old friend Sam since they were at school together．自从特德和他的老朋友莎姆离开一起读书的学校后他们就再没有见过面。
One day Ted saw Sam at a business meeting in a big hotel．
一天，特德在一家大酒店的商务会议上看到了莎姆。
“Hi， Sam!” Ted said happily． “How are you?” “你好，莎姆！”特德高兴地说，“你怎么样啊？”
“I'm very well， thank you， Ted，” Sam answered， “and how are you?” “我很好，谢谢，特德，” 莎姆回答说，“你怎么样呢？”
“Not too bad， thank you，” Ted said， they sat down side by side and began to talk．“我也不错，谢谢，”特德说，他们并排坐着，开始谈话。
Gradually their topic turned to television．慢慢地他们的话题转到了电视上。
Ted said，“I think it's very bad for people． When I was a young man， we did things ourselves — we didn't just watch other people．特德说，“我认为电视对人们非常有害。当我年轻时，我们自己做事——不仅仅是看别人。
In the evenings， we sang songs or played music or cards with each other or we read the newspaper or found ourselves something useful to do．” 傍晚，我们唱歌，玩音乐，打牌，看报纸或者找些有意义的事做。
Sam nodded． “Yes， that's true， and perhaps once a week or once a month we went into the town specially to see a film in the cinema， and maybe to buy ourselves an ice cream．” 莎姆点头表示同意。”是的，的确如此，我们一星期或一个月去一次城里，专程去看电影，或是给自己买个冰激凌。”
“And now，” Ted went on， “my children watch silly films on television almost every evening， and they don't do the work that their teachers give them． What will they do with themselves when they leave school?” “可是现在，”特德继续说，“我的孩子几乎每天晚上都看电视里那些愚蠢的电影，他们不做老师布置的功课。他们毕业后会做些什么啊？”
“Yes， it's very bad， isn't it?” Sam said． “But what can we do about it?” “是的，确实很糟糕，” 莎姆说，“但是我们又有什么办法呢？”
“Well，” Ted answered， “I've promised myself one thing： I'm going to sell our television set — as soon as the football season finishes at the end of this month．” “是啊，”特德回答说，“我已经决定，这月末足球赛季一结束我就把电视机卖了。”
