“THE LITTLE TURKEYS” AT HOME

Little boys who like to lie in bed in the morning would not like to live in Turkey.

All the grown people and all the children have to get up twice every day.
chidlren and man hodling tray of things to sell

They get up first at day-break, wash their faces and hands, and repeat their morning prayer. Then they go back to bed.

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Two hours later they rise, wash, and have their coffee. Breakfast is served two hours later still.

After breakfast the father goes to work and the mother gets the children ready for school.

The children have their lunch at school, as I told you. Dinner is served at night. If there are gentlemen to dine with the father, only the sons sit at the table. The mother and daughters dine in another room.

After dinner every one has a good time. The children play games, and sometimes the older people play with them. They are also fond of story telling, and tell wonderful stories of battle and adventure.

Then the family goes to bed on the floor. That is, they lay mattresses¹ on the floor and cover themselves with blankets.

Every one goes to church on Friday. The boys sit with their father, and the girls sit with their mother in a gallery where they cannot be seen. At the entrance to the church they wash their hands and feet and put on a pair of slippers².

After church the children play games of tag, ordecoration90decoration hide-and-seek. They have few toys. The girls have dolls, and the boys have marbles or balls. The marbles are nothing but a kind of round nut.

They do not have the holidays you do, but there are a few feast days, when they have a very good time. One of the feasts is like our Easter, only it lasts three days. Then there are merry-go-rounds in the squares, and ponies³ to ride on for a penny.

The girls have new dresses of red, blue and yellow silk, and the boys have gay little uniforms.

The candy-men walk the streets with big trays piled high with sweets, and every one eats a great deal too much candy.

Should you like to live in Turkey, or do you like your own country best?

Tell what the “Little Turkeys” do in the morning.

What do the children do after dinner?

What toys do they have? What games do they play?

Where do the Turkish people sleep?

Would you like to live in Turkey? Why?

1 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

2 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

3 ponies   

矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• They drove the ponies into a corral. 他们把矮种马赶进了畜栏。
• She has a mania for ponies. 她特别喜欢小马。