【明報專訊】Matt hated Sabrina a lot and thought poorly of her. One day he saw her holding a book with a yellow cover. It was so mysterious that Matt couldn't help guessing what was inside.

"I see her always smiling. She must be hiding something," he thought.

One afternoon, after Sabrina went out for lunch, Matt sneaked to the other side of the classroom and opened her school bag. The book with a yellow cover! It was actually an album. What was inside?

After less than five seconds of hesitation, he couldn't resist the temptation and opened it. It was full of photos of food, drinks, clothes, etc. What were these things supposed to do? Would they do any harm?

"Maybe she's the wanted person mentioned on TV these days! He or she stole all sorts of things from convenient stores and supermarkets. Maybe the things in the photos are all stolen goods!" Matt enjoyed making unproved (尚未證實的) stories.

After lunch, Sabrina came back and she didn't notice Matt's wrongdoing. Of course she didn't. Matt remembered the position of the album and put it back where it was.

But he saw that Sabrina took out a camera and seemed like taking a shot of the street scenes.

Matt continued his story, "She must be a spy! Oh no... I think she's gonna send these shots to a gangster and have our school ruined. I must stop her!" After school he rushed to Sabrina and scolded her heavily, "How dare you work as a spy, uhhhhh? I'm gonna tell Miss Ng what you did if you don't stop. I'm not afraid of you!"

"You fool! Turn to the last page and you'll understand!" Sabrina yelled at him. Matt did so and saw an African child smiling cheerfully.

"Sorry I don't understand. Are you biding your time (等待時機)? I won't let you play your trick."

"Oh god why are you so stupid!" She laughed out loudly for a while and continued, "He is my pen friend Otto, who lives in Zimbabwe (津巴布韋), southern Africa. I just want to send him an album showing how I live!"

Matt felt embarrassed. "Oh then it's my fault... Would you mind introducing me to Otto? I think we can be pen friends too..."

The villain's mind wasn't at work finally!

■Food for thought

If you have a prejudiced (有偏見的) mind and always think poorly of other people, you overlook their good sides. Spending more time to understand others' thought makes communication better.

■Glossary

mysterious (adj) 神秘的

sneak (v) 溜到

hesitation (n) 猶豫

temptation (n) 誘惑

[Smarties' Power English 第241期]