Man in Court for Pool Damage
男子因損毀水池出庭
Introduction
David Hearn is a former Olympic athlete. He says he did not break the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
David Hearn 是一名前奧運運動員。他表示自己沒有損毀林肯紀念館的反思池。
Main Body
Mr. Hearn is 67 years old. The government says he broke a part of the pool on June 19. They say the damage cost more than $1,000. Mr. Hearn says the pool was already broken.
Hearn 先生現年 67 歲。政府稱他在 6 月 19 日損毀了水池的一部分。他們表示損壞金額超過 1,000 美元。Hearn 先生則稱水池原本就已經損毀。
The pool cost many millions of dollars to fix. Now the pool has green algae and the blue paint is falling off. President Trump says people broke the pool on purpose. There is no proof for this.
該水池花費數百萬美元進行修復。如今水池中長滿了綠藻，且藍色油漆正在脫落。川普總統表示有人故意損壞水池。但目前並沒有證據證明這一點。
Some people say the government did a bad job with the pool. They say the government is blaming Mr. Hearn to hide their own mistakes. They call this a trick.
部分人士認為政府對水池的維修工作做得很糟糕。他們認為政府是在指責 Hearn 先生以掩蓋自身的錯誤。他們稱這是一種伎倆。
Conclusion
Judge Carmen McLean let Mr. Hearn go home. He must come back to court on August 5.
法官 Carmen McLean 准許 Hearn 先生回家。他必須在 8 月 5 日回法院出庭。
Vocabulary Learning
🕰️ THE "PAST" TRICK
In this story, we see words that tell us things already happened. For A2 learners, the most important pattern here is the -ed ending.
Look at these changes:
- Break → Breaked? ❌ (No! This is a special word)
- Fix → Fixed ✅
Wait! Why did the author use "broke" instead of "breaked"? Some words are "rebels." They don't follow the -ed rule.
The Rebel List from the text:
- Break → Broke
- Do → Did
The Rule-Follower List from the text:
- Fix → Fixed
💡 Quick Tip: "To be" in the past When we talk about a person's state in the past, we use was.
- Now: The pool is broken.
- Past: The pool was already broken.
Summary Map: Regular Action → Add -ed Rebel Action → Learn the new word (e.g., broke) State of Being → Use was