豆腐不见了
The cat that didn’t come home
Name: ________________ Date: ________
爷爷当了三十年警察，退休十年了。可是每天早上六点，他还要在小区里走一圈。他说，这是去上班。
星期一早上，爷爷刚“下班”回家，就有人敲门。
乐乐放寒假，住在爷爷家。她跑去开门。门口是住在三号楼的赵老师。她以前是小学老师，现在说话还像在上课。可是今天，她的眼睛红红的。
“老周，我儿子不见了！”
她说的“儿子”，是她的白猫豆腐，很胖很胖。它白天喜欢在外面玩，可是每天晚上，都会回家睡觉。昨天晚上，它没有回家。
“它太胖了，所以我让它减肥：一天只吃一顿饭，晚上六点。”赵老师说，“它是不是生气了，不想要我了？”
爷爷两只手放在背后，在房间里走了两圈。“别急。我当了三十年警察，一只猫，跑不远。”
“爷爷，”乐乐说，“这句话你说过了。”
“哪句？”
“三十年警察。今天早上，这是第三次了。”
赵老师回家以后，乐乐拿出她的小本子，写下了第一个问题：
豆腐一天只吃一顿饭，为什么还那么胖？
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 爷爷 | yéye | grandpa; paternal grandfather |
| 走 | zǒu | to go; to leave |
| 跑 | pǎo | to run (a program, test, model) |
| 门口 | ménkǒu | doorway; entrance; gate |
| 眼睛 | yǎnjing | eye |
| 外面 | wàimiàn | outside; out |
| 手 | shǒu | hand |
| 远 | yuǎn | far; distant |
| 过 | guò | (particle) marks a past experience: have ever |
| 次 | cì | next; second (as in 次日) |
| 小区 | xiǎoqū | residential compound; housing estate |
| 放 | fàng | to put; to place |
English (for the teacher)
Grandpa was a policeman for thirty years, and he retired ten years ago. But every morning at six, he still walked a lap of the compound. He called it going to work.
On Monday morning, Grandpa had only just got home from “work” when someone knocked at the door.
Lele was on her winter holiday, staying at Grandpa’s. She ran to open the door. It was Teacher Zhao from Building 3. She used to teach primary school, and she still talked as if she were in front of a class. But today her eyes were red.
“Old Zhou, my son’s gone!”
Her “son” was Tofu, her white cat, and it was very, very fat. It liked to play outside during the day, but every night it came home to sleep. Last night, it didn’t come home.
“It’s too fat, so I put it on a diet: one meal a day, at six in the evening.” Teacher Zhao said, “Is it angry with me? Doesn’t it want me any more?”
Hands behind his back, Grandpa walked two laps of the room. “Don’t panic. I was a policeman for thirty years. A cat can’t run far.”
“Grandpa,” said Lele, “you’ve said that before.”
“Said what?”
“Thirty years a policeman. That’s the third time this morning.”
After Teacher Zhao went home, Lele took out her little notebook and wrote down the first question:
If Tofu only eats one meal a day, why is it still so fat?