问答题 1 What would you do if you were a fifth grader facing a huge homework load every night, and you found out that there was a machine that would do all the work for you? That"s the situation presented to Sam, Kelsey, Judy and Brenton in Dan Gutman"s entertaining new book for young readers, The Homework Machine .
2 The four children, all fifth graders in Miss Rasmussen"s class at Grand Canyon School, are as different as any four 11-year-olds could be, but they have one thing in common—all are somewhat separated from their classmates. Sam is a newcomer and has had his share of school trouble before; Kelsey quietly carries her pain at losing her father; Judy"s sense of justice always annoys others; and Brenton...well, he is another story entirely. Brenton is easily the smartest child in school, so smart that even his parents and teachers have trouble keeping up with him. 3 When Brenton and his three classmates are put into the same study group by their teacher, the others discover that Brenton has made a time-saving gadget (装置) to do his homework for him. While the boy genius is perfectly able to do the homework himself, Sam, Kelsey and Judy could use the help.
4 Having perfect grades is something new for these three, and as they meet every day to "do homework", they find that they"re learning a lot about each other. Such a good thing can"t last though, and when a secret man starts trying to get in touch with them, the children begin to get nervous. Soon there"s an even more frightening problem—why can"t the Homework Machine be turned off?
Told in different voices (as all the children make statements to the Grand Canyon Police), the story develops in an interesting fashion. 5 Gutman is a gifted writer who has written dozens of children"s books, each with a funny and impressing tale that should be equally liked by boys and girls.