Eli walked to school every day. Whenthe last bell rang， he also walked home. Histrip took him across the playground， an oldhouse， and across the street near his house.The house burned down years ago， butthere were still flowers and trees to showthat people used to live there.

One day， Eli watched a blue jay1 flyinto the old tree near the house. Blue jayswere always the loudest birds in town， butEli wasn’t afraid of them. The jayshouted and then flew up to a higherbranch2. With the bird gone， Eli noticedthat there was a bright red streak3 on thebranch. Eli walked toward the tree to geta closer look.

The red streak was an old balloon. Elitook it and found there was still a longstring4 attached5. At the end of thestring， Eli was surprised to see a plastic6bag. There was a piece of white paperinside. He opened the bag to find outwhat it was. Oh， it was a letter！ Eli read it：

伊萊每天步行上學。當最后一聲鈴響時，他也步行回家。這一路他穿過操場，經過一所老房子，然后穿過他家附近的街道。那所房子幾年前燒毀了，但仍然有鮮花和樹木生長，表明曾經有人住在那里。

一天，伊萊看到一只藍松鴉飛到那所房子附近的一棵老樹上。藍松鴉一直是鎮(zhèn)上聲音最大的鳥，但伊萊并不害怕它們。那只松鴉叫了幾聲，然后飛到更高的樹枝上。鳥兒飛走后，伊萊注意到樹枝上有一道鮮紅色的條紋。伊萊朝那棵樹走去，想近距離看一看。

那道紅色條紋是一個舊氣球。伊萊把它拿下來，發(fā)現(xiàn)它還系了一根長長的繩子。在繩子末端，伊萊看到了一個塑料袋，他感到很驚訝，里面有一張白紙。他打開袋子想看看那是什么。噢，原來是一封信！伊萊念道：

Dear Friend，

If you have found this letter， it means myballoon popped7 at last. I used the balloonto see how far my letter would travel. Istarted from Wisconsin on May 1. Pleasewrite back to me and tell me where andwhen you found it.

Sincerely8，

Joe Valentino

Eli was excited. Wisconsin was adifferent state， so the balloon traveled veryfar. He ran home to get a pen and paper towrite back to the address in the letter.

Eli spent the rest9 of the afternoonwriting to Joe Valentino. He answered Joe’squestions and asked what he liked to do forfun. Eli was happy and asked Joe to be hispen pal and friend.

親愛的朋友：

如果你找到了這封信袁那就意味著我的氣球最后還是爆了。我放飛氣球是想看看我的信能飛多遠。5 月1 日，我從威斯康星州放飛了氣球。請給我回信吧，告訴我你在何時何地找到這個氣球的。

喬·瓦倫蒂諾謹上

伊萊很興奮。威斯康辛州是另一個州，可見這個氣球飛了很遠。他跑回家去拿筆和紙，準備按信上的地址回信。

伊萊整個下午都在給喬·瓦倫蒂諾寫信。他回答了喬的問題，還問他喜歡玩什么。伊萊很高興，讓喬做他的筆友和朋友。

（英語原文選自：readingvine.com）