2. Why do you never phone me?

Mrs. Smith lives in a small village. She is a widow1, but she has one son. He is twenty-one and his name is Jack. He worked in the shop in the village and lived with his mother.

But a few months ago he got work in a town and went to live there. Its name was Hempstead. It was quite a long way from his mother's village, and she was not happy about this. But Jack said, "There isn't any good work for me here in the countryside2, mother, I can get a lot of money in Hempstead and send you some every week."

Mrs. Smith was very angry last Sunday. She got in a train and went to her son's house in Hempstead. Then she said to him, "Jack, why do you never phone me?" Jack laughed, "But, Mother," He said, "you have got no phone." "No," she answered, "I haven't, but you've got one!"

Notes:

1. widow 寡妇

2. countryside 乡村

怎么从不给我打电话

史密斯夫人住在一个小村子里。她是个寡妇，但是她有一个儿子，两人相依为命。儿子名叫杰克，今年21岁。他本来一直在村子里的一家店里工作，和母亲住在一起。

但几个月前，他在镇上找了份工作并搬到镇上去住了。那个叫汉普斯德的镇子离他母亲住的村子很远，为此史密斯夫人很不高兴，于是杰克安慰她说：“妈妈，这个村子里没有适合我的好工作，我可以在汉普斯德挣好多钱，每周我都会给你寄钱回来的。”

上周日史密斯夫人很生气，便搭乘火车去了汉普斯德镇儿子住处，说：“杰克，你怎么从不给我打电话？”杰克听了大笑起来：“可是妈妈，你并没有电话啊。”“确实”，她反驳说，“我是没有，但是你有啊！”

Useful link:

美国的镇因州而异。在一些州，镇是建制市镇，这意味着，镇和市差不多，有一个从州授予的宪章。美国的建制市镇包括市、镇、自治市镇（borough）、村和乡（如在宾夕法尼亚州和新泽西州）。根据2006年美国人口普查局数据，位于纽约州的汉普斯德（Hempstead）是全美最大的镇，有76万人口，大于圣弗朗西斯科、波士顿和西雅图。