本文节选自美国小说家萨拉·谢泼德所著的畅销系列小说《美少女的谎言》第一部的楔子，追溯五名少女的友谊缔结之初。这段文字直白洗练，朗读者语音清晰，语速适中，感情充沛，语调充满变化（注意听她如何处理重点突出的几个词），跟读模仿熟练之后，将文章背诵下来。
Ever since Hanna’s parents had gotten a divorce last year, she’d been steadily putting on weight and 1)outgrowing her old clothes. Even though Ali rolled her eyes, the rest of the girls pretended not to notice. That’s just what best friends do.
自从汉娜的父母在去年离婚以来，她的体重开始稳步增长，过去的衣服渐渐不合身了。虽然艾莉对此直翻白眼，其余的女孩假装没注意。这才是好朋友的做法。
Alison, Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna bonded last year when their parents volunteered them to work Saturday afternoons at Rosewood Day School注1’s 2)charity drive—well, all except for Spencer, who volunteered herself. Whether or not Alison knew about the other four, the four knew about Alison. She was perfect. Beautiful, 3)witty, smart. Popular. Boys wanted to kiss Alison, and girls—even older ones—wanted be her. So the first time Ali laughed at one of Aria’s jokes, asked Emily a question about swimming, told Hanna her shirt was 4)adorable, or commented that Spencer’s 5)penmanship was way neater than her own, they couldn’t help but be, well…6)dazzled. Before Ali, the girls had felt like 7)pleated, high-waisted mom jeans—8)awkward and noticeable for all the wrong reasons—but then Ali made them feel like the most perfect-fitting Stella McCartneys注2 that no one could afford.
艾莉森、阿里亚、斯潘塞、埃米莉和汉娜在去年成了一伙儿。当时她们的父母要她们参加志愿工作，好几个周六下午都要去罗斯伍德中学的慈善活动帮忙——除了斯潘塞以外，她是自己报名的。不管艾莉森有没有听说过其余四人，她们四个都认识艾莉森。她是“完美”的化身——貌美如花，机智有趣，聪明过人，而且很受欢迎。男生都想一亲芳泽，女生们——就连高年级的女生——都想成为她那样的人。所以当艾莉第一次被阿里亚的笑话逗乐，第一次询问埃米莉关于游泳的问题，第一次对汉娜说她的衬衣很可爱，第一次称赞斯潘塞的字写得比她漂亮多了的时候，她们不禁有点……头晕目眩。认识艾莉之前，这几个女孩总觉得自己就像满是褶子的老妈款高腰牛仔裤——难看极了，走到哪里都会引起不必要的关注；但艾莉让她们觉得自己变成了最合身的斯特拉·麦卡特尼时装，没有人买得起。
Now, more than a year later, on the last day of seventh grade, they weren’t just best friends, they were the girls of Rosewood Day. A lot had happened to make it that way. Every 9)sleepover they had, every field trip, had been a new adventure. Even 10)homeroom had been memorable when they were together. (Reading a 11)steamy note from the 12)varsity crew captain to his math tutor over the 13)PA system was now a Rosewood Day legend.) But there were other things they all wanted to forget. And there was one secret they couldn’t even bear to talk about. Ali said that secrets were what bonded their five-way best-friendship together for 14)eternity. If that was true, they were going to be friends for life.
到了一年多后的现在——七年级的最后一天，她们不仅是最要好的朋友，还是罗斯伍德的女生典范。在这段时间里发生了许多事情。每一次睡衣派对，每一次校外旅行，都是一场新冒险。只要她们呆在一块儿，就连教室也会变得令人难忘。（在广播里将校队队长对数学老师的有“色”情书念出来成了罗斯伍德的校园传说。）不过，也有一些事情是她们都想忘掉的。那是一个她们根本说不出口的秘密。艾莉说，秘密能将这份五位一体的友谊永远维系在一起。如果真是这样，她们将会成为一辈子的好朋友。
注1：即“日校，走读学校”，指学生只在日间上学，晚上及周末都要回家的普通学校，与boarding school（寄宿学校）相对。
注2：斯特拉·麦卡特尼（Stella McCartney）是甲壳虫乐队（Beatles）灵魂人物保罗·麦卡特尼（Paul McCartney）的女儿。她于1996年首次发布自己的设计作品，随后创立了个人服装品牌，如今已是高端时尚的代名词。