Boy’s family gets a bill for not going to a friend’s birthday party

陽妍華

Birthday parties are supposed to be fun for everyone， but a UK family of one five-year-old boy is very angry after being billed for a birthday party their son wasnt able to go to.

Derek Nash and Tanya Walshs son， Alex， came home from school one day with an envelope （信封） in his backpack. Inside 1. 他們發現了一張來自他一個朋友的母親的便條， Julie Lawrence， asking that they pay her $25 for not letting her know that Alex could no longer go to her sons birthday party after they had told her he could.

“It was a bill for a ‘child no-show fee for the party... and it was a proper bill with full official （正式的） details， even her bank details， and e-mail address， and name，” said Nash.

“2. Because I was so angry， I said she wasnt going to get a penny out of me.” But now， Lawrence wants to take Nash and Walsh to the law to let a lawyer decide.

It is not known exactly what Lawrence is asking Alexs parents to pay her for.

Lawyer Jacqueline Whitemore thinks that both parties could have dealt with the problem a bit better.

She suggested Lawrence have said， “Im sorry that your child could not come to my childs party. I had to pay the cost of him not showing up. Therefore， 3. I would be happy ?if you could help me out by helping me either fully or in part take care of the bill for him not showing up.”

She added that Alexs parents could have tried to get in touch with Lawrence to let her know Alex could not come.

“These days， they should have got in touch with the mother through the Internet. 4. If you Google someone， you can find out a lot of information about them. They also could have looked for her on many different social media platforms （媒體平臺） like Facebook or Twitter， or asked someone they did know， perhaps a friend of a friend， who would have been able to provide the information.”

How would you deal with the situation if you were Lawrence and how would you solve it if you were Alexs parents？

句子翻譯：（將文中標有序號的句子翻譯為中文/英文）

1. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.

2. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.

3. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.

4. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?.

答案：

1. they found a note from one of his friends mother，

2. 因為我很生氣，我回復說她一分錢也得不到。

3. 如果你能付全部或部分費用，我會很感激的。

4. 如果你在谷歌上搜索某人，你會找到許多關于他們的信息。