The Toilet Tank (1)

　　《365个英语小故事》:实用简洁的小故事，都是日常生活小故事，在学习英语的同时了解美国文化，循序渐进，轻松掌握。

　　Stanley had just finished brushing his teeth. He noticed water flowing into the toilet bowl. Thats strange, he thought. The water continued to seep into the bowl. Stanley lifted the toilet tank top. The tank was half full, but the water was slowly rising. What in the world is going on, he wondered. He had not just flushed the toilet. He continued to watch the water rise in the tank. The water got up to the Water Line mark in the tank, where it was supposed to stop rising. But it continued to rise.

　　Stanley was alarmed. Is this thing going to overflow, he wondered. He went into his bedroom and grabbed some towels. When he returned to the bathroom, the toilet was silent. The water had stopped rising at one inch above the water line. But that was only about two inches below the top of the tank. That was too close for comfort. Stanley put two and two together. He had heard water running for more than a week now, but he had assumed it was his neighbors toilet. Now he knew it was his own.

　　He called Henry the handyman. Henry was a really nice guy. His rates were much cheaper than a regular plumbers rates. Henry said hed be over the next day. The next day, Henry arrived only 30 minutes late, which was on time for Henry. He tried to turn off the toilet tank shutoff valve on the bathroom wall, but the valve was frozen. We dont want to mess with that, he told Stanley. That valve is too easy to bust, and it would take a lot of work to put a new one on.