“书虫”是外语教学与研究出版社和牛津大学出版社共同奉献给广大英语学习者的一大精品。书虫在英语中大概是颇可爱的形象。想象一下，有那么一只勤勉的小虫，它如痴如醉地沉迷于书卷，孜孜不倦地咀嚼着字母……
　　如今这只“书虫”漂洋过海，轻盈地落在了中国英语学习者的掌中。“书虫”首先将给你自信，即使你目前只有几百的词汇置，也可以不太费劲地阅览世界名作了。书虫还会用它细细的鸣叫声不停地提醒你：要坚持不懈地读下去，要广泛而丰富地读下去。待到读完丛书系列中的最后一本，你也许会突然发现：你已经如蛹化蝶，振翅欲翔了！

　　《书虫·牛津英汉双语读物：五个孩子和沙精》内容简介：它是个“赛米德”（即沙精）。有一天孩子们在砾石坑中挖沙时发现了它。它已经几千岁了。当然了，沙精们可以帮人们实现他们的愿望——愿望每天只能实现一个，而且当太阳落山时一切也就结束了。安西娅、西里尔、罗伯特和简觉得这棒极了。他们的小弟弟还太小，不会许愿，而且大部分时间都呆在家里；可其他几个盘算着些激动人心的东西。 
　　可那又是什么呢？变得漂亮，富有，还是能像鸟儿一样飞翔？有时候想出真正的好望很困难，可是脱口说出“但愿……”却是很容易的，那时你就得到了并不真正想要的东西。这时沙精就不肯帮忙了。出了差错时它就生气地说：“为什么你不先想好了再说？” 
　　而事情的确常出差错…… 
　　伊迪丝·内斯比特1858年生于伦敦，1924年逝世。她一生从事写作，为儿童写了很多书。其中著名的有《五个孩子和沙精》、《长生鸟与地毯》及《铁路上的孩子》等。《书虫·牛津英汉双语读物：五个孩子和沙精》为《五个孩子和沙精》。

1 Beautiful Children
1 漂亮的孩子
2 The Children Wish to Be Rich
2 孩子们希望变得富有
3 Wings
3 翅膀
4 Bigger than the Baker's Boy
4 比面包师的儿子个子大
5 The Last Wish
5 最后一个愿望
Exercises

　　The house was about four kilometres from the station，but after only a minute or two the children began to ask，‘Are we nearly there？’ And every time they saw a house they said，‘Oh，is this it？’ But it never was．Then they came to the top of a hill，and there was a white house with a green garden and lots of fruit trees．‘Here we are！’ Mother said．
　　Everyone hurried to get out of the carriage — Robert，Anthea，Jane，Cyril，and Martha，the nursemaid，with the baby．But Mother did not hurry．The children ran round the house and all through the garden to see what there was．But Mother stood and watched the driver while he carried the boxes into the house．
　　The children loved the house．They knew immediately that they were going to be happy there．Mother did not like the house very much because it was old and there were no cupboards．But it was deep in the country and after two years in London the children thought that it was wonderful．If you live in London and your family is not rich，you get bored because you cannot go to shops and theatres，and people say，‘Don't do this’ and ‘Don't go there’．In the country you can go anywhere and do anything．
　　The white house was on the hill，with a wood behind it and a gravel-pit on one side．It was at the gravel-pit，a week later，that the children found a fairy．Well，that was what it called itself．But it was different from other fairies．
　　It happened when Mother had to go and stay with Grandmother，who was ill．Martha stayed with the children，of course．But the house was very quiet and empty．The children did not know what to do．Then Cyril said，‘Let's go to the gravel- pit．’
　　The gravel-pit was very large，with grass and wild flowers round the sides at the top．When they got there，the children decided that they would go down into the pit to play in the sand．