Lesson71 A famous clock 一個(gè)著名的大鐘
When you visit London, one of the first things you will see is Big Ben, the famous clock which can be heard all over the world on the B.B.C. If the Houses of Parliament had hot been burned down in 1834, the great clock would never have been erected. Big Ben takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of Parliament were being built. It is not only of immense size, but is extremely accurate as well. Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day. On the B.B.C. you can hear the clock when it is actually striking because microphones are connected to the clock tower. Big Ben has rarely gone wrong. Once, however, it failed to give the correct time. A painter who had been working on the tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed it down !
?當(dāng)你游覽倫敦時(shí)，首先看到的東西之一就是“大本”鐘，即那座從英國廣播公司的廣播中全世界都可以聽到它的聲音的著名大鐘。如果不是國會(huì)大廈在1834年被焚毀的話，這座大鐘永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)建造?！按蟊尽辩姷妹诒窘苊?霍爾爵士，因?yàn)楫?dāng)建造新的國會(huì)大廈時(shí)，他負(fù)責(zé)建造大鐘。此鐘不僅外型巨大，而且走時(shí)也非常準(zhǔn)確。格林尼治天文臺(tái)的官員們每天兩次派人矯正此鐘。當(dāng)大鐘打點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，你可以從英國廣播公司的廣播中聽到，因?yàn)殓娝辖恿他溈孙L(fēng)?！按蟊尽辩姾芏喑霾铄e(cuò)。然而有一次，它卻把時(shí)間報(bào)錯(cuò)。在鐘塔上干活的一位油漆工把一只油漆桶掛在了一根指針上，把鐘弄慢了！
Lesson72 A car called Bluebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車
The great racing driver, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was the first man to drive at over 300 miles per hour. He set up a new world record in September 1935 at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Bluebird, the car he was driving, had been specially built for him. It was over 30 feet in length and had a 2500 horse-power engine. Although Campbell reached a speed of over 304 miles per hour, he had great difficulty in controlling the car because a tyre burst during the first run. After his attempt, Campbell was disappointed to learn that his average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However, a few days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour. Since that time, racing drivers have reached speeds of over 400 miles an hour. Following? his father's footsteps many years later, Sir Malcolm's son, Donald, also set up a world record. Like his father, he was driving a car called Bluebird.?
??? 杰出的賽車選手馬爾科姆.坎貝爾爵士是第一個(gè)以每小時(shí)超過300英里的速度駕車的人。他于1935年9月在猶他州的邦納維爾鹽灘創(chuàng)造了一項(xiàng)新的世界紀(jì)錄。他駕駛的“藍(lán)鳥”牌汽車是專門為他制造的。它的車身長30英尺，有一個(gè)2,500 馬力的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)。盡管坎貝爾達(dá)到了每小時(shí)超過304英里的速度，但他很難把汽車控制住，因?yàn)樵陂_始的行程中爆了一只輪胎。比賽結(jié)束后，坎貝爾非常失望地得知他的平均時(shí)速是299英里。然而，幾天之后，有人告訴他說弄錯(cuò)了。他的平均時(shí)速實(shí)際是301英里。從那時(shí)以來，賽車選手已達(dá)到每小時(shí)600英里的速度。很多年之后，馬爾科姆爵士的兒子唐納德踏著父親的足跡，也創(chuàng)造了一項(xiàng)世界紀(jì)錄。同他父親一樣，他也駕駛著一輛名叫“藍(lán)鳥”的汽車。???
Lesson73 The record-holder 紀(jì)錄保持者
Little boys who play truant from school are unimaginative. A quiet day's fishing, or eight hours in a cinema seeing the same film over and over again, is usually as far as they get. They have all been put to shame by a boy who, while playing truant, travelled 1600 miles. He hitch- hiked to Dover and, towards evening, went into a boat to find somewhere to sleep. When he woke up next morning, he discovered that the boat had, in the meantime, travelled to Calais. No one noticed the boy as he crept off. From there, he hitch-hiked to Paris in a lorry. The driver gave him a few biscuits and a cup of coffee and left him just outside the city. The next car the boy stopped did not take him into the centre of Paris as he hoped it would, but to Perpignan on the French-Spanish border. There he was picked up by a policeman and sent back to England by the local authorities. He has surely set up a record for the thousands of boys who dream of evading school.
?逃學(xué)的孩子們都缺乏想像力。他們通常能夠做到的，至多也就是安靜地釣上一天魚，或在電影院里坐上8個(gè)小時(shí)，一遍遍地看同一部電影。而有那么一個(gè)小男孩，他在逃學(xué)期間旅行了1,600英里，從而使上述所有逃學(xué)的孩子們都相形見絀了。他搭便車到了多佛，天快黑時(shí)鉆進(jìn)了一條船，想找個(gè)地方睡覺。第二天早上他醒來時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)船在這段時(shí)間已經(jīng)到了加。當(dāng)男孩從船里爬出來時(shí)，誰也沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)他。從那里他又搭上卡車到了巴黎。司機(jī)給了他幾塊餅干和一杯咖啡，就把他丟在了城外。男孩截住的下一輛車，沒有像他希望的那樣把他帶到巴黎市中心，而是把他帶到了法國和西班牙邊界上的佩皮尼昂。他在那兒被一個(gè)警察抓住了，之后被當(dāng)局送回了英國。他無疑為成千上萬夢想逃避上學(xué)的孩子們創(chuàng)造了一項(xiàng)紀(jì)錄。???
Lesson74 Out of the limelight 舞臺(tái)之外
An ancient bus stopped by a dry river bed and a party of famous actors and actresses got off. Dressed in dark glasses and old clothes, they had taken special precautions so that no one should recognize them. But as they soon discovered, disguises can sometimes be too perfect.
?'This is a wonderful place for a picnic,' said Gloria Gleam.
' It couldn't be better, Gloria,' Brinksley Meers agreed. 'No newspaper men, no film fans! Why don't we come more often ?'
Meanwhile, two other actors, Rockwall Slinger and Merlin Greeves, had carried two large food baskets to a shady spot under some trees. When they had all made themselves comfortable, a stranger appeared. He looked very angry.
'Now you gut out of here, all of you!' he shouted: ' I'm sheriff here. Do you see that notice ? It says" No Camping"-in case you can't read !'
' Look, sheriff, 'said Rockwall,' don't be too hard on us. I'm Rockwall Slinger and this is Merlin Greeves.'
' Oh, is it ?' said the sheriff with a sneer. 'Well, I'm Brinksley Meers, and my other name is Gloria Gleam. Now you get out of here fast !'
?一輛古舊的汽車停在一條干涸的河床邊，一群著名男女演員下了車。他們戴著墨鏡，穿著舊衣裳，特別小心以防別人認(rèn)出他們。但他們很快就發(fā)覺，化裝的效果有時(shí)過分完美了。
??? “在這個(gè)地方野餐簡直太妙了，”格格利亞.格利姆說。
“是再好不過的了，格格利亞?！辈剂挚怂估?米爾斯表示同意，“沒有記者，沒有影迷！我們?yōu)槭裁床唤?jīng)常來這里呢？”
“此時(shí)，另外兩位演員，羅克沃爾.斯林格和默林.格里夫斯，已經(jīng)把兩個(gè)大食品籃子提到了一片樹蔭下。當(dāng)他們都已安排舒適時(shí)，一個(gè)陌生人出現(xiàn)了。他看上去非常氣憤。“你們都從這里走開，全都走開！”他大叫著，“我是這里的司法長官。你們看到那個(gè)布告牌了嗎？上面寫著‘禁止野營’－－除非你們不識(shí)字！”
“好了，好了，司法官，”羅克沃爾說，“別使我們難堪。我是羅克沃爾.斯林格，這位是默林.格里夫斯。”
“噢，是嗎？”那位司法長官冷笑一聲說道，“好，我就是布林克斯利.米爾斯。我還有一個(gè)名字叫格格利亞.格利姆。現(xiàn)在你們趕快滾吧！”?????
lesson75? SOS 呼救信號(hào)
When a light passenger plane flew off course some time ago, it crashed in the mountains and its pilot was killed. The only passengers, a young woman and her two baby daughters, were unhurt. It was the middle of winter. Snow? lay thick on the ground. The woman knew that the nearest village was miles away. When it grew dark. she turned a suitcase into a bed and put the children inside it, covering them with all the clothes she could find. During the night, it got terribly cold. The woman kept as near as she could to the children and even tried to get into the case herself, but it was too small. Early ,next morning she heard planes passing overhead and wondered how she could send a signal. Then she had an idea. She stamped out the letters' SOS' in the snow. Fortunately, a pilot saw the signal and sent a message by radio to the nearest town. It was not long before a helicopter arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors of the plane crash.
?不久前，一架輕型客機(jī)偏離了航線，在山區(qū)墜毀，飛行員喪生。機(jī)上僅有的乘客，一位年輕的婦女和她的兩個(gè)女嬰?yún)s平安無事。此時(shí)正值隆冬季節(jié)，地上積著厚厚的雪。這位婦女知道，即使最近的村莊也有數(shù)英里遠(yuǎn)。天黑下來的時(shí)候，她把提箱當(dāng)作小床，把兩個(gè)孩子放了進(jìn)去，又把所有能找到的衣服都蓋在了孩子們身上。夜里，天冷得厲害。這位婦女盡可能地靠近孩子，甚至自己也想鉆進(jìn)箱子里去，只是箱子太小了。第二天一大早，她聽到頭頂上有飛機(jī)飛過，但不知道怎樣才能發(fā)個(gè)信號(hào)。后來她有了一個(gè)主意。她在雪地上踩出了“SOS”這3個(gè)字母。幸運(yùn)得很，一位飛行員看到這個(gè)信號(hào)，用無線電給最近的城鎮(zhèn)發(fā)了報(bào)。不久，一架直升飛機(jī)飛抵飛機(jī)失事現(xiàn)場，來搭救這幾個(gè)幸存者。???
Lesson76 April Fools Day 愚人節(jié)
'To end our special news bulletin,' said the voice of the television announcer,' we are taking you to the macaroni fields of Calabria. Macaroni has been grown in this area for over six hundred years. Two of the leading growers, Giuseppe Moldova and Ricardo Brabante, tell me that they have been expecting a splendid crop this year and harvesting has begun earlier than usual. Here you can see two workers who, between them, have just finished cutting three cart-loads of golden brown
macaroni stalks. The whole village has been working day and night gathering and threshing this year's crop before the September rains. On the right, you can see Mrs Brabante herself. She has been helping her husband for thirty years now. Mrs Brabante is talking to the manager of the local? factory where the crop is processed. This last scene shows you what will happen at the end of the harvest : the famous Calabrian macaroni-eating competition ! Signor Fratelli, the present champion, has won it every year since 1961. And that ends our special bulletin for today, Thursday, April 1st. We are now returning you to the studio.'
?“作為我們專題新聞節(jié)目的結(jié)尾，”電視廣播員說，“我們現(xiàn)在到克拉布利亞的通心粉田里。通心粉在這個(gè)地區(qū)已經(jīng)種植了600多年了。兩個(gè)主要種植者，朱塞皮.莫爾道瓦和里卡多.布拉班特告訴我，他們一直期待著今年獲得一個(gè)大豐收，收割工作比往年開始要早些。這里您可以看到兩個(gè)工人，他們協(xié)力割下了3車金黃色的通心粉秸。全村的人都日夜奮戰(zhàn)，要趕在9月的雨季之前把今年的莊稼收獲上來，打完場。在屏幕的右側(cè)，您可以看到布拉班特太太本人，她已經(jīng)幫了她的丈夫30年了。布拉班特太太現(xiàn)在正和負(fù)責(zé)通心粉加工的當(dāng)?shù)丶庸S的經(jīng)理交談。這最后一個(gè)鏡頭向您展示了收獲之后將發(fā)生的事情：著名的克拉布利亞人吃通心粉大賽！目前的冠軍弗拉特里先生，自1991年以來，年年獲勝。今天 -- 4月1日，星期四--的專題新聞節(jié)目到此結(jié)束。現(xiàn)在我們回到電視演播室?！???
Lesson77 A successful operation 一例成功的手術(shù)
The mummy of an Egyptian woman who died in 800 B.C. has just had an operation. The mummy is that of Shepenmut who was once a singer in the Temple of Thebes. As there were strange marks on the X-ray plates taken of the mummy, doctors have been trying to find out whether the woman died of a rare disease. The only way to do this was to operate. The operation, which lasted for over four hours, proved to be very difficult because of the hard resin which covered the skin. The doctors removed a section of the mummy and sent it to a laboratory. They also found something which the X-ray of the god Duamutef. This god which has the head of a cow was normally placed
inside a mummy. The doctors have not yet decided how the woman died. They feared that the mummy would fall to pieces when they cut it open, but fortunately this has not happened. The mummy successfully survived the operation.
?死于公元前800年的一位埃及婦女的木乃伊剛剛接受了一次手術(shù)。這是曾在底比斯神殿里當(dāng)過歌手的賽潘姆特的木乃伊。由于在給這個(gè)木乃伊拍攝的X光片子上有點(diǎn)奇怪的斑點(diǎn)，所以，醫(yī)生們一直試圖搞清這位婦女是否死于一種罕見的疾病。搞清的唯一辦法就是手術(shù)。手術(shù)持續(xù)了4個(gè)多小時(shí)，非常難做，因?yàn)槠つw上覆蓋著一層硬硬的樹脂。醫(yī)生們從木乃伊身上取下一個(gè)切片，送去化驗(yàn)。他們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了X光片所沒有顯示的東西：一個(gè)蠟制的杜瓦木特夫神小塑像。這種牛頭人身的神像通常被放在木乃伊體內(nèi)。醫(yī)生們至今還未確定這位婦女的死因。他們?cè)鴵?dān)心在把木乃伊切開后，它會(huì)散成碎片，但幸運(yùn)得很，這種情況并未發(fā)生。這具木乃伊成功地經(jīng)受了這次手術(shù)。????
Lesson78? The last one? 最后一枝嗎？
After reading an article entitled 'Cigarette Smoking and Your Health' I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves. I smoked with concentration and pleasure as I was sure that this would be my last cigarette. For a whole week I did not smoke at all and during this time, my wife suffered terribly. I had all the usual symptoms of someone giving up smoking: a bad temper and an enormous appetite. My friends kept on offering me cigarettes and cigars. They made no effort to hide their amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweets from my pocket. After seven days of this I went to a party. Everybody around me was smoking and I felt extremely uncomfortable. When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear. I took one guiltily, lit it and smoked with satisfaction. My wife was delighted that things had returned to normal once more. Anyway, as Brian pointed out, it is the easiest thing in the world to give up smoking. He himself has done it lots of times!
?讀完一篇題為《吸煙與健康》的文章之后，我點(diǎn)上了一枝香煙，來鎮(zhèn)定一下自己緊張的神經(jīng)。我聚精會(huì)神而又愉快地吸著這枝煙。因?yàn)槲掖_信這是我最后一枝煙了。整整一個(gè)星期我根本沒有吸煙。在此期間，我妻子吃盡了苦頭。我具備了戒煙者通常表現(xiàn)出來的所有癥狀：脾氣暴躁和食欲旺盛。我的朋友們不斷地向我遞香煙和雪茄。每當(dāng)我從口袋里掏出一包糖果時(shí)，他們都毫不掩飾地表現(xiàn)出他們對(duì)此感到非常好笑。這樣過了7天以后，我去參加一次聚會(huì)。我周圍的每個(gè)人都在吸煙，我感到非常不自在。當(dāng)我的老朋友布賴恩極力勸我接受一枝香煙時(shí)，我再也忍不住了。我內(nèi)疚地接過一枝點(diǎn)上，心滿意足地抽起來。一切又都恢復(fù)了正常，為此我妻子十分高興。不管怎么說，正如布賴恩指出的那樣，戒煙是世界上最容易的事情，他自己就已戒了很多次了！?
Lesson79 By air 乘飛機(jī)
I used to travel by air a great deal when I was a boy. My parents, used to live in South America and I used to fly there from Europe in the holidays. An airhostess would take charge of me and I never had an unpleasant experience. I am used to travelling by air and only on one occasion have I ever felt frightened. After taking off, we were flying low over the city and slowly gaining height, when the plane suddenly turned round and flew back to the airport. While we were waiting to land, an air-hostess told us to keep calm and to get off the plane quietly as soon as it had touched down. Everybody on board was worried and we were curious to find out what had happened. Later we learnt that there was a very important person on board. The police had been told that a bomb had been planted on the plane. After we had landed, the plane was searched thoroughly. Fortunately, nothing was found and five hours later we were able to take off again.
?我在幼年的時(shí)候，曾多次乘飛機(jī)旅行。我的父母曾經(jīng)住在南美洲，所以假期里我常從歐洲乘飛機(jī)到他們那里。我總是由一位空中乘務(wù)員照管，從未遇到過不愉快的經(jīng)歷。我習(xí)慣了乘飛機(jī)旅行，只是有一次把我嚇壞了。起飛之后，我們?cè)诔鞘猩峡盏偷偷仫w行，然后慢慢爬高。這時(shí)飛機(jī)突然調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)頭來，飛回了機(jī)場。在我們等待降落時(shí)，一位空中乘務(wù)員告訴我們要保持鎮(zhèn)靜，待飛機(jī)一著陸，就馬上不聲不響地離開飛機(jī)。飛機(jī)上的人都很著急，大家都急于想知道究竟出了什么事。后來我們才得知，飛機(jī)上坐了一位非常重要的人物。有人報(bào)告警察，說飛機(jī)上安放了一枚炸彈。我們降落之后，飛機(jī)被徹底搜查了一遍。幸運(yùn)的是，什么也沒有找到。5個(gè)小時(shí)后，我們又起飛了。?
Lesson80? The Crystal Palace 水晶宮
Perhaps the most extraordinary building of the nineteenth century was the Crystal Palace, which was built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was different from all other buildings in the world, for it was made of iron and glass. It was one of the biggest buildings of all time and a lot of people from many countries came to see it. A great many goods were sent to the exhibition from various parts of the world. There was also a great deal of machinery on display. The most wonderful piece of machinery on show was Nasmyth's steam hammer. Though in those days, travelling was not as easy as it is today, steam boats carried thousands of visitors across the Channel from Europe. On arriving in England, they were taken to the Crystal Palace by train. There were six million visitors in all, and the profits from the exhibition were used to build museums and colleges. Later, the Crystal Palace was moved to South London. It remained one of the most famous buildings in the world until it was burnt down in 1936.
?19世紀(jì)最不尋常的建筑也許要數(shù)水晶宮了，它是為1851年的“世界博覽會(huì)”而建在海德公園的。這座水晶宮不同于世界上所有的其他建筑，因?yàn)樗怯娩摵筒ＡЫǔ傻摹Ｋ怯惺芬詠碜罡叽蟮慕ㄖ镏唬虼耍藗儚母鱾€(gè)國家紛紛前來參觀。大量的商品從世界各地運(yùn)送到了博覽會(huì)，參展的還有很多機(jī)器，其中最奇妙的是內(nèi)史密斯的蒸汽錘。盡管在當(dāng)時(shí)旅行不像現(xiàn)在這么容易，但汽船還是把成千上萬的參觀者從歐洲大陸送過了英吉利海峽。一到英國，火車就把他們送到了水晶宮。參觀的人數(shù)總共是600萬。博覽會(huì)的贏利用來建造博物館和高等學(xué)校。后來，“水晶宮”被移到了倫敦南部。在1936年被焚毀之前，它一直是世界上最著名的建筑物之一。?
