【正文】 r vest : the f amous Cal abri an macar oni eati ng pet it ion ! Si gnor Frat el li , the present champion, has won it ever y year since 1961. And that ends our special bul le t in f or t oday, Thur sday, Apri l 1st . We are now ret ur ning you t o the st udi o.39。 Lesson77 A sucessf ul operati on 一例成功的手術(shù) The m um my of an Egypti an woman who died i n 800 B. C. has j ust had an oper ation. The mumm y is t hat of Shepenmut who was once a singer in t he Tem ple of Thebes. As ther e were str ange marks on t he Xr ay plates t aken of t he m ummy, doct ors have been t ryi ng to f ind out whether the wom an di ed of a rar e disease. The onl y way t o do thi s was to operat e. The operati on, whi ch lasted f or over four hours, pr oved to be very dif fi cul t because of the har d resin whi ch cover ed the skin. The doct or s r em oved a section of t he mumm y and sent it to a laborat or y. They al so found som et hing whi ch the X ray of t he god Duam ut ef. This god whi ch has the head of a cow was nor mal y placed inside a m ummy. The doct ors have not yet decided how the woman di ed. They feared t hat he mumm y would f al to pieces when t hey cut i t open, but f or tunatel y thi s has not happened. The mumm y succesf ul ly sur vi ved the operati on. Leson78 The last one? 最后一 枝嗎？ Af t er r eadi ng an art icl e ent i t l ed 39。Ci garet te Smoki ng and Your Healt h39。 I l it a ci gar et te to calm my ner ves. I sm oked wi th concent rat ion and pleasur e as I was sur e that thi s woul d be my last ci gar ete. For a whole week I di d not smoke at al and dur ing t his t ime, my wif e suf f er ed ter ri bl y. I had al l t he usual sym pt oms of som eone gi vi ng up smoking: a bad temper and an enorm ous appeti te. My f ri ends kept on off er ing m e cigaret es and ci gar s. They made no ef for t o hide t hei r amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweet s f rom my pocket . Af t er seven days of thi s I went t o a part y. Ever ybody around me was sm oki ng and I felt extr emely unfor table. When m y old f ri end Bri an urged me to accept a cigaret te, it was mor e than I coul d bear. I took one guil ti ly, li t it and sm oked wi th sat isfacti on. My wif e was deli ght ed that things had r et urned to nor mal once m ore. Anyway, as Br ian pointed out , i t is t he easiest thing i n t he worl d to gi ve up smoking. He him self has done it lot s of ti mes! Leson79 By ai r 乘飛機 I used to tr avel by air a gr eat deal when I was a boy. My par ent s, used to l ive i n Sout h Am er ica and I used to f l y t her e f r om Eur ope in t he hol idays. An ai rhostess would t ake charge of me and I never had an unpleasant exper ience. I am used to tr avel ing by ai r and onl y on one occasi on have I ever felt f ri ghtened. Af ter taking of f , we were f lyi ng low over t he ci ty and slowl y gaining he i ght , when the plane suddenly t urned r ound and f lew back t o the ai rport . Whil e we wer e wai ting to l and, an air hostes t old us t o keep cal m and t o get of f the plane quietl y as soon as i t had t ouched down. Ever ybody on board was worr ied and we wer e curi ous to f ind out what had happened. Lat er we learnt t hat ther e was a ver y i mport ant person on boar d. The pol ice had been told that a bomb had been pl ant ed on the plane. Aft er we had landed, the pl ane was searched thoroughly. Fort unatel y, nothi ng was found and f ive hour s l at er we were abl e to t ake of f agai n. Lesson80 The Crystal Palace 水晶宮 Per haps the most ext raordi nar y buil di ng of the ni enth centur y was the Cr ystal Pal ace, which was buil t in Hyde Par k f or t he Gr eat Exhibit ion of 1851. The Cr ystal Pal ace was di f erent fr om al ot her buil dings in t he wor ld, for it was m ade of ir on and glas. It was one of the bi ggest bui ldi ngs of al t ime and a lot of people f rom many count ri es came to see it . A gr eat many goods wer e sent t o the exhibi tion fr om vari ous par ts of the wor l d. There was al so a great deal of m achi ner y on display. The most wonderf ul pi ece of m achiner y on show was Nasm yth39。s steam hamm er . Though i n t hose days, tr avel li ng was not as easy as i t is t oday, st eam boat s car ri ed thousands of visit ors across the Channel f rom Europe. On ar iving in England, they were taken to t he Crystal Palace by tr ain. Ther e wer e si x mi l ion vi si tor s in al l, and the prof it s fr om the exhi bit ion wer e used t o buil d museums and coll eges. Lat er, the Cr ystal Pal ace was m oved t o South London. I t remai ned one of t he most f amous bui ldings i n the wor ld unt il i t was bur nt down in 1936. Lesson81 Escape 脫逃 When he had kil led t he guar d, t he pri soner of war quickl y dragged hi m into the bushes. Worki ng rapidl y in the darknes, he soon changed i nt o t he dead man39。s cl ot hes. Now, dressed i n a bl ue uni for m and wi th a ri fl e over hi s shoulder, t he pri soner marched bol dly up and down i n f r ont of t he cam p. He coul d hear shout ing i n the camp i tself . Lights wer e blazing and men wer e r unni ng her e and there: they had j ust discover ed that a pr isoner had escaped. At t hat m oment , a lar ge bl ack car wi th f our of f icers i nsi de it, stopped at he cam p gates. The of fi cer s got out and the pri soner stood to at tenti on and sal ut ed as they pased. When they had gone, the dr iver of the car came t owards him . The m an obvi ously wanted to talk. He was r ather el der ly wit h grey hai r and cl ear blue eyes. The pri soner fel t sor ry f or him, but there was not hi ng else he coul d do. As the m an came near, t he pri soner knocked hi m to t he ground wi th a sharp bl ow. Then, jumpi ng int o the car, he dr ove of f as qui ckl y as he coul d. Leson82 Monster or f ish? 是妖還是魚？ Fisherm en and sail ors someti mes cl aim to have sen m onst er s in the sea. Though people have oft en laughed at stor ies tol d by