【正文】 pat i ence and under st andi ng and f or the ki ndl y encouragement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngl y to school. A gr eat m any f orm er pupil s wi l be at ending a farewel l di nner i n his honour next Thur sday. It i s a cur ious coincidence that the day bef ore hi s ret ir em ent , Mr Page wil l have been teachi ng for a t otal of f ort y year s. Af t er he has r et ir ed, he wi l devot e him sel f t o gardening. For hi m, thi s wil l be an ent ir el y new hobby. But t hi s does not mat ter, f or, as he has of ten r em ar ked, one i s never too ol d to lear n. Lesson86 O ut of control 失控 As t he man t ri ed to swi ng the speedboat round, t he steer i ng wheel came away in his hands. He waved desperatel y to hi s pani on, who had been water skii ng for the l ast f if teen mi nut es. Both men had har dly had t im e to r eal ize what was happening when t hey were t hrown vi ol ent1y i nt o t he sea. The speed boat had str uck a buoy, but i t cont inued to m ove ver y quickly across the wat er . Both m en had just begun to swi m towards t he shor e. when t hey not iced wi th di smay t hat t he speedboat was m ovi ng i n a ci r cl e. It now came str aight towards t hem at tr em endous speed. I n l ess t han a minut e, i t r oared past t hem only a f ew f eet away. Aft er it had passed, they swam on as qui ckl y as they coul d because they knew t hat t he boat would soon ret urn. They had j ust had enough t im e to swi m out of danger when the boat again pl et ed a cir cle. On t hi s occasion, however, i t had slowed down considerably. The pet rol had near ly al l been used up. Bef or e l ong, the noi se dr opped plet el y and the boat began to dri ft gent ly acr oss t he water. Leson87 A perf ect ali bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的證據(jù) 39。At the t ime the mur der was m it ed, I was t ravel ing on t he 8. 0 o39。clock t rain to London,39。 sai d the m an. 39。Do you al ways cat ch such an earl y tr ain ?39。 asked the i nspector . 39。Of cour se I do, 39。 answered t he man. 39。 I must be at work at o39。cl ock. My employer wil l conf ir m t hat I was t her e on ti me.39。 39。 Woul d a lat er t rai n get you t o work on ti me ?39。 asked the i nspector. 39。 I suppose it would, but I never cat ch a later t rain. 39。 At what t im e did you ar i ve at t he st at ion ?39。 39。At t en to ei ght . I bought a paper and wait ed for t he t r ai n. 39。 And you di dn39。t noti ce anyt hi ng unusual ?39。 39。 Of cour se not .39。 39。I suggest,39。 said t he i nspect or , 39。t hat you are not t el li ng the t rut h. I suggest t hat you di d not cat ch t he 8. 0 o39。cl ock t r ai n, but t hat you caught t he 8. 25 whi ch would sti l get you to wor k on t im e. You see, on t he m or ni ng of t he m ur der, t he 8. 0 o39。cl ock tr ai n di d not run at al l. I t broke down at Fer ngreen st ati on and was t aken of f t he l i ne.39。 Leson88 Trapped i n a m i ne 困在礦井里 Six m en have been tr apped i n a mi ne f or s event en hours. If t hey ar e not br ought t o t he surf ace soon t hey m ay lose their l ives. However, r escue oper at i ons ar e pr oving di f icult. I f expl osi ves ar e used, vi br at ions wil l cause t he r oof of t he mi ne t o coll apse. Rescue wor ker s ar e t her ef or e dr il li ng a hole on t he nor t h si de of the mi ne. They i nt end to br i ng t he men up i n a speci al capsul e. If t her e had not been a har d layer of r ock beneat h t he soil , t hey woul d have pl et ed the j ob in a few hour s. As i t is, t hey have been dri l ing f or si xteen hour s and they sti l have a long way t o go. Meanwhi le, a m i cr ophone, which was l owered i nto t he mine t wo hours ago, has enabl ed the m en to keep in touch wit h t he cl osest relat ives. Though they are r unni ng out of f ood and dr ink, the m en ar e cheer ful and conf ident that hey wil l get out soon. They have been told that rescue operati ons ar e progr essing smoothl y. I f they knew how di f icult i t was to dr il l t hrough t he har d rock, they would lose hear t. Lesson89 A sli p of the t ongue 口誤 Peopl e wil l do anyt hing t o se a fr e showeven if i t is a bad one. When the news got round that a var iet y show would be pr esented at our local cinema by t he P. and U. Bir d Seed Company, we al r ushed t o se i t. We had to queue for hours t o get i n and ther e must have been several hundr ed people pr esent just be f or e t he show began. Unf ort unat el y, t he show was one of the dull est we have ever sen. Those who fail ed to get in need not have f elt disappoi nt ed as many of the art istes who should have appeared di d not e. The only f unny things we heard that evening came f rom the adver ti ser at the beginning of t he pr ogr am m e. He was obvi ousl y ver y nervous and for some mi nut es st ood awkwar dly bef ore t he micr ophone. As soon as he opened hi s mouth, ever yone bur st out laughi ng. We al know what the poor man shoul d have said, but what he actual y sai d was: 39。Thi s i s the Poo and Ee Seed Bir d Company. Good ladies, eveni ng and gent lemen ! 39。 l esson90 What s for supper ？ 晚餐吃什么？ Though Brazil is one of t he ri chest countr ies in the wor ld, much of it has not yet been devel oped. I t was mai nly f or thi s reason t hat t he Brazil ian government decided t o have a new cit y built 600 miles nort hwest of Rio de Janei ro. Designed by the gr eat archit ect Lucio Cost a, t he new city, Br asi li a, r epl aced Ri o de Janeir o as the capit al of Br azi f in 1960. Brasil ia has been caref ully planned f or moder n l iving. I ts wi de roads, whi ch can t ake fourt een lanes of t raf fi c, have been kept away f r om l iving ar eas. Chil dr en do not have t o cross busy str eet s to go to school . Housewives can visit shoppi ng cent res on f oot , for in these speci al y designed l iving ar eas, car s are unnecessar y. At f i r st , the gover nment had gr eat dif fi cul ty in persuading peopl e to leave Rio and t o se