【正文】 t em perat ur es. Tazi ef has oft en ri sked hi s l if e i n t hi s way. He has been abl e t o tel us m or e about acti ve vol canoes than any man ali ve. Leson68 Persist ent 糾纏不休 I cr ossed t he st reet to avoid m eet ing him , but he saw m e and came r unni ng t owar ds m e. It was no use pretending t hat I had not seen him, so I waved t o hi m. I never enjoy m eeti ng Bert Dykes. He never has anyt hi ng t o do. No m at t er how busy you are, he al ways i nsists on i ng wit h you. I had t o t hi nk of a way of prevent i ng him f r om f ol l owi ng me ar ound al l m or ni ng. 39。Hul l o, Bert ,39。 I sai d. 39。Fancy m eti ng you here ! 39。 Hul l o, El i zabet h,39。 Bert answer ed. 39。 I was j ust wonder i ng how to spend the m or ning unt il I s aw you. You39。r e not busy doi ng anyt hi ng, ar e you ?39。 39。 No, not at al ,39。 I answer ed.39。 I 39。m goi ng t o. . 39。 Woul d you mi nd m y i ng wit h you ?39。 he asked, befor e I had fi ni shed speaki ng. ‘ Not at all,39。 I lied, 39。but I39。m going to the dentist.39。 39。 Then I39。l l e wit h you,39。 he answer ed.39。 Ther e39。s al ways pl ent y t o r ead i n t he 39。wai ti ng r oom !39。 l esson69 But not m urder! 并非謀殺！ I was bei ng t est ed f or a dr ivi ng l i cence f or t he t hir d ti m e. I had been asked to dr ive i n heavy t raf fi c and had done so succesf ul ly. Af ter havi ng been inst ruct ed to dr ive out of t own, I began to acquir e conf idence. Sure that I had passed, I was al most beginning t o enjoy m y test. The exam iner must have been pl eased wit h m y per for mance, f or he smi led and sai d, 39。Just one more thing, Mr Eames. Let us suppose that a chi ld suddenl y crosses t he road i n fr ont of you. As soon as I t ap on the wi ndow, I want t he car to be st opped i mmediat el y.39。 I cont inued dri vi ng and af ter some t ime, the examiner tapped loudly. Though the sound could be heard cl ear ly, it t ook me a l ong ti me t o react. I suddenly pr essed the brake pedal hard and we were bot h thr own f or ward. The exam iner looked at m e sa dly. 39。Mr Eames, 39。 he said, in a mournf ul voi ce,39。 you have just ki l ed that chi ld ! 39。 l esson70 Red for danger 危險(xiǎn)的紅色 Duri ng a bull fi ght , a drunk suddenly wander ed into the mi ddl e of the r ing. The crowd began to shout, but t he drunk was unaware of t he dange r. The bull was busy wi t h the m at ador at the t ime, but it suddenly caught sight of the dr unk who was shouti ng rude r em ar ks and wavi ng a r ed cap. Appar ently sensit ve to cr it ici sm, t he bul l for got al about t he matador and charged at the dr unk. The crowd suddenl y grew quiet. The drunk, however, seem ed qui te sure of hi msel f. When the bull got cl ose to hi m, he cl umsil y st epped aside t o let it pass. The crowd br oke int o cheers and t he drunk bowed. By this tim e, however , thr e men had e int o the r ing and t hey qui ckl y dragged the drunk t o saf ety. Even the bull seem ed to f eel sorr y f or hi m, for i t looked on sympatheti cal ly unt il the dr unk was out of t he way bef ore once mor e tur ning i ts at ent ion t o the m atador . Lesson71 A f amous clock 一個(gè)著名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of the f ir st t hings you wil l see i s Big Ben, t he famous clock which can be hear d al over the wor ld on the . C. I f t he Houses of Parl iament had hot been bur ned down in 1834, the gr eat clock would never have been er ect ed. Bi g Ben t akes i ts name f rom Sir Benjami n Hal who was responsible for the m aki ng of the clock when t he new Houses of Parl iament wer e being buil t. I t is not onl y of im mense size, but i s ext remel y accur at e as wel . Of f icial s fr om Gr eenwi ch Observatory have t he cl ock checked twi ce a day. On the B. . you can hear the cl ock when i t is actual y str iking because mi crophones are connect ed to the clock tower . Big Ben has r ar ely gone wr ong. Once, however, i t f ail ed to gi ve the corr ect t ime. A pai nt er who had been wor king on t he tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed i t down ! Lesson72 A car cal led Bl uebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The great racing dr iver, Si r Malcolm Campbel, was t he fi rst man t o dri ve at over 300 mil es per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecor d i n Sept ember 1935 at Bonne vil le Sal t Fl ats, Utah. Bluebir d, t he car he was dr iving, had been speci al ly bui lt f or hi m. It was over 30 feet in l engt h and had a 2500 hor se power engine. Al t hough Campbel r eached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat dif f iculty in contr oll ing t he car be cause a tyr e burst dur ing t he fi rst r un. Af ter his at tempt, Campbel was disappoi nted to learn t hat hi s aver age speed had been 299 mi les per hour. However, a f ew days later , he was told that a mist ake had been made. Hi s aver age speed had been 301 m il es per hour. Si nce t hat t im e, r aci ng dr i ver s have r eached speeds of over 400 m il es an hour . Fol l owi ng hi s f at her 39。s f oot steps m any year s lat er , Si r Mal colm 39。s son, Donal d, also set up a worl d r ecor d. Li ke hi s f at her , he was dri vi ng a car cal ed Bl uebir d. Lesson73 The record hol der 紀(jì)錄保持者 Li tl e boys who pl ay t r uant fr om school ar e unim agi nat i ve. A qui et day39。s fi shi ng, or ei ght hours i n a ci nema seei ng t he same f ilm over and over agai n, i s usual y as f ar as t hey get. They have al l been put t o sham e by a boy who, whil e pl ayi ng t r uant, t ravel ed 1600 mi l es. He hit ch hi ked t o Dover and, t owar ds eveni ng, went i nt o a boat t o fi nd som ewher e t o sl eep. When he woke up next m orni ng, he discover ed that he boat had, i n t he m eant im e, t ravel l ed t o Cal ai s. No one noti ced the boy as he crept of f. Fr om t her e, he hi tch hi ked t o Pari s i n a l or r y. The dri ver gave him a f ew biscui ts and a cup of coff ee and l eft him j ust outside t he ci t y. The next car