【正文】 n l aughed at st ori es t old by seamen, i t is now known t hat m any of t hese 39。m onster s39。 whi ch have at ti mes been sight ed ar e simpl y str ange f ish. Ocasional ly, unusual cr eat ures are washed to t he shor e, but they are rarel y caught out at sea. Some t ime ago, however, a peculi ar o 1 大米加工廠擴建項目 可 行 性 研 究 報 告 t em per at ures. Tazief f has of ten r isked hi s li fe in t his way. He has been able to t el l us more about act ive volcanoes t han any m an al ive. Lesson68 Persi st ent 糾纏不休 I crossed the str et t o avoi d meeti ng him, but he saw me and cam e running t owards me. I t was no use pr et endi ng that I had not sen hi m, so I waved t o him . I never enj oy meeting Ber t Dykes. He never has anyt hing t o do. No mat er how busy you ar e, he always i nsi st s on ing wi th you. I had to think of a way of pr eventi ng him fr om foll owing m e around al mor ning. 39。Hul l o, Ber t, 39。 I said. 39。Fancy meet ing you her e !39。 39。Hul lo, Eli zabeth, 39。 Ber t answered. 39。 I was j ust wonderi ng how t o spend t he morni ngunti l I saw you. You39。r e not busy doing anything, are you ?39。 39。 No, not at al l, 39。 I answer ed.39。 I39。m going t o.. .39。 39。Would you m ind my ing wi th you ?39。 he asked, bef or e I had f inished speaking. ‘ Not at al ,39。 I li ed, 39。but I39。m goi ng to t he dent ist. 39。 Then I 39。l e wi th you, 39。 he answer ed.39。 Ther e39。s always plenty to r ead in t he 39。wait ing r oom ! 39。 l eson69 But not murder! 并非謀殺！ I was bei ng tested f or a dri vi ng li cence f or t he thi rd t im 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 sadly. 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 unawar e of the danger . The bul l was busy wi th the mat ador at the t ime, but i t suddenl y caught sight of t he drunk who was shouti ng rude r em ar ks and wavi ng a r ed cap. Appar ently sensit ive to cr it ici sm , t he bul l for got al l about the matador and char ged at the dr unk. The crowd suddenl y gr ew quiet. The drunk, however , seem ed qui te sur e of hi msel f . When the bull got cl ose to hi m, he cl umsil y stepped aside t o let it pass. The crowd br oke int o cheers and t he drunk bowed. By this tim e, however, thr ee men had e int o the r ing and t hey qui ckl y dragged the dr unk t o safety. Even the bull seem ed to f eel sorr y f or hi m, for i t looked on sympatheti cal ly unt il t he dr unk was out of t he way bef ore once mor e tur ning i ts at ent ion t o t he matador . Leson71 A f amous clock 一個著名的大鐘 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 B. . I f the Houses of Parl iament had hot been bur ned down in 1834, the gr eat clock would never have bee n er ect ed. Bi g Ben t akes it s nam e f rom Si r Benjami n Hal who was r esponsi ble f or t he m aki ng of t he clock when t he new Houses of Par li am ent wer e being buil t. I t i s not onl y of imm ense size, but i s ext remel y acur at e as wel l. Of fi cials f r om Gr eenwi ch Obser vat or y have t he cl ock checked t wi ce a day. On t he B. B. C. you can hear the cl ock when i t i s act ual l y st ri king because mi cr ophone s are connect ed t o t he cl ock tower. Bi g Ben has r ar el y gone wr ong. Once, however, it f ai l ed t o gi ve t he cor r ect ti me. A pai nt er who had been wor ki ng on t he t ower hung a pot of paint on one of t he hands and slowed i t down ! Lesson72 A car cal led Bl uebi rd “藍鳥”汽 車 The gr eat r aci ng dr i ver, Si r Mal colm Cam pbel , was t he fi r st m an t o dri ve at over 300 mil es per hour. He set up a new wor l d record i n Sept em ber 1935 at Bonnevil l e Sal t Fl ats, Ut ah. Bl uebir d, t he car he was dr ivi ng, had been speci al l y bui lt f or hi m. It was over 30 f et i n l engt h and had a 2500 hor se power engi ne. Alt hough Cam pbel r eached a speed of over 304 m il es per hour , he had gr eat di f icult y i n cont rol li ng the car because a t yre bur st duri ng the f ir st r un. Af t er hi s atempt , Cam pbel l was di sappointed t o l ear n that his aver age speed had been 299 m il es per hour . However , a few days l at er, he was tol d that a mi st ake had been made. His average speed had been 301 m il es per hour . Since that ti me, racing dr ivers have reached speeds of over 400 m il es an hour. Foll owing hi s father 39。s f oot st eps m any years l ater, Si r Malcolm 39。s son, Donald, also set up a wor l d record. Like hi s father , he was dr ivi ng a car cal ed Bluebir d. Lesson73 The record hol der 紀錄保持者 Lit tl e boys who play tr uant f rom school ar e unim agi nat ive. A quiet day39。s fi shi ng, or eight hour s in a ci nem a seing the sam e fi lm over and over again, i s usual y as far as they get. They have al been put t o sham e by a boy who, whil e playing t ruant, tr avel led 1600 mi les. He hitch hiked t o Dover and, towards evening, went i nt o a boat to f ind somew