【正文】 pati ence and under st andi ng and for the ki ndl y encouragement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngly t o school. A great many f ormer pupi ls wil l be at endi ng a f ar ewel dinner in his honour next Thur sday. It is a cur ious coinci dence t hat he day bef or e hi s r et ir ement, Mr Page wil have been teaching for a t otal of fort y years. Af ter he has r et ir ed, he wil l devot e himsel f to gar dening. For him, t hi s wi l be an ent ir el y new hobby. But t hi s does not m at ter, for, as he has oft en r em ar ked, one i s never too old t o l ear n. Leson86 O ut of control 失控 As t he m an tr ied to swing the speedboat r ound, the st eri ng wheel came away i n hi s hands. He waved desper at el y to his pani on, who had been water ski ng f or t he l ast fi teen mi nut es. Both men had har dly had t ime t o r eali ze what was happening when they wer e t hrown vi ol ent 1y i nt o t he sea. The speed boat had st ruck a buoy, but it conti nued t o m ove ver y qui ckl y across t he wat er. Bot h m en had j ust begun t o swim t owards the shore. when t hey not iced wi th dism ay t hat the speed boat was movi ng i n a ci rcle. I t now cam e str ai ght towar ds t hem at remendous speed. In l ess than a mi nute, i t roar ed past them onl y a few feet away. Aft er it had pased, t hey swam on as qui ckly as t hey coul d because t hey knew that t he boat woul d soon r et ur n. They had j ust had enough t ime t o swim out of danger when t he boat again pl et ed a cir cl e. On this occasion, however , i t had sl owed down consider abl y. The pet r ol had nearl y al l been used up. Bef ore l ong, t he noi se dropped pletely and t he boat began t o drif t gent ly acr oss the wat er . Leson87 A perf ect ali bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的證據(jù) 39。At the tim e the m ur der was mi t ed, I was tr avel li ng on the 8. 0 o39。cl ock tr ai n to London,39。 sai d the m an. 39。Do you al ways cat ch such an earl y tr ai n ?39。 asked t he i nspect or. 39。Of course I do, 39。 answered the m an.39。 I m ust be at wor k at 10. 0 o39。cl ock. My employer wil conf irm that I was t her e on tim e. 39。 Woul d a later t rai n get you to work on tim e ?39。 asked t he i nspect or . 39。 I suppose i t woul d, but I never catch a later tr ai n.39。 39。At what t ime did you ar ri ve at he stati on ?39。 At t en t o ei ght. I bought a paper and wait ed f or t he tr ai n. 39。 And you di dn39。t not ice anyt hi ng unusual ?39。 39。 Of cour se not.39。 39。I suggest,39。 sai d t he i nspector, 39。t hat you ar e not teli ng t he t r ut h. I suggest that you di d not catch the 8. 0 o39。cl ock tr ai n, but t hat you caught the 8. 25 which woul d sti l get you t o wor k on t ime. You se, on t he morning of t he m ur der, the 8. 0 o39。cl ock tr ai n di d not run at al. I t br oke down at Ferngreen stati on and was taken off the li ne.39。 Leson88 Trapped i n a m i ne 困在礦井里 Si x m en have been tr apped i n a mi ne f or s event en hours. If they ar e not br ought t o t he sur face soon t hey may lose t heir li ves. However, rescue oper at ions are pr oving di f icul t. If explosi ves ar e used, vibrati ons wil cause t he r oof of t he mi ne t o col apse. Rescue worker s ar e t her ef or e dr il i ng a hol e on t he nort h side of t he mi ne. They intend t o br ing the m en up i n a special capsul e. I f t her e had not been a hard l ayer of rock beneat h the soil , t hey woul d have plet ed t he j ob i n a few hour s. As it is, t hey have been dri li ng for si xt en hours and t hey st il have a l ong way t o go. Meanwhi le, a mi cr ophone, which was l ower ed i nt o t he mi ne t wo hours ago, has enabl ed t he men to keep i n t ouch wit h t he cl osest r el at ives. Though t hey ar e runni ng out of food and dr i nk, t he men are cheer ful and confi dent t hat they wil l get out soon. They have been told t hat r escue oper ati ons are progresing smoot hl y. I f t hey knew how dif ficult it was t o dr il t hr ough the har d r ock, t hey woul d lose heart . Lesson89 A sl ip of the tongue 口誤 People wil l do anyt hi ng t o see a fr e show even if it is a bad one. When t he news got round t hat a vari et y show would be pr esent ed at our local ci nem a by t he P. and U. Bir d Seed Company, we al r ushed to se i t. We had t o queue f or hours t o get in and t here must have been sever al hundred peopl e pr esent just be f or e the show began. Unf or tunat el y, the show was one of t he dul lest we have ever seen. Those who fail ed t o get i n need not ha ve fel t di sappointed as many of t he arti st es who shoul d have appeared di d not e. The only f unny things we hear d t hat eveni ng cam e f r om t he advert iser at t he begi nning of t he pr ogramm e. He was obvi ously ver y ner vous and for som e m inut es stood awkwar dl y bef or e t he mi cr ophone. As oon as he opened hi s m outh, ever yone burst out laughing. We al know what t he poor m an shoul d have sai d, but what he actual ly sai d was: 39。Thi s i s the Poo and Ee Seed Bir d Com pany. Good ladi es, eveni ng and gent lem en ! 39。 l esson90 Whats f or supper ？ 晚餐吃什么？ Though Brazi l i s one of t he r ichest countr ies i n the wor ld, m uch of i t has not yet been developed. It was mainly f or t hi s r eason t hat he Br azil ian gover nm ent deci ded to have a new cit y bui lt 600 mil es nort h west of Rio de Janeir o. Desi gned by t he great archi tect Luci o Costa, t he new ci ty, Br asil ia, r epl aced Ri o de Janei ro as the capi tal of Br azif in 1960. Br asil ia has been car ef ul ly planned for m oder n li vi ng. It s wi de r oads, whi ch can take f ourt een lanes of t raf ic, have been kept away fr om li vi ng ar eas. Chi ldren do not have t o cr oss busy st reet s t o go t o school. Housewi ves can vi si t shopping cent r es on f oot , f or i n these speci al y desi gned li vi ng areas, cars are unnecessary. At fi rst, the gover nm ent had gr eat di f icul ty i n persuading peopl e to leave Ri o and to set le i n Br asil ia. Si nce 1960, however , t he po