【正文】 e so many peopl e l aughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 I n l858, a French engi neer , Ai me Thome de Gamond, ar ived i n England wi th a pl an for a t wentyone mile tunnel across the Engli sh Channel. He said that i t would be possi ble t o buil d a platf orm i n the centr e of the Channel . Thi s platf orm would serve as a por t and a rail way stati on. The t unnel would be wel l vent il at ed if t al l chi mneys wer e buil t above sea level. In 1860, a beter plan was put f or ward by an Engl ishman, Wi li am Low. He suggest ed that a doubl e rail way t unnel should be bui lt . Thi s would sol ve t he pr obl em of ventil ati on, f or i f a t rain ent er ed thi s tunnel , it would dr aw i n f resh air behi nd it . For ty two year s later a t unnel was act ual ly begun. I f , at the t im e, t he Bri ti sh had not f ear ed invasi on, i t woul d have been pleted. Recentl y, there has agai n been gr eat i nterest in t he idea of a Channel Tunnel . I f it i s built , it wi l connect Bri tai n to Eur ope for t he fi rst ti me in histor y. Lesson65 Jumbo versus t he poli ce 小象對警察 Last Chri stmas, the cir cus owner , Ji mmy Gat es, deci ded to t ake some pr esents t o a chil dr en39。Ci gar et te Smoki ng and Your Heal th39。 sai d t he voi ce of t he tel evi si on announcer ,39。 leson75 SOS 呼救信號 When a l i ght passenger pl ane fl ew off course some t ime ago, it crashed in t he mount ains and it s pil ot was ki l ed. The only passenger s, a young woman and her two baby daught ers, were unhurt . It was the m iddle of wi nter . Snow l ay thi ck on the gr ound. The woman knew t hat the nearest vi l age was mil es away. When i t gr ew dar k. she tur ned a sui tcase i nto a bed and put the chil dr en inside i t, cover ing t hem wi th al l the clot hes she coul d f ind. Dur i ng the night, i t got t er r ibly col d. The wom an kept as near as she could t o t he chi ldr en and even tr ied t o get into the case herself , but i t was too smal . Ear ly ,next mor ning she hear d planes passing overhead and wonder ed how she could send a signal. Then she had an i dea. She st amped out t he let ers39。 Oh, is it ?39。 don39。t read ! 39。Now you gut out of her e, al of you!39。 Br inksley Mer s agr eed. 39。Thi s is a wonder ful place for a pi i c, 39。 l eson70 Red f or danger 危險的紅色 Dur ing a bul lf ight, a dr unk suddenl y wander ed int o the m iddle of t he ri ng. The crowd began to shout, but the dr unk was unaware of t he danger. The bull was busy wit h t he matador at t he tim e, but it suddenly caught si ght of the dr unk who was shout ing r ude remarks and waving a red cap. Apparent ly sensi tive t o cri ti cism, the bull f ot al about the mat ador and char ged at he drunk. The cr owd suddenly gr ew qui et . The dr unk, however , se emed quit e sur e of himself . When t he bul l got close t o him, he clumsi ly st epped asi de t o let it pas. The cr owd br oke i nt o cheers and t he dr unk bowed. By t his t im e, however , thr e m en had e i nt o t he ri ng and t hey quickl y dr agged t he drunk t o saf et y. Eve n t he bull seem ed t o f eel sor r y f or him , for it l ooked on sympatheti cal ly unti l t he dr unk was out of t he way bef ore once mor e tur ni ng it s at t enti on t o t he m at ador . Lesson71 A f am ous cl ock 一個著名的大鐘 When you vi si t London, one of t he fi r st t hi ngs you wil see i s Big Ben, t he f am ous cl ock which can be hear d al over t he worl d on t he B. B. C. If t he Houses of Parli am ent had hot been bur ned down i n 1834, t he great cl ock woul d never have been er ect ed. Bi g Ben t akes it s nam e fr om 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 ophones are connect ed t o t he cl ock t ower. Bi g Ben has r ar el y gone wr ong. Once, however, it f ail ed to gi ve the corr ect t im e. A pai nt er who had been wor king on t he t ower hung a pot of pai nt on one of the hands and s l owed i t down ! Lesson72 A car cal l ed Bl uebird “藍鳥”汽車 The gr eat r aci ng dr iver, Si r Malcolm Campbel l, was t he fi rst man t o dri ve at over 300 m il es per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecor d i n Sept em ber 1935 at Bonnevil le Salt Fl at s, Utah. Bluebi r d, t he car he was dri vi ng, had been speci al l y bui lt f or him . It was over 30 feet 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 mi les per hour , he had gr eat dif fi cul t y in contr oll ing t he car because a t yr e burst dur i ng t he fi r st r un. Af ter his at em pt, Cam pbel was disappoi nt ed t o learn t hat hi s aver age speed had been 299 mil es per hour. However, a f ew days lat er , he was t ol d t hat a m ist ake had been m ade. Hi s aver age speed had been 301 mi les per hour. Si nce t hat t im e, r aci ng dri ver s have r eached speeds of over 400 mi les an hour . Fol l owi ng his f at her39。 I cont inued dri ving and aft er some t im e, t he exami ner t apped l oudl y. Though the sound coul d be hear d clearl y, i t took me a long ti me t o r eact. I suddenly pr esed the br ake pedal har d and we wer e bot h t hr own f orwar d. The examiner looked at me sadl y. 39。s al ways plenty t o r ead i n t he 39。 Then I39。 he asked, befor e I had fi nished speaki ng. ‘ Not at al ,39。 I39。r e not busy doing anything, are you ?39。 39。 Leson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hat hel d Puff in is a m oder n aer opl ane, but i ts desi gner , Mr John Wi mpenny, is fi ndi ng it dif fi cult to get it of f the gr ound. The reason for thi s is t hat t hi s plane is al so a bicycl e. I ts pi lot has to