【正文】 increases their airresistance and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground. 狗也比較自由，被放出圍欄，四處遛達。然而到了冬天，修道院里的生活則是另一番景象。如今由于山里開挖了隧道，翻越山口已不那么危險了。s monastery. 圣伯納德大山口連接著瑞士與意大利，海拔2,473O米，是歐洲最高的山口。“去年，我們對21，000 起索賠要求支付了150萬英鎊。約翰去找銀行經理，經理把約翰的錢包和紙幣的殘留物送到英國銀行在紐卡斯爾的一個專門部門——殘鈔鑒別組。有一天約翰的生意很好，他把一只裝有3,000 英鎊的錢包放進微波爐內保存。 這種事情在你身上出現(xiàn)過嗎？你有沒有把褲子塞洗衣機，然后又想在褲子的后兜有一張大面值的紙幣？當你把褲子搶救出來時，你有沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣已經變得比白紙還白？當英國人犯這種錯誤時，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。dead39。就在轎車離開的時候，泰勒先生從店里沖了出來，跟在車后追趕，一邊還往車上扔煙灰缸、花瓶。這開始發(fā)生時，泰勒先生正在樓上。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了幾分鐘就回到了店里。在早晨的這個時候，拱廊街上幾乎空無一人。 Lesson 6一周之后，編輯終于接到記者的傳真。他給記者先后發(fā)去兩份傳真，但對方毫無反應。稿子寄來后，編輯看第一句話就拒絕予以發(fā)表。 The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall. Lesson 5 The factsEditors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a wellknown magazine to write an article on the president39。他將來掙的錢只有他現(xiàn)在的一半。每天早晨，他穿上一身漂亮的黑色西裝離家上班，然后換上工作服，當8個小時清潔工。許多人常常情愿放棄較高的薪水以換取做白領工人的殊榮，此乃人之常情。, not 39。Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alf39。Lesson 4 The double life of Alfred BloggsThese days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than clerks who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as39。她身高3英尺，雙手叉腰。其中有一尊雕像，她的軀體是在公元前15世紀的歷史文物中發(fā)現(xiàn)的，而她那身異處的腦袋卻碰巧是在公元前5世紀的文物中找到的。城里甚至還敷設了排水系統(tǒng)，因為在狹窄的街道底下發(fā)現(xiàn)了許許多多陶土制作的排水管道?！? Lesson 3 An unknown goddessSome time ago，an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean（；n.）island of Kea．An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini．The city at one time must have been prosperous，for it enjoyed a high level of civilization．Housesoften three storeys highwere built of stone．They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls．The city was even equipped with a drainage system，for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets．The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century . until Roman times. In the most sacred room of the temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented “不錯，鐘能報時了，但是，恐怕每到1點鐘，它總要敲13下，對此我已無能為力了。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚。他看見一個人。教堂的鐘很大，以前不分晝夜打點報時，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無聲無息了。s better than nothing. Now let39。 ‘We39。s working all right, but I39。m glad the bell is working again.‘That39。‘You certainly did give me a surprise!39。m trying to repair the bell,39。Lesson 2 Thirteen equals oneOur vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o39。有人抱怨說夜里聽見“像貓一樣的叫聲”；一位商人去釣魚，看見那只美洲獅在樹上。那里的一位婦女在采摘黑莓時的看見“一只大貓”，離她僅5碼遠，她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。 at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it e from ? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動物，產于美洲。The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 39。a large cat39。當倫敦動物園接到報告說，在倫敦以南45英里處發(fā)現(xiàn)一只美洲獅時，這些報告并沒有受到重視。專家證實，美洲獅非被逼得走投無路，是決不會傷人的。專家們如今已經完全肯定那只動物就是美洲獅，但它是從哪兒來的呢？由于全國動物園沒有一家報告丟了美洲獅，因此那只美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養(yǎng)的，不知怎么設法逃出來了。clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer. answered Bill.39。 said the vicar. 39。s the trouble, vicar,39。m afraid that at one o39。ll get used to that Bill,39。s go downstairs and have a cup of tea.39。一天夜里，我們的牧師突然被驚醒了，大鐘又在“打點”報時了！他一看表，才1點鐘，可是那鐘一邊敲了13下才停。“你究竟在這上面干什么，比爾？”牧師驚訝地問?！? “你確實使我大吃了一驚！”牧師說，“也許同時你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。” “大家慢慢就習慣了，比爾，”牧師說。a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century . Its missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century . This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modernlooking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hip. She was wearing a fulllength skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.不久之前，在愛琴海的基亞島上，考古工作者有一項有趣的發(fā)現(xiàn)?？脊殴ぷ髡呖疾斓倪@座廟宇從公元前15世紀直到羅馬時代一直是祭祀祈禱的場所。她的腦袋一定是在古希臘羅馬時代就為人所發(fā)現(xiàn)，并受到精心的保護。身穿一條拖地長裙，盡管上了年紀，但體態(tài)確實優(yōu)美。 white collar workers39。s wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she Alf39。而這常常會引起種種奇怪的現(xiàn)象。晚上回家前，他洗個淋浴，重新?lián)Q上那身黑色西服。不過他覺得，地位升高了，損失點兒錢也值得。s palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refused to publish it. The article began: 39。The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them. Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. He sent the journalist two urgent telegrams, but received no reply. He sent yet another telegram informing the journalist that if he did not reply