【正文】 s was going on, Mr Taylor was upstairs. He and his staff began throwing furniture out of the window. Chairs and tables went flying into the arcade. One of the thieves was struck by a heavy statue, but he was too busy helping himself to diamonds to notice any pain. The raid was all over in three minutes, for the men scrambled back into the car and it moved off at a fantastic speed. Just as it was leaving, Mr Taylor rushed out and ran after it throwing ashtrays and vases, but it was impossible to stop the thieves. They had got away with thousands of pounds worth of diamonds. 皮卡迪利大街附近的一條著名拱廊街道上，幾家高檔商店剛剛開始營業(yè)。在傳真中他告訴編輯，就在他數(shù)通向15英尺高的總統(tǒng)府圍墻的1，084級臺階時，被抓了起來。編輯無奈，勉強按原樣發(fā)稿了。 記者立即出發(fā)去核實這些重要的事實，但過了好長時間不見他把數(shù)字寄來，在此期間，編輯等得不耐煩了，因為雜志馬上要付印。去年，一位記者受一家有名的雜志的委托寫一篇關(guān)于非洲某個新成立共和國總統(tǒng)府的文章。s palace.39。別人將稱呼他為“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾爾弗”了。艾爾弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁給了一個清潔工，而且她永遠(yuǎn)也不會知道了，因為艾爾弗已找到薪職，不久就要坐辦公室里工作了。他只說在埃爾斯米爾公司上班。坐辦公室的之所以常常被稱作“白領(lǐng)工人”，就是因為他們通常是穿著硬領(lǐng)白襯衫，系著領(lǐng)帶去上班。Mr. Bloggs39。When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls () and spent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at night, he took a shower and changed back into his suit. 考古工作者把這些碎片重新拼裝起來后，驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)那位女神原來是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上過色。里面房間很大，墻壁裝飾華麗。來，咱們下樓去喝杯茶吧?！? “問題就在這里，牧師，”比爾回答說。“好幾個星期了，我天天夜里到鐘樓上來。借著電筒光。但始終未能籌足資金把教堂的鐘修好。Thirteen is not as good as one but it39。 39。s working all right, but I39。That39。You39。ve been ing up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.39。 I39。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.想到在寧靜的鄉(xiāng)村里有一頭危險的野獸繼續(xù)逍遙流竄，真令人擔(dān)心。無論它走哪兒，一路上總會留下一串死鹿及死兔子之類的小動物，在許多地方看見爪印，灌木叢中發(fā)現(xiàn)了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開始的。catlike noises39。A puma at largePumas are large, catlike animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted fortyfive miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar. The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 39。 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(chǎn)于美洲。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(yuǎn)，她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。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。Lesson 2 39。m trying to repair the bell,39。39。ve probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I39。s the trouble, vicar,39。m afraid that at one o39。We39。s better than nothing. Now let39。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。他看見一個人。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚?！安诲e，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?！? Lesson 3 An unknown goddess(女神)Some 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（海角） of Ayia Irini．The city at one time must have been prosperous（繁榮的），for it enjoyed a high level of civilization．Housesoften three storeys（樓層） 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（禮拜） from the fifteenth century . until Roman times. In the most sacred room of the temple, clay fragments（碎片） of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented 城里甚至還敷設(shè)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。其中有一尊雕像，她的軀體是在公元前15世紀(jì)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(jì)的文物中找到的。她身高3英尺，雙手叉腰。Lesson4 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。Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alf39。, not 39。許多人常常情愿放棄較高的薪水以換取做白領(lǐng)工人的殊榮，此乃人之常情。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(dāng)8個小時清潔工。他將來掙的錢只有他現(xiàn)在的一半。 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。 The editor at oncesent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall. 稿子寄來后，編輯看第一句話就拒絕予以發(fā)表。他給記者先后發(fā)去兩份傳真，但對方毫無反應(yīng)。一周之后，編輯終于接到記者的傳真。 Lesson 6在早晨的這個時候，拱廊街上幾乎空無一人。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了幾分鐘就回到了店里。這開始發(fā)生時，泰勒先生正在樓上。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。dead39。 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(dāng)你把褲子搶救出來時，你有沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣已經(jīng)變得比白紙還白？當(dāng)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）。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(jìn)微波爐內(nèi)保存。約翰去找銀行經(jīng)理，經(jīng)理把約翰的錢包和紙幣的殘留物送到英國銀行在紐卡斯?fàn)柕囊粋€專門部門——殘鈔鑒別組?！叭ツ?，我們對21，000 起索賠要求支付了150萬英鎊。During the summer months, the monastery is very busy, for it is visited by thousands of people who cross the Pass in cars, As there are so many people about, the dogs have to be kept in a special enclosure. In winter, however, life at the monastery is quite different. The temperature drops to 30 and very few people attempt to cross the Pass. The monks Prefer winter to summer for they have more privacy. The dogs have greater freedom, too, for they are allowed to wander outside