【正文】 t hey knew how dif fi cul t it was to dr il l thr ough t he har d r ock, t hey woul d lose hear t. Leson89 A sl ip of t he tongue 口誤 People wi l do anything to see a fr ee showeven i f it is a bad one. When the news got round t hat a vari ety show woul d be present ed at our local ci nem a by the P. and U. Bir d Seed Company, we al l rushed to see it . We had t o queue f or hour s to get in and t her e must have been several hundr ed peopl e present just be f ore t he show began. Unfor tunately, the show was one of the dull est we have ever seen. Those who fai led t o get i n need not ha ve felt di sappointed as many of the ar ti st es who should have appear ed did not e. The onl y funny t hi ngs we hear d t hat eveni ng came fr om t he advert iser at t he begi nni ng of the pr ogr am me. He was obviousl y very nervous and for some mi nutes stood awkwardly bef ore t he mi cr ophone. As soon as he opened hi s mouth, ever yone bur st out laughi ng. We al know what the poor man shoul d have said, but what he actual y sai d was: 39。 sai d t he inspector , 39。 39。At ten t o eight. I bought a paper and wai ted f or the tr ain.39。 asked the i nspector. 39。 I must be at work at o39。Do you al ways cat ch such an earl y tr ain ?39。s hom e. We shal l al l remember Mr Page for his pat i ence and under st andi ng and f or the ki ndl y encouragement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngl y to school. A gr eat m any f orm er pupil s wi l be at ending a farewel l di nner i n his honour next Thur sday. It i s a cur ious coincidence that the day bef ore hi s ret ir em ent , Mr Page wil l have been teachi ng for a t otal of f ort y year s. Af t er he has r et ir ed, he wi l devot e him sel f t o gardening. For hi m, thi s wil l be an ent ir el y new hobby. But t hi s does not mat ter, f or, as he has of ten r em ar ked, one i s never too ol d to lear n. Lesson86 O ut of control 失控 As t he man t ri ed to swi ng the speedboat round, t he steer i ng wheel came away in his hands. He waved desperatel y to hi s pani on, who had been water skii ng for the l ast f if teen mi nut es. Both men had har dly had t im e to r eal ize what was happening when t hey were t hrown vi ol ent1y i nt o t he sea. The speed boat had str uck a buoy, but i t cont inued to m ove ver y quickly across the wat er . Both m en had just begun to swi m towards t he shor e. when t hey not iced wi th di smay t hat t he speed boat was moving i n a cir cle. It now came str aight towards t hem at tr em endous speed. I n l ess t han a minut e, i t r oared past t hem only a few f eet away. Aft er it had passed, t hey swam on as qui ckl y as they coul d because they knew t hat t he boat would soon ret urn. They had j ust had enough t im e to swi m out of danger when the boat again pl et ed a cir cle. On t hi s occasion, however, i t had slowed down considerably. The pet rol had near ly al l been used up. Bef or e l ong, the noi se dr opped plet el y and the boat began to dri ft gent ly acr oss t he water. Leson87 A perf ect ali bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的證據(jù) 39。 Lesson84 O n strike 罷工 Busmen have deci ded to go on st ri ke next week. The st ri ke is due to begin on Tuesday. No one knows how long it wi l l ast . The busmen have st at ed that the str ike wi l l conti nue unt il gener al agreement is r eached about pay and working condit ions. Most peopl e beli eve t hat t he st ri ke wil l last for at l east a week. Many owner s of pri vat e car s are goi ng to of fer 39。 39。si nce hi s defeat, t he ex Pri me Minister had gone abr oad. On t he fol lowi ng day, Cr awl ey went to t he house again. The same pol iceman was just walking sl owl y past he ent rance, when Cr awley as ked the sam e questi on. Though a l it tle suspicious thi s ti me, the poli ceman gave him the same answer . The day af ter , Crawl ey went t o the house once m or e and asked exact ly t he sam e questi on. This tim e, t he pol iceman l ost his t emper .39。Mr Lane was def eat ed in t he elect ions. He has reti red f rom poli tical li fe and gone to li ve abr oad !39。 but I l ove to hear you say i t !39。 t im e. Even so, people are goi ng to fi nd it dif fi cul t to get to work. But so far, t he publ ic has expr esed it s grat itude t o the st udents i n let ters t o t he Press. Onl y one or t wo people have obj ect ed that the student s wi l dri ve too f ast ! Lesson85 Never t oo old to l earn 活到老學(xué)到老 I have just recei ved a let ter fr om m y old school i nfor ming m e that my f orm er head m aster , Mr Regmald Page, wil l be reti ri ng next week. Pupi ls of the school , ol d and new, wil l be sending him a pr esent t o m ar k t he occasi on. Al l those who have contr ibut ed t owards t he gi ft wi l sign their names in a large al bum which wi l l be sent t o t he headmast er39。 sai d the m an. 39。 answered t he man. 39。 Woul d a lat er t rai n get you t o work on ti me ?39。 39。t notice anything unusual ?39。I suggest ,39。cl ock tr ai n did not r un at al l. It br oke down at Ferngr en st at ion and was t aken of f t he li ne. 39。 I don39。 39。s busy worki ng, but would you m ind ing wit h me t o t he st at ion ?39。 I said. 39。Your what ?39。 For tunately, t he shouti ng woke up my wi f e who opened t he window j ust as t he pol iceman had st art ed to cli mb t owards me. Leson93 A nobl e gif t 崇高的禮物 One of the m ost fam ous m onuments i n t he worl d, t he Statue of Li ber ty, was present ed to t he Unit ed States of Amer ica i n the ni enth centur y by t he people of Fr ance. The gr eat st at ue, whi ch was designed by t he sculptor Auguste Bar tholdi , t ook ten years t o plete. The act ual f igure was made of copper suppor ted by a metal fr amework whi ch had been especial ly const ructed by Eif fel. Bef or e i t could be tr anspor t ed to t he Unit ed States, a si te had t o be found f or it and a pedestal had to be buil t. The sit e chosen was an island at the entr ance