【正文】 to live i n South Am eri ca and I used to fl y there fr om Eur ope i n t he hol idays. An ai rhostes woul d t ake charge of me and I never had an unpleasant experi ence. I am used to t ravel ing by air and only on one occasi on have I ever felt f ri ght ened. Af ter taking of f, we wer e f lyi ng low over the ci ty and slowl y gaining height , when t he plane suddenly t urned r ound and f lew back to the air port . Whil e we wer e wait ing t o l and, an air host es t old us t o keep calm and to get of f t he plane quietl y as soon as i t had t ouched down. Everybody on boar d was wor ri ed and we wer e cur ious to fi nd out what had happened. Later we l ear nt that here was a ver y im por tant per son on boar d. The poli ce had been t ol d t hat a bomb had been planted on t he pl ane. Af ter we had l anded, t he plane was sear ched t hor oughl y. For tunately, nothing was f ound and f ive hour s later we wer e able t o take off again. Leson80 The Cryst al Pal ace 水晶宮 Per haps the m ost extr aor dinary bui lding of t he nieent h cent ury was the Cr yst al Palace, whi ch was built i n Hyde Park for the Gr eat Exhi bi ti on of 1851. The Cr yst al Palace was dif fer ent f rom al l other bui ldi ngs i n the wor ld, f or i t was made of ir on and gl as. It was one of the bi ggest bui ldings of al ti me and a l ot of people f rom many count ri es came t o see it . A great many goods wer e sent t o the exhibit ion f r om vari ous par ts of the wor ld. There was al so a gr eat deal of m achiner y on display. The most wonderf ul pi ece of machinery on show was Nasm yt h39。 Lesson88 Trapped i n a mine 困在礦井里 Si x men have been t rapped in a mine f or seventeen hour s. I f they are not brought to t he sur face soon they may l ose t hei r li ves. However , rescue operati ons ar e pr ovi ng dif fi cul t. If explosives are used, vi br at i ons wi l cause t he roof of the mi ne to col lapse. Rescue wor ker s are t her efor e dri l ing a hole on the nort h side of the m ine. They i ntend to br ing the men up i n a speci al capsul e. I f there had not been a har d layer of r ock bene ath t he soi l, t hey woul d have pl et ed the j ob in a few hour s. As i t is, they have been dr il ing f or si xteen hour s and they sti l have a long way t o go. Meanwhi le, a mi crophone, which was l owered i nt o t he mine t wo hours ago, has enabl ed the m en to keep in touch wit h t he cl osest r elati ves. Though they are r unni ng out of f ood and dr ink, the m en ar e cheer ful and conf ident t hat hey wil l get out soon. They have been told that rescue operati ons ar e progr essing smoothl y. I f they knew how di f icult i t was t o dr il l t hrough the har d rock, they would l ose heart . Lesson89 A sli p of the t ongue 口誤 Peopl e wil l do anyt hing t o see a f r e showeven if i t i s a bad one. When the news got r ound that a var iet y show would be pr esented at our l ocal cinema by t he P. and U. Bi r d Sed Com pany, we al r ushed t o see i t. We had to queue for hours t o get i n and ther e must have been sever al hundr ed peopl e pr esent j ust be f or e t he show began. Unf or t unat el y, t he show was one of t he dul l est we have ever seen. Those who f ai l ed t o get i n need not ha ve f el t di sappoi nt ed as m any of t he ar t i st es who shoul d have appear ed di d not have j ust f ini shed cutt ing t hree car t loads of gol den brown m acaroni stalks. The whol e vil lage has been wor king day and night gat her ing and t hreshi ng thi s year 39。 sai d t he inspector , 39。 39。 39。 asked the inspect or. 39。 I m ust be at work at o39。Do you al ways catch such an ear ly tr ai n ?39。s home. We shal al r em em ber Mr Page f or his pati ence and under st andi ng and for the ki ndl y encour agement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngl y t o school. A great m any form er pupil s wi l be at endi ng a far ewel l di nner i n his honour next Thur sday. It i s a curi ous 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 for ty years. Aft er he has r et ir ed, he wi l devote hi msel f to gardening. For hi m, thi s wil l be an ent ir ely new hobby. But t his does not mat ter, f or, as he has of ten r emarked, one i s never too ol d to learn. Lesson86 O ut of cont rol 失控 As t he man t ri ed to swi ng the speed boat r ound, t he steeri ng wheel came away i n his hands. He waved desper at el y t o his panion, who had been wat er skii ng for t he last f if teen mi nutes. Bot h men had hardly had tim e to reali ze what was happening when they were t hrown vi olent1y i nto t he sea. The speedboat had str uck a buoy, but it cont inued to move ver y quickly acr oss t he water. Both men had just begun t o swim towar ds the s hor e. when they not iced wi th di sm ay that the speedboat was moving i n a cir cle. It now came str aight towar ds t hem at tr emendous speed. In l es t han a mi nut e, i t roared past t hem only a few feet away. Af ter it had passed, t hey swam on as qui ckl y as they could because they knew t hat t he boat would soon r et urn. They had just had enough t im e to swi m out of danger when the boat again pl eted a cir cle. On t hi s occasion, however, i t had sl owed down considerably. The petr ol had near ly al l been used up. Bef ore l ong, t he noi se dr opped plet el y and the boat began t o dri ft gent ly acr oss t he water. Lesson87 A perf ect ali bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的證據(jù) 39。 Lesson84 On stri ke 罷工 Busm en have decided to go on st ri ke next week. The st ri ke is due to begi n on Tuesday. No one knows how long i t wi l l ast . The busmen have st ated t hat the st ri ke wil l conti nue unt il gener al agr ement is r eached about pay and worki ng condit ions. Most people beli eve t hat t he st ri ke wi l last for at least a week. Many owner s of pri vat e car s are goi ng to of fer 39。 39。s house. When he asked i