【正文】 “你究竟在這上面干什么，比爾？”牧師驚訝地問。 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。s go downstairs and have a cup of tea.39。s nothing I can do about it. We39。It39。m glad the bell is working again.39。You certainly did give me a surprise!39。 answered Bill. 39。Whatever are you doing up here Bill?39。搜尋工作進行了好幾個星期，但始終未能逮住那只美洲獅。事實上搜尋工作很困難，因為常常是早晨在甲地發(fā)現那只美洲獅，晚上卻在 20 英里外的乙地發(fā)現它的蹤跡。可是，隨著證據越來越多，動物園的專家們感到有必要進行一番調查，因為凡是聲稱見到過美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相 似。a large cat39。 Where must the puma have e from? Pumas 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。當倫敦動物園接到報告說，在倫敦以南45 英里處發(fā)現一只美洲獅時，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. 39。m trying to repair the bell,39。 39。ve probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I39。 answered Bill. 39。clock it will strike thirteen times and there39。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，馬上認出那是本地雜貨店主經比爾 .威爾金斯。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚。“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?！? Lesson 3 An unknown goddess 無名女神 Some time ago, and interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean 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. Houses often three storeys high were built of stone. They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls. The city was 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 temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth centur y . It39。里面房間很大，墻壁裝飾華麗。 每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上過色。考古工作者把這些碎片重新拼裝起來后，驚奇地發(fā)現那位女神原來是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。 Lesson 4 The double life of Alfred Bloggs 阿爾弗雷德 .布洛格斯的雙重生活 These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than people who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as whitecollar workers39。, not 39。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。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。他將來掙的錢只有他現在的一半。 Lesson 5 The facts 確切數字 Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their reader 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 once sent the journalist a fax instructing him find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall. The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but the 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 more faxes, but received no reply. He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist. Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor that the he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteenfoot wall which surrounded the president39。文章的開頭是這樣的：“幾百級臺階通向環(huán)繞總統(tǒng)的高墻。但記者還是沒有回復。不過，他終于獲準發(fā)回了一份傳真。s. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stocking over their faces jumped out and smashed the window of the shop with iron bars. While this 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. smashandgrab n. 砸櫥窗搶劫 arcade n. 有拱廊的街道（兩旁常設商店） Piccadilly n. 皮卡迪利大街 jewllery n. 珠寶（總稱） Necklace n. 項鏈 ring n. 戒指 background n. 背景 Velvet n. 天鵝絨，絲絨 headlight n. （汽車等）前燈 Blare v. 發(fā)嘟嗜聲，吼叫 staff n. 全體工作人員 raid n. 偷襲 Scramble n. 偷襲 scramble v. 爬行 fantastic adj. 非常大的 Ashtray n. 煙灰缸 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)。鉆石項鏈、戒指漂亮地陳列在黑色絲絨上面。他們用鐵棒把商店櫥窗的玻璃砸碎。這場搶劫只持續(xù)了 3 分鐘，因為竊賊爭先恐后地爬上轎車，以驚人的速度開跑了。 Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies 殘鈔鑒別組 Has it ever happened to you? Have y