【正文】 human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of being whitecollar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation. 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. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret Alf39。而這常常會(huì)引起種種奇怪的現(xiàn)象，在埃爾斯米爾公司當(dāng)清潔工的艾爾弗雷德 .布洛斯就是一個(gè)例子。不過(guò)他覺(jué)得，地位升高了，損失點(diǎn)兒錢也值得。s palace. Editor n. 編輯 extreme n. 極端 statistics n. 統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字 Journalist n. 新聞?dòng)浾? president n. 總統(tǒng) Palace n. 王宮；宏偉的住宅 publish v. 出版 fax n. 傳真 Impatient adj. 不耐煩的 fire v. 解雇 Originally adv. 起初，原先，從前 參考譯文 報(bào)刊雜志的編輯常常為了向讀者提供成立一些關(guān)緊要的事實(shí)和統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字而走向極端 。編輯無(wú)奈，勉強(qiáng)按 原樣發(fā)稿了。在早晨的這個(gè)時(shí)候，拱廊街上幾乎空無(wú)一人。這開(kāi)始發(fā)生時(shí)，泰勒先生正在樓上。t despair when they made mistakes like this (and a lot of people do)! Fortunately for them, the Bank of England has a team called Mutilated Ladies which deals with claims from people who fed their money to a machine or to their dog. Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money! A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fianc233。s head appears on English bank notes, and 39?；丶液?，簡(jiǎn)用微波爐煮了晚飯，無(wú)意中之中把 她未婚夫的錢包也一起煮了。s monastery. Monastery n. 寺院，修道院 St. Bernard 圣伯納德 Pass n. 關(guān)隘 watchdog n. 看門狗 rashly adj. 莽撞地，冒失地 Enclosure n. 圍場(chǎng)，圈地 monk n. 和尚 privacy ，隱居 Skier n. 滑雪者 Easter n. 復(fù)活節(jié) 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。然而到了冬天，修道院里的生活則是另一番景象。 Lesson 9 Flying cats 飛貓 Cats never fail to fascinate human beings. They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans, but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well. They never bee submissive like dogs and horses. As a result, humans have learned to respect feline independence. Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives. One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief that they have nine lives. Apparently, there is a good deal of truth in this idea. A cat39。在它們的一生中，大多數(shù)貓都對(duì)人存有戒心。“貓就像訓(xùn)練有素的跳傘隊(duì)員，” 一位醫(yī)生說(shuō)。卻使用現(xiàn)代標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)衡量， 45,000 噸的“泰坦尼克”號(hào)與算得上一艘巨輪了?！疤┨鼓峥恕边@個(gè)彎拐得及時(shí)，緊貼著高出海面 100 英尺的巨大的冰墻擦過(guò) 去。 he asked, looking me in the eye. 39。Perfume, eh?39。s hair gel.39。甚至是最誠(chéng)實(shí)的人 也常弄得覺(jué)得有罪似的，而老練的職業(yè)走私犯卻使手提箱里藏著 500 只金表，卻也處之泰然。所有細(xì)心包裝好的東西一會(huì)兒工夫就亂成一團(tuán)。 海關(guān)官員擰開(kāi)瓶蓋，把瓶子放到鼻子底下。成熟的水果從樹(shù)上掉下來(lái)，人們根本無(wú)需勞動(dòng)。島上幾乎沒(méi)有一顆樹(shù)，也沒(méi)有淡水，但這不算什么問(wèn)題。s only me39。途中，船開(kāi)始下沉，他們迅速把食物、火柴、罐裝啤酒往一只救生筏上裝 。我們有時(shí)想象荒島是陽(yáng)光終日普照的天堂?！苯又夷槑⑿ρa(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“這是一種我自己配制的奇特的混合物?！蔽一卮鹫f(shuō)。 I said encouragingly. The officer unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to his nostrils. He was greeted by an unpleasant smell which convinced him that I was telling the truth. A few minutes later, I was able to hurry away with precious chalk marks on my baggage. Guilty adj. 犯罪的，違法的 tolerant adj. 寬容的 declare v. 申報(bào) Hardened adj. 有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的 professional adj. 職業(yè)的，專業(yè)的 Smuggler n. 走私者 officious adj. 愛(ài)管閑事的 Confidently adv. 自信地 dreadful adj. 可怕的，一團(tuán)糟的 Pounce v. 猛抓，撲住 perfume n. 香水 sarcastically adv. 諷刺地 Exempt adj. 被免除的 duty n. 稅 gel n. 凝膠 Mixture n. 混合物 unscrew v. 擰開(kāi) nostril n. 鼻孔 Chalk n. 粉筆 baggage n. 行李 現(xiàn)在的海關(guān)官員往往相當(dāng)寬容。 I said. 39。 I answered. The Officer went through the case with great care. All the thing I had packed so carefully were soon in a dreadful mess. I felt sure I would never be able to close the case again. Suddenly, I saw the Officer39。 Lesson 11 Not guilty 無(wú)罪 Customs Officers are quite tolerant these days, but they can still stop you when you are going through the Green Channel and have nothing to declare. Even really honest people are often made to feel guilty. The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never troubled by such feelings, even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase. When I returned form abroad recently, a particularly officious young Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler. 39。突然，了望員發(fā)現(xiàn)一座冰山。 Lesson 10 The loss of the Titanic “泰坦尼克”號(hào)的沉沒(méi) The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1,316 passengers and crew of 891. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At the time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen watertight partments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life. Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy water of the North Atlantic, huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct collision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense walk of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one though that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen watertight partments had already been flooded! The order to abandon ship was given and