【正文】 i cycle. I ts pil ot has t o pedal hard t o get i t into t he air. Aft er Mr Wim penny had the pl ane bui lt, it was t ested t horoughly. I n 1961, i t was the fir st man powered ai rcraft t o f ly hal f a mi le. Whi le bei ng f lown by a cham pi on am at eur cycl ist i n 1963, t he plane cr ashed on an airf ield. Si nce then, Mr Wim penny has had i t rebuil t. He has had t he lengt h of t he wi ngs i ncr eased so t hat they now measur e 93 f eetalmost as long as those of a Dakot a. Many people have shown i nt er est i n this new and unusual spor t. But t hough air cyclists may lear n how t o fl y over shor t distance s, and may, eventual ly, even get acr oss the Engli sh Channel , i t i s doubt ful whether t hey wil ever cycle acr oss the Atl anti c. Leson67 Volcanoes 火山 Har oun Tazief t he Pol ish scient ist, has spent his li fetim e st udying acti ve volcanoes and deep caves i n al l part s of the wor ld. In 1948, he went to l ake Kivu in t he Congo t o obser ve anew volcano which he l at er named Kit ur o. Tazi ef was able t o set up his camp ver y cl ose t o t he volcano whi le i t was er upti ng vi ol entl y. Though he managed t o take a num ber of bril li ant phot ogr aphs, he coul d not st ay near the vol cano f or very l ong. He not iced t hat a ri ver of li quid r ock was ing towar ds him. It t hr eatened t o surr ound him pl et l y, but Tazief m anaged t o escape j ust i n tim e. He wai ted unti l the volcano becam e quiet and he was abl e t o retur n t wo days l at er . This ti me, he m anaged t o clim b into t he mout h of Ki turo so that he could take phot ogr aphs and measure t em peratures. Tazi ef has oft en r isked his li fe i n t hi s way. He has been able t o t el l us m ore about act ive vol canoes t han any m an ali ve. Lesson68 Persistent 糾纏不休 I crossed t he str et o avoid meet ing him , but he saw m e and came r unni ng t owar ds me. I t was no use pr et ending that I had not sen hi m, so I waved to him. I never enj oy meet ing Ber t Dykes. He never has anything t o do. No mat er how busy you ar e, he al ways insi st s on i ng wi th you. I had to t hi nk of a way of pr event ing him f rom f ol lowing m e ar ound al l m or ni ng. 39。 l esson70 Red for danger 危險的紅色 Dur ing a bull fi ght, a dr unk suddenl y wandered i nt o t he mi ddl e of the ri ng. The crowd began t o shout, but t he dr unk was unawar e of the danger. The bull was busy wi th t he matador at t he tim e, but it suddenl y caught sight of the dr unk who was shouti ng r ude r emarks and wavi ng a r ed cap. Apparent ly sensi ti ve t o cri ti ci sm, the bul f or got al l about the m at ador and charged at the dr unk. The crowd suddenl y gr ew qui et. The dr unk, however, seem ed qui te sur e of himsel f. When t he bull got cl ose t o him, he cl umsil y st epped asi de t o l et i t pas. The cr owd br oke into cheers and t he dr unk bowed. By t his t ime, however , t hree m en had e into t he r ing and t hey quickly dragged the dr unk t o safety. Even t he bull sem ed t o feel sor ry f or him, for it looked on sym pathet ical ly unt il t he drunk was out of t he way bef or e once m or e turning it s at enti on t o t he matador. Lesson71 A fam ous clock 一個著名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of the fir st t hi ngs you wil l see i s Big Ben, the famous clock whi ch can be heard al over the wor ld on the B. B. C. If t he Houses of Parl iament had hot been bur ned down i n 1834, t he great clock would never have been er ect ed. Bi g Ben t akes i ts name f rom Sir Benjamin Hal who was r esponsi bl e for t he making of t he clock when the new Houses of Par liament wer e being built . I t i s not only of immense size, but is ext remel y accur at e as wel l. Of icials fr om Greenwich Observat or y have the cl ock checked twice aday. On t he B. B. C. you can hear t he clock when it is act ual y st riking because microphones ar e connected to the clock t ower. Big Ben has rarely gone wrong. Once, however, it fail ed t o gi ve t he correct ime. A painter who had be en wor ki ng on the tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and sl owed it down ! Leson72 A car called Bluebi rd “藍鳥”汽車 The gr eat raci ng dri ver, Sir Malcol m Campbel, was t he f ir st man t o dr ive at over 300 mi les per hour . He set up a new worl d recor d in September 1935 at Bonnevi l e Salt Flats, Ut ah. Bl uebird, the car he was dr iving, had been specialy built f or him. It was over 30 feet in l ength and had a 2500 horse power engi ne. Although Campbel reached a speed of over 304 mil es per Englishm an, Wil iam Low. He suggested that a double r ail way t unnel should be buil t. Thi s would sol ve t he pr oblem of vent il ati on, for if a tr ai n entered this t unnel, it woul d draw in f resh air behi nd it . Fort y t wo years l at er a tunnel was act ual y begun. I f, at t he t ime, t he Br it sh had not fear ed i nvasi on, i t would have been pleted. Recent ly, t her e has agai n been gr eat interest i n t he i dea of a Channel Tunnel . If it is bui lt, it wi l connect Bri tain t o Eur ope for the fir st tim e in history. Leson65 Jum bo versus t he poli ce 小象對警察 Last Chr istmas, t he ci rcus owner , Jimm y Gat es, deci ded to t ake som e pr esent s t o a chil dr en39。s al ways plent y to r ead in t he 39。 I li ed, 39。r e not busy doing anything, are you ?39。 Lesson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hat held Puffi n is a moder n aeroplane, but it s desi gner , Mr John Wimpenny, is f indi ng i t dif fi cult t o get i t of f t he gr ound. The r eason f or this i s t hat this plane i s also a bi cycle. I ts pil ot has t o pedal hard t o get i t into t he air. Aft er Mr Wim penny had the pl ane bui lt, it was t ested t horoughly. I n 1961, i t was the fir st man powered ai rcraft t o f ly hal f a mi le. Whi le bei ng f lown by a cham pi on am at eur cycl ist i n 1963, t he plane cr ashed on an airf ield. Si nce then, Mr Wim penny has had i t rebuil t. He