【正文】 i me befor e, great tr ees had cover ed the countr ysi de for mi les around. Now, smoke sti l r ose up f r om t he war m ground over t he desolate hi l s. Wint er was i ng on and the hil ls t hreatened the sur oundi ng vil ages wi th destr uct ion, for heavy rain woul d not only wash away t he soi l but would cause ser ious fl oods as wel l. When t he fi re had at last been put out, the f orest aut hor it ies ordered sever al tons of a special type of grass seed whi ch would gr ow quickly. The sed was sprayed over t he ground in huge quantit ies by aeroplanes. The pl anes had been pl ant ing seed for near ly a month when i t began t o rai n. By then, however , in many pl aces t he gras had al ready taken root. I n place of the gr eat tr ees which had been gr owing t her e f or centur ies, patches of gr een had begun to appear in t he blackened soi l. Leson63 She was not am used 她并不覺得好笑 Geoff rey Ham pden has a l ar ge cir cl e of fr iends and is very popular at par ti es. Everybody admir es hi m f or his f ine sense of humoreverybody, t hat i s, except his six year old daughter , Jenny. Recent ly, one of Geof fr ey39。so it was f ort unat e that we didn39。 Bert answer ed. 39。Woul d you mi nd my i ng wit h you ?39。 he answer ed. 39。 he sai d, i n a mour nf ul voi ce, 39。 leson70 Red f or danger 危險(xiǎn)的紅色 Dur ing a bul lf ight, a dr unk suddenl y wander ed int o the m iddle of t he ri ng. The crowd began t o shout, but the dr unk was unaware of t he danger. The bull was busy wit h t he matador at t he ti me, but it suddenly caught si ght of the dr unk who was shout ing r ude remarks and waving a red cap. Appa r ent ly sensi ti ve to cr it cism, the bull f ot al about t he m atador and charged at the drunk. The cr owd suddenly grew qui et . The dr unk, however, semed quit e sure of him self . When t he bul l got close t o him, he clum si ly st epped asi de to l et it pass. The cr owd br oke i nto cheer s and the dr unk bowed. By t his t ime, however , t hree men had e i nto t he ri ng and they quickly dr agged t he dr unk to saf et y. Even t he bul l seemed t o feel sor ry for hi m, f or i t looked on sym pat heti cal l y unt il t he dr unk was out of t he way bef or e once m or e t ur ning i ts at ent i on t o t he m atador. Leson71 A f amous clock 一個(gè)著名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of t he f ir st t hings you wil l se i s Bi g Ben, t he fam ous clock whi ch can be heard al over t he wor l d on the B. B. C. I f the Houses of Parl i am ent had hot been bur ned down i n 1834, t he gr eat clock woul d never have been erected. Bi g Ben t akes i ts name f r om Sir Benj ami n Hal who was responsi bl e f or t he m aki ng of t he cl ock when t he new Houses of Parl iament were bei ng buil t. I t is not onl y of im mense si ze, but i s ext r em el y accur at e as wel . Of ici al s fr om Greenwich Observator y have t he cl ock checked t wi ce a day. On t he B. B. C. you can hear t he cl ock when i t is act ual y str iki ng because mi cr ophones ar e connect ed t o t he clock t ower . Bi g Ben has r arel y gone wr ong. Once, however, i t fail ed to gi ve the corr ect t im e. A pai nt er who had been wor ki ng on t he t ower hung a pot of pai nt on one of t he hands and sl owed i t down ! Leson72 A car cal l ed Bluebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The gr eat r aci ng dri ver , Si r Mal colm Campbel l, was t he fi rst man to dr i ve at over 300 m il es per hour . He set up a new wor ld r ecor d in Sept em ber 1935 at Bonnevil le Salt Fl at s, Ut ah. Bl uebi rd, t he car he was dri ving, had been special ly buil t for him . It was over 30 f eet i n l ength and had a 2500 horse power engi ne. Al though Campbel reached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat dif fi cul ty in contr olli ng the car because a tyr e bur st dur ing t he fi rst run. Af ter his at empt, Campbel was disappoi nt ed to lear n t hat his average speed had been 299 mil es per hour. However, a f ew days later , he was t old t hat a m istake had been m ade. Hi s average speed had been 301 mil es per hour. Si nce t hat t ime, r acing dr iver s have r eached speeds of over 400 mil es an hour . Fol lowi ng his f at her 39。s al ways pl ent y t o read i n the 39。 I l ied, 39。re not busy doi ng anyt hing, ar e you ?39。 Lesson66 Swet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hat hel d Puf fi n is a m oder n aero pl ane, but i ts designer, Mr John Wi m penny, i s fi ndi ng it di f icult t o get i t of f t he gr ound. The r eason f or t hi s is t hat t his pl ane i s al so a bicycl e. It s pi l ot has t o pedal har d t o get it i nto t he air. Aft er Mr Wi mpenny had t he plane built , it was t est ed t horoughl y. In 1961, it was t he f ir st m an powered air craft t o fl y half a m il e. Whil e bei ng fl own by a cham pi on am at eur cycl ist i n 1963, t he pl ane cr ashed on an air fi el d. Si nce then, Mr Wi mpenny has had it r ebui lt . He has had t he length of t he wi ngs i ncr eased so that they now m easur e 93 f eet al m ost as l ong as those of a Dakot a. Many people have shown int er est i n thi s new and unusual spor t. But t hough air cycli st s may l ear n how t o fl y over short di st ances, and may, event ual y, even get acr oss t he Engl ish Channel, i t is doubt f ul whet her t hey wi l ever cycl e acr oss t he Atl ant ic. Leson67 Volcanoes 火山 Har oun Tazi ef t he Pol ish sci ent i st, has spent his l if et im e st udyi ng act ive volcanoes and deep caves in al part s of t he wor l d. I n 1948, he went t o l ake Ki vu in t he Congo to obser ve a new volcano whi ch he later nam ed Kit uro. Tazi ef was able t o set up hi s cam p ver y close to the volcano whil e it was er upt ing vi ol ent ly. Though he managed t o take a number of br il li ant photographs, he could not stay near t he vol cano f or ver y l ong. He noti ced that a ri ver of li quid r ock was ing t owar ds him. I t thr eatened to sur round him pletel y