【正文】 —— 貓有九條命。s ability to survive falls is based on fact. Recently the New York Animal Medical Center made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months. All these cats had one experience in mon: they had fallen off high buildings, yet only eight of them died from shock or injuries. Of course, New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study, because there is no shortage of tall buildings. There are plenty of highrise windowsills to fall from! One cat, Sabrina, fell 32 storeys, yet only suffered from a broken tooth. 39。氣溫下降到零下 30 度，試圖跨越山口的人寥寥無幾。 11 世紀(jì)建造的著 名的圣伯納德修道院位于離山口 1 英里遠(yuǎn)的地方。可以想像他們發(fā)現(xiàn)一 只煮得很好看的錢包，鈔票 已化成灰時(shí)的沮喪心情。lady39。, John, runs a successful furniture business. John had very good day and put his wallet containing $3,000 into the microwave oven for safekeeping. Then he and Jane went horseriding. When they got home, Jane cooked their dinner in the microwave oven and without realizing it, cooked her fianc233。他與店員動(dòng)手向窗外投擲家具，椅子，桌子飛落花流水在拱廊街上。珠寶店主泰勒先生正在欣賞新布置的櫥窗。一周之后，編輯終于接到記者的傳真。去年，一位記者受一家有名的雜志的委托寫一篇關(guān)于非洲某個(gè)新成立共和國總統(tǒng)府的文章。從此，艾爾弗可以一天到晚穿西服了。 艾爾弗結(jié)婚時(shí)，感到非常難為情，而沒有將自己的職業(yè)告訴妻子。s wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she never will, for Alf has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office. He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him 39。她的腦袋一定是在古希臘羅馬時(shí)代就為人所發(fā)現(xiàn)，并受到精心的保護(hù)。一個(gè)美國考古隊(duì)在阿伊亞 .依里尼海角的一座古城里考察了一座廟宇。不過，鐘又能報(bào)時(shí)了，我還是很高興的。牧師拿著一支電筒走上鐘樓想去看看究竟發(fā)生了什么事情。ll get used to that, Bill,39。 That39。I39。想到在寧靜的鄉(xiāng)村里有一頭危險(xiǎn)的野獸繼續(xù)逍遙流竄，真令人擔(dān)心。 搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開始的。 Lesson 1 A Puma at large 逃遁的美洲獅 Listen to the tape then answer the question below. 聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。那里的一位婦女在采摘黑莓時(shí)的看見“一只大貓”，離她僅 5 碼遠(yuǎn)，她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。 Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one 十三等于一 Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since. One night, however, our vicar work up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o39。ve been ing up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.39。s the trouble, vicar,39。 said the vicar. Thirteen is not as good as one, but it39。借著電筒光。” “問題就在這里，牧師，”比爾回答說。這座古城肯定一度很繁榮，因?yàn)樗碛懈叨鹊奈拿?，房子一般?3 層樓高，用石塊修建。卻使在當(dāng)時(shí)，它也屬歷史悠久的珍奇之物。Mr. Bloggs39。他只 說在埃爾斯米爾公司上班。別人將稱呼他為“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾爾弗”了。稿子寄來后，編輯看第一句話就拒絕予以發(fā)表。那個(gè)可憐的記者不僅被捕了，而且還被送進(jìn)了監(jiān)獄。他手下兩名店員從早上 8 點(diǎn)就開始忙碌，這時(shí)剛剛布置完畢。一個(gè)竊賊被一尊很重的雕像擊中，但由于他忙著搶鉆石首飾，竟連疼痛都顧不上了。39。 refers to this. Mutilate v. 使殘缺不全 chew v. 咀嚼 microwave n. 微波，微波爐 oven n. 爐灶 safekeeping n. 妥善保管 Newcastle n. 紐卡斯?fàn)枺ㄓ凼校? identify v. 鑒定，識(shí)別 spokeswoman n. 女發(fā)言人 這種事情在你身上出現(xiàn)過嗎？你有沒有把褲子塞洗衣機(jī)，然后又想在褲子 的后兜有一張大面值的紙幣？當(dāng)你把褲子搶救出來時(shí)，你有沒 有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣 已經(jīng)變得比白紙還白？當(dāng)英國人犯這種錯(cuò)誤時(shí)，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國 家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。約翰去找銀行經(jīng)理，經(jīng)理把約翰的錢包和紙幣的殘留 物送到英國銀行在紐卡斯?fàn)柕囊粋€(gè)專門部門 —— 殘鈔鑒別組。幾百年來，圣伯納德修道院馴養(yǎng)狗拯救了許多翻越這道山口的旅游者的生命。修道士們喜歡冬天，而不太喜歡夏天。Cats behave like welltrained paratroopers.39。顯然，這種說法里面包含著許多真實(shí)性。在一個(gè)長長的跌落過程中，它們可以達(dá)到每小時(shí) 60 里甚至更快的速度。因?yàn)榇?16 個(gè)密封艙組成，即使有兩個(gè)艙進(jìn)水，仍可漂浮的水面上。由于這個(gè)聲音非常輕，沒人會(huì)想到船身已遭損壞。, I answered confidently. 39。You should have declared that. Perfume is not exempt from import duty.39。It39。 “您有什么需要申報(bào)的嗎？”他直盯著我的眼睛問。突然，我看到官員臉上露出了得意的神色。幾分鐘后，我終于被放行，手提劃著寶貴的粉筆記號(hào)的行李，匆匆離去。也許，這兩種都像都有可信之處。由于他們隨身帶了一支捕魚槍，因此，吃飯不愁。 5天后，一條油輪從那兒路過，搭救了他們。 最近有兩個(gè)人在一座珊瑚島上呆了 5 天，他們真希望在那兒再多呆一些日子。ate like kings39。 “香水，嗯？”他譏諷地說道，“你剛才應(yīng)該申報(bào)，香水要上進(jìn)口稅的。”我自信地回答說。 As I expected, he did not believe me. 39。But it isn39。 39。于是，他發(fā)出棄船的命令，幾百人跳進(jìn)了冰冷刺骨的海水里。人們將永遠(yuǎn)記著這艘巨輪的沉沒慘劇。它們伸展四肢，就像飛行中的松鼠一樣。 最近，紐約動(dòng)物醫(yī)療中心對(duì) 132 只貓進(jìn)行了為期 5 個(gè)月的綜合研究 。它們可以對(duì)人友好，充滿柔情。狗也比較自由，被放出圍欄，四處遛達(dá)。如今由于山里開挖了隧道，翻越山口已不那么危險(xiǎn)了。約翰拿回了他損失的全部數(shù)額?？雌饋? ，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢幣。So long as there39。就在轎車離開的時(shí)候，泰勒先生從店里沖了出來，跟在車后追趕，一邊還往 車上扔煙灰缸、花瓶。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了 幾分鐘就回到了店里。在傳真中他告訴編輯，就在他數(shù)通向 15 英尺高的總統(tǒng)府圍墻的 1， 084 級(jí)臺(tái)階時(shí)，被抓了起來?！本庉嬃⒓唇o那位記者 發(fā)去傳真，要求他核實(shí)一下臺(tái)階的確切數(shù)字和圍墻的高度 記者立即出發(fā)去核實(shí)這些重要的事實(shí)，但過了好長時(shí)間不見他把數(shù)字寄來，在此期間，編輯等得不耐煩了，因?yàn)殡s志馬上要付印。s palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refuse to publish it. The article began: 39。晚上回家前，他洗個(gè)淋浴，重新?lián)Q上那身黑色西服。Alf39。她身高 3 英尺，雙手叉腰。城里甚至還敷設(shè)了排水系統(tǒng)，因?yàn)樵讵M窄的街道底下發(fā)現(xiàn)了許許多多陶土制作的排水管道。” “大家慢慢就習(xí)慣了，比爾，”牧師說。 “你究竟在這上面干什么，比爾？”牧師驚訝地問。s go downstairs and have a cup of tea.39。It39。You certainly did give me a surprise!39。Whatever are you doing up here Bill?39。事實(shí)上搜尋工作很困難，因?yàn)槌３Ｊ窃绯吭诩椎匕l(fā)現(xiàn)那只美洲獅，晚上卻在 20 英里外的乙地發(fā)現(xiàn)它的蹤跡。a large cat39。當(dāng)倫敦動(dòng)物園接到報(bào)告說，在倫敦以南45 英里處發(fā)現(xiàn)一只美洲獅時(shí)，這些報(bào)告并沒有受到重視。專家們?nèi)缃褚呀?jīng)完全肯定那只動(dòng)物就是美洲 獅，但它是從哪兒來的呢？由于全國動(dòng)物園沒有一家報(bào)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(shè)法逃出來了。m trying to repair the bell,39。ve probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I39。clock it will strike thirteen times and there39。教堂的鐘很大，以前不分晝夜打點(diǎn)報(bào)時(shí)，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無聲無息了。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚?！? 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