【正文】 ts name fr om Sir Benjamin Hal who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of Parl iament were being bui lt. I t is not onl y of immense size, but is ext rem el y acurate as wel. Of fi ci al s fr om Greenwi ch Obser vator y have the clock checked t wi ce a day. On the B. B. C. you can hear the cl ock when it i s act ual y st ri ki ng because mi crophones are connect ed t o t he cl ock t ower. Bi g Ben ha s rar el y gone wr ong. Once, however , it f ail ed to gi ve t he cor rect ti me. A pai nt er who had been wor ki ng on t he tower hung a pot of pai nt on one of the hands and sl owed it down ! Leson72 A car cal led Bl uebi rd “藍(lán)鳥(niǎo)”汽車(chē) The great r aci ng dri ver, Si r Mal colm Cam pbel, was t he f ir st man t o dri ve at over 300 m il es per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecord i n Sept ember 1935 at Bonnevil e Sal t Fl at s, Ut ah. Bluebir d, t he car he was dr i vi ng, had been special y buil t f or him. I t was over 30 feet i n lengt h and had a 2500 hor sepower engi ne. Al t hough Cam pbel r eached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat di fi cult y i n contr ol li ng t he car because a t yr e bur st duri ng t he fi rst run. Af ter hi s at empt, Cam pbel l was di sappointed t o lear n t hat hi s average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However , a f ew days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour. Since that t ime, raci ng dr iver s have r eached speeds of over 400 mil es an hour . Foll owi ng his f at her 39。s al ways plent y to read in t he 39。 I l ied, 39。 I was just wonder ing how to spend t he mor ninguntil I saw you. You39。t have t o car r y him . Of course, we shoul d ar rest him, but as he has a good record, we shal l et him off t hi s tim e.39。 I lit a cigar et te to calm my nerves. I smoked with concent ration and pleasure as I was sure t hat this woul d be my l ast cigarete. For a whole week I did not smoke at al and duri ng t hi s t ime, m y wi fe suf fered ter ibly. I had al l t he usual sympt oms of someone gi vi ng up smoking: a bad temper and an enor mous appeti e. My f riends kept on of fering me cigar et tes and ci gars . They made no ef fort to hide their amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweets fr om my pocket. Aft er seven days of this I went to a par ty. Ever ybody ar ound me was smoking and I felt ext remel y unf or tabl e. When my ol d fr iend Br ian ur ged me to acept a ci gar et te, i t was mor e than I could bear . I t ook one gui lt ily, lit it and Geof f r ey l oves. He pr epar ed the speech carefull y and went to t he wedding wit h Jenny. He had included a l ar ge number of f unny stories i n the speech and, of cour se, it was a great success. As soon as he had f inished, Jenny t ol d him she want ed to go home. Geoffr ey was a li tl e disappointed by t hi s but he did as his daughter asked. On t he way home, he asked Jenny if she had enjoyed t he speech. To his surpri se, she sai d she hadn39。 SOS39。t be too har d on us. I39。 he shouted: 39。 said Gl or ia Gleam. 39。Mr Eames,39。l l e wit h you, 39。 39。Hull o, El izabeth,39。 sai d a poli cem an aft er war ds, 39。t . Geof r ey asked her why t hi s was so and she told him t hat she did not li ke t o see so m any peopl e laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunel 海峽隧道 I n l858, a Fr ench engineer, Aim e Thom e de Gam ond, ar ived i n Engl and wit h a plan f or a t went y one mil e tunnel across t he Engl ish Channel. He said t hat i t would be possi bl e t o bui ld a platf orm in t he centr e of t he Channel . This platf orm woul d ser ve as a port and a r ail way stati on. The t unnel woul d be wel l ventil at ed i f t al l chimneys were bui lt above seal evel. In 1860, a bet er pl an was put f or war d by an Engli shm an, Wil li am Low. He suggest ed t hat a doubl e r ai l way tunnel shoul d be bui lt. Thi s woul d solve the pr obl em of ventil at ion, f or i f a t rain ent er ed t hi s tunnel , it would draw i n fr esh ai r behi nd i t. Fort yt wo year s l at er a t unnel was act ual y begun. If , at the tim e, the Brit ish had not f eared invasi on, it woul d have been pl et ed. Recentl y, t here has agai n been gr eat i nt er est in t he i dea of aChannel Tunnel. I f i t i s buil t, it wil l connect Brit ai n to Europe f or t he f ir st tim e in hist ory. Leson65 Jumbo versus t he pol ice 小象對(duì)警察 Last Chr istmas, the ci rcus owner , Jimmy Gates, decided t o take som e pr esent s t o a chil dr en39。 Lesson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hat hel d Puf fi n is a m odern aer o plane, but i ts designer , Mr John Wim penny, is fi ndi ng it dif fi cult to get it off t he ground. The r eason for this is t hat hi s pl ane is also a bi cycl e. It s pi lot has to pedal har d t o get i t i nt o the ai r. Aft er Mr Wim penny had t he pl ane buil t, it was t ested thor oughl y. I n 1961, it was t he f ir st m an powered ai rcraft to fl y hal f a mi le. Whi le bei ng f lown by a champion am at eur cycl ist i n 1963, t he plane crashed on an ai rf ield. Si nce then, Mr Wimpenny has had it r ebuilt . He has had the lengt h of the wings i ncreased so t hat hey now m easur e 93 f etalmost as l ong as t hose of a Dakota. Many people have shown interest in t hi s new and unusual sport. But t hough air cycli st s m ay l earn how to fl y over shor t di st ances, and m ay, event ual l y, even get across t he Engl ish Channel , it is doubt f ul whet her t hey wil l ever cycle acr oss the Atl anti c. Lesson67 Volcanoes 火山 Har oun Tazief t he Pol ish scient ist, has spent his li fetim e st udying acti ve vol canoes and deep caves i n al l parts of the wor ld. I n 1948, he went to l ake Kivu i n the Congo to obser ve a new vol cano whi ch he later nam ed Ki turo. Tazi ef f was abl e to set up hi s cam p ver y cl ose t o the vol cano whil e it was erupt ing vi olent ly. Though he m anaged t o take a num ber of bri li ant ph