【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 d that the str ike wi l conti nue unt il gener al agreement is r eached about pay and wor king condit ions. Most peopl e bel ieve t hat the st ri ke wil l last f or at l east a week. Many owner s of pr ivat e car s are going t o of fer 39。f ree r ides39。 t o people on their way t o wor k. Thi s wil l reli eve presure on the t rains t o some extent. Meanwhil e, a number of uni ver sity st udent s have volunteered t o dr ive buses whi le t he st ri ke lasts. Al t he young men ar e exper t dr ivers, but bef or e t hey dr ive any of the buses, they wi l have to pass a special test. The student s are goi ng to t ake the test in t wo days39。 t ime. Even so, peopl e are goi ng t o fi nd it di f icult t o get t o wor k. But so f ar , the publi c has expressed i ts gr at it ude to t he st udent s in l et er s to the Pr ess. Onl y one or two people have objected t hat t he st udents wi l l dr ive t oo fast! Lesson85 Never too ol d t o learn 活到老學(xué)到老 I have j ust r eceived a l eter f rom my ol d school inf or mi ng me t hat my for mer head mast er, Mr Regmal d Page, wi l be r et ir ing next week. Pupils of t he school, old and new, wi l be sending hi m a present to mark t he occasion. Al t hose who have cont ri but ed towar ds the gif t wil l si gn their names i n a lar ge al bum whi ch wil l be sent to the headm aster 39。s home. We shal al rem em ber Mr Page f or hi s patience a nd under st anding and f or the ki ndl y encouragement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngl y to school. A gr eat m any f orm er pupil s wil l be atending a farewel l di nner i n his honour next Thur sday. It i s a cur ious coincidence that he day bef ore hi s reti r em ent , M r Page wil l have been teachi ng for a t otal of f ort y year s. Af t er he has r et ir ed, he wi l devot e himself t o gardening. For hi m , t his wi l be an enti rely new hobby. But thi s does not mat er , for , as he has oft en remar ked, one is never t oo old t o l ear n. Leson86 Out of cont rol 失控 As the m an tr ied t o swi ng t he speed boat r ound, the st er ingwheel came away in hi s hands. He waved desper ately t o his panion, who had been wat er ski ing f or the last fi ft een m inutes. Both men had hardl y had ti me t o r eali ze what was happeni ng when they wer e thr own viol ent 1y into the sea. The speedboat had st ruck a buoy, but it conti nued t o move very qui ckl y acr oss t he water . Bot h men had j ust begun t o swim t owar ds the shore. when they noti ced wi t h dismay that the speed boat was moving in a ci rcle. It now came st raight towar ds them at t remendous speed. In less than a mi nut e, i t roar ed past the m only a few feet away. Af ter it had pased, t hey swam on as quickly as t hey could because t hey knew that he boat woul d soon r eturn. They had just had enough ti me t o swim out of danger when t he boat agai n pleted a ci rcle. On t his occasion, however , it had sl owed down consi der abl y. The pet rol had near ly al l been used up. Befor e long, the noise dropped pletely and the boat began to dr if t gent ly across the wat er . Leson87 A perfect alibi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的證據(jù) 39。At the ti me t he mur der was mi t ed, I was tr avel li ng on the 8. 0 o39。clock tr ain t o London, 39。 said the man. 39。Do you al ways catch such an ear ly tr ai n ?39。 asked the i nspect or. 39。Of cour se I do,39。 answer ed the m an. 39。 I m ust be at work at o39。cl ock. My em pl oyer wi l confi rm that I was ther e on ti me.39。 39。 Would a later t rain get you to work on time ?39。 asked the inspect or. 39。 I suppose i t would, but I never catch a l ater tr ain.39。 39。At what t ime di d you ar ive at the stat ion ?39。 39。At ten t o eight. I bought a paper and wai ted f or the t rain. 39。 And you didn39。t noti ce anythi ng unusual ?39。 39。 Of cour se not .39。 39。I suggest ,39。 sai d t he inspector , 39。that you ar e not tel ing t he tr uth. I suggest t hat you did not catch the 8. 0 o39。clock t rain, but that you caught t he whi ch woul d sti l get you t o wor k on ti me. You se, on t he morni ng of t he mur der , the o39。cl ock t r ai n di d not run at al. I t broke down at Fer ngreen stati on and was taken of f the l ine.39。 Leson88 Trapped i n a mine 困在礦井里 Six m en have been tr apped i n a mi ne for seventeen hours. If t hey ar e not br ought to the surf ace soon they m ay lose their l ives. However, r escue oper at ions are pr oving dif f icult. I f expl osi ves ar e used, vi brati ons wil l cause the r oof of t he mine t o coll apse. Rescue workers ar e ther ef ore dr il li ng a hol e on t he nor th si de of t he mi ne. They int end to br ing t he men up in a special capsule. If t her e had not been a hard l ayer of r ock beneat h the soil , they would have pleted t he job i n a f ew hours. As i t i s, t hey have been dri l ing f or si xt een hour s and t hey st il l have a l ong way to go. Meanwhil e, a micr ophone, whi ch was lower ed int o the m ine two hour s ago, has enabled t he men t o keep i n t ouch wi th the closest r el ati ves. Though t hey ar e running out of food and dr ink, t he men ar e cheerf ul and confi dent t hat they wi l get out soon. They have been t old t hat r escue oper ations are pr ogressi ng smoot hly. If t hey knew how di f f icult i t was t o dr il t hrough the har d rock, they would l ose heart . Lesson89 A sli p of the t ongue 口誤 Peopl e wil l do anyt hi ng to see a f r e showeven if i t i s a bad one. When the news got r ound that a var iet y show would be pr esented at our l ocal cinema by t he P. and U. Bi r d Sed Com pany, we al r ushed t o see i t. We had to queue for hours t o get i n and there must have been sever al hundred people pr esent just be for e the show began. Unf ort unatel y, t he show was one of t he dul lest we have ever sen. Those who f ail ed to get in need not have f elt disappoint ed as many of the art istes who should have appeared di d not e. T