【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 砸櫥窗搶劫 The expensive shops in a famous near Piccadilly were just opening. At this time of the morning, the arcade was almost empty. Mr. Taylor, the owner of a jewellery shop was admiring a new display. Two of his assistants had been working busily since eight o39。clock and had only just finished. Diamond necklaces and rings had been beautifully arranged on a background of black velvet. After gazing at the display for several minutes, Mr. Taylor went back into his shop. The silence was suddenly broken when a large car, with its headlights on and its home blaring, roared down the arcade. It came to a stop outside the jeweller39。s. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stocking over their faces jumped out and smashed the window of the shop with iron bars. While this was going on, Mr. Taylor was upstairs. He and his staff began throwing furniture out of the window. Chairs and tables went flying into the arcade. One of the thieves was struck by a heavy statue, but he was too busy helping himself to diamonds to notice any pain. The raid was all over in three minutes, for the men scrambled back into the car and it moved off at a fantastic speed. Just as it was leaving, Mr. Taylor rushed out and ran after it throwing ashtrays and vases, but it was impossible to stop the thieves. They had got away with thousands of pounds worth of diamonds. smashandgrab n. 砸櫥窗搶劫 arcade n. 有拱廊的街道（兩旁常設(shè)商店） Piccadilly n. 皮卡迪利大街 jewllery n. 珠寶（總稱） Necklace n. 項(xiàng)鏈 ring n. 戒指 background n. 背景 Velvet n. 天鵝絨，絲絨 headlight n. （汽車等）前燈 Blare v. 發(fā)嘟嗜聲，吼叫 staff n. 全體工作人員 raid n. 偷襲 Scramble n. 偷襲 scramble v. 爬行 fantastic adj. 非常大的 Ashtray n. 煙灰缸 皮卡迪利大街附近的一條著名拱廊街道上，幾家高檔商店剛剛開(kāi)始營(yíng)業(yè)。在早晨的這個(gè)時(shí)候，拱廊街上幾乎空無(wú)一人。珠寶店主泰勒先生正在欣賞新布置的櫥窗。他手下兩名店員從早上 8 點(diǎn)就開(kāi)始忙碌，這時(shí)剛剛布置完畢。鉆石項(xiàng)鏈、戒指漂亮地陳列在黑色絲絨上面。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了 幾分鐘就回到了店里。 寧?kù)o突然被打破，一輛大轎車亮著前燈，響著喇叭，呼嘯著沖進(jìn)了拱廊街，在珠寶店門(mén)口停了下來(lái)。一人留在駕駛座上，另外兩個(gè)用黑色長(zhǎng)筒絲襪蒙面的人跳下車來(lái)。他們用鐵棒把商店櫥窗的玻璃砸碎。這開(kāi)始發(fā)生時(shí)，泰勒先生正在樓上。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。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。這場(chǎng)搶劫只持續(xù)了 3 分鐘，因?yàn)楦`賊爭(zhēng)先恐后地爬上轎車，以驚人的速度開(kāi)跑了。就在轎車離開(kāi)的時(shí)候，泰勒先生從店里沖了出來(lái)，跟在車后追趕，一邊還往 車上扔煙灰缸、花瓶。但他已無(wú)法抓住那些竊賊了。他們已帶著價(jià)值數(shù)千鎊的首飾逃之夭夭了。 Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies 殘鈔鑒別組 Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever put your trousers in the washing machine and then remembered there was a large bank note in your back pocket? When you rescued your trousers, did note in your back pocket? When you rescued your trousers, did you find the note was whiter than white? People who live in Britain needn39。t despair when they made mistakes like this (and a lot of people do)! Fortunately for them, the Bank of England has a team called Mutilated Ladies which deals with claims from people who fed their money to a machine or to their dog. Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money! A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fianc233。, 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。39。s wallet as well. Imagine their dismay when they found a beautifullycooked wallet and notes turned to ash! John went to see his bank manager who sent the remains of wallet and the money to the special department of the Bank of England in Newcastle: the Mutilate Ladies! They examined the remain and John got all his money back. 39。So long as there39。s something to identify, we will give people their money back,39。 said a spokeswoman for the Bank. 39。Last year, we paid $ on 21,000 claims. Damaged bank notes. The Queen39。s head appears on English bank notes, and 39。lady39。 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?guó)港市） 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(guò)嗎？你有沒(méi)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(lái)時(shí)，你有沒(méi) 有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣 已經(jīng)變得比白紙還白？當(dāng)英國(guó)人犯這種錯(cuò)誤時(shí)，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國(guó) 家的人都有這種絕望的感覺(jué)）。對(duì)英國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，值得慶幸的是英國(guó)銀行有一個(gè) 殘鈔鑒別組，負(fù)責(zé)理那些把錢(qián)塞進(jìn)機(jī)器或塞給狗的人提出的索賠要求?？雌饋?lái) ，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢(qián)幣。 最近的一個(gè)案例與簡(jiǎn) .巴特林有關(guān)，她的未婚夫約翰擁有一家生意興隆家具 店。有一天約翰的生意很好，他把一只裝有 3,000 英鎊的錢(qián)包放進(jìn)微波爐內(nèi)保 存。然后，他和簡(jiǎn)一起去騎馬?；丶液?，簡(jiǎn)用微波爐煮了晚飯，無(wú)意中之中把 她未婚夫的錢(qián)包也一起煮了?？梢韵胂袼麄儼l(fā)現(xiàn)一 只煮得很好看的錢(qián)包，鈔票 已化成灰時(shí)的沮喪心情。約翰去找銀行經(jīng)理，經(jīng)理把約翰的錢(qián)包和紙幣的殘留 物送到英國(guó)銀行在紐卡斯?fàn)柕囊粋€(gè)專門(mén)部門(mén) —— 殘鈔鑒別組。他們鑒定了這些 殘留物。約翰拿回了他損失的全部數(shù)額?！爸灰袞|西可供識(shí)別，我們會(huì)把錢(qián) 還給人家的，”銀行的一位女發(fā)言人說(shuō)?！叭ツ?，我們對(duì) 21， 000 起索賠要求 支付了 150 萬(wàn)英鎊?！? Lesson 8 A famous monastery 著名的修道院 The Great St. Bernard Pass connects Switzerland to Italy. At 2,473 metres, it is the highest mountain pass in Europe. The famous monastery of St. Bernard, witch was founded in eleventh century, lies about a mile away. For hundreds of years, St. Bernard dogs have saved the lives of travellers crossing the dangerous Pass. These friendly dogs, which were first brought from Asia, were used as watchdogs even in Roman times. Now that a tunnel ahs been built through the mountains, the Pass is less dangerous, but each year, the dogs are still sent out into the snow whenever a traveller is in difficulty. Despite the new tunnel, there are still a few people who rashly attempt to cross the Pass on foot. During the summer months, the monastery is very busy, for it is visited by thousands of people who cross the Pass in cars. As there are so many people about, the dogs have to be kept in a special enclosure. In winter, however, life at the monastery is quite different. The temperature drops to 30 o and very few people attempt to cross the Pass. The monks prefer winter to summer of they have more privacy. The dogs have greater freedom, too, for they are allowed to wander outside