【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 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. 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，你有沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣已經(jīng)變得比白紙還白？當(dāng)英國人犯這種錯誤時，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。對英國人來說，值得慶幸的是英國銀行有一個殘鈔鑒別組，負(fù)責(zé)理那些把錢塞進(jìn)機(jī)器或塞給狗的人提出的索賠要求?？雌饋?，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢幣。 最近的一個案例與簡 .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 英鎊的錢包放進(jìn)微波爐內(nèi)保存。然后，他和 簡一起去騎馬?；丶液螅営梦⒉t煮了晚飯，無意中之中把她未婚夫的錢包也一起煮了?？梢韵胂袼麄儼l(fā)現(xiàn)一只煮得很好看的錢包，鈔票已化成灰時的沮喪心情。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€專門部門 ——?dú)堚n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。 “只要有東西可供識別，我們會把錢還給人家的， ”銀行的一位女發(fā)言人說。 “去年，我們對 21， 000 起索賠要求支付了 150萬英鎊。 ” Lesson8A famous monastery The Great St Bernard Pass connects Switzerland to Italy. At 2470 meters, it is the highest mountain pass in Europe. The famous monastery of St Bernard, which was founded in the eleventh century, lies about a mile away. For hundreds of years, St Bernard dogs have saved the lives of travelers 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 has been built through the mountains, the Pass is less dangerous, but each year, the dogs are still sent out into the snow whenever a traveler 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 and very few people attempt to cross the Pass. The monks Prefer winter to summer for they have more privacy. The dogs have greater freedom, too, for they are allowed to wander outside their enclosure. The only regular visitors to the monastery in winter are parties of skiers who go there at Christmas and Easter. These young people, who love the peace of the mountains, always receive a warm. Wele at St Bernard39。s monastery. 圣伯納德大山口連接著瑞士與意大利，海拔 2,473O 米，是歐洲最高的山口。 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。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。那些最先從亞洲引進(jìn)的狗，待人友好，早在羅馬時代就給人當(dāng)看門狗了。如今由于山里開挖了隧道，翻越山口已不那么危險(xiǎn)了。但每年還要派狗到雪山地里去幫助那些遇到困難的旅游者，盡管修通了隧道，但仍有一些人想冒險(xiǎn)徒步跨越圣伯納德山口。 夏天的幾個月里，修道院十分忙碌，因?yàn)橛谐汕先f的人駕車通過山口，順道來修道院參觀。由于來人太多，狗被關(guān)在專門的圍欄里。然而到了冬天，修道院里的生活則是另一番景象。氣溫下降到零下 30度，試圖跨越山口的人寥寥無幾。修道士們喜歡冬天，而不太喜歡夏天。因?yàn)樵诙欤麄兛梢愿嗟剡^無人打擾的生活。狗也比較自由，被放出圍欄，四處遛達(dá)。冬天常來修道院參觀的只有一批批滑雪者。他們在圣誕節(jié)或復(fù)活節(jié)到那兒去。這些熱愛高山清靜環(huán)境的年輕人每年都受到圣伯納德道院的熱烈歡迎。 Lesson9 Flying cats Cats never fail to fascinate human beings. They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans, but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well. They never bee submissive like dogs and horses. As a result, humans have learned to respect feline independence. Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives. One of the things that fascinate us most about cats is the popular belief that they have nine lives. Apparently, there is a good deal of truth in this idea. A cat39。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。Cats behave like welltrained paratroopers.39。 a doctor said. It seems that the further cats fall, the less they are likely to injure themselves. In a long drop, they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more. At high speeds, falling cats have time to relax. They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels. This increases their airresistance and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground. 貓總能引起人們的極大興趣。它們可以對人友好，充滿柔情。但是，它們又有自己神秘的生活方式。它們從不像狗和馬一樣變得那么順從。結(jié)果是人們已經(jīng)學(xué)會尊重貓的獨(dú)立性。在它們的一生中，大多數(shù)貓都對人存有戒心。最使我們感興趣的一件事情就是一種通俗的信念 ——貓有九條命。顯然，這種說法里面包含著許多真實(shí)性。貓?jiān)诘鋾r能夠大難不死是有事實(shí)作為依據(jù)的。 最近，紐約動物醫(yī)療中心對 132只貓進(jìn)行了為期 5個月的綜合研究。所有這些貓有一個共同的經(jīng)歷：它們都曾從高層建筑上摔下來過，但只有其中的 8只貓死于震蕩或跌傷。當(dāng)然，紐約是進(jìn)行這種有趣 的試驗(yàn)的一個理想的地方，因?yàn)槟抢锔静蝗狈Ω邩谴髲B，有的是高層的窗檻從上往下墜落。有一只叫薩伯瑞的貓從 32層樓上掉下來，但只摔斷一顆牙。 “貓就像訓(xùn)練有素的跳傘隊(duì)員， ” 一位醫(yī)生說?？雌饋?，貓跌落的距離越長，它們就越不會傷害自己。在一個長長的跌落過程中，它們可以達(dá)到每小時 60 里甚至更快的速度。在高速下落中，貓有時間放松自己。它們伸展四肢，就像飛行中的松鼠一樣。這樣就加大了空氣阻力，并減少了它們著地時沖擊力帶來的震動。 Lesson10 The loss of Titanic The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 89l. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At that time, however, she was not only the larges