【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 und that a vari et y show would be pr esented at our l ocal ci nem a by t he P. and U. Bi r d Sed Com pany, we al r ushed to see it. We had t o queue f or hour s t o get i n and ther e must have been sever al hundred people pr esent just be f or e the show began. Unf or tunat el y, t he show was one of t he dull est we have ever sen. Those who f ail ed to get in need not ha ve f el t di sappoi nted as many of t he ar ti st es who should have appeared did not e. The only f unny t hi ngs we hear d t hat eveni ng cam e fr om t he advert iser at t he begi nni ng of t he pr ogr amme. He was obviously very ner vous and f or som e m inut es st ood awkwar dl y bef or e the mi cr ophone. As soon as he opened his m outh, everyone burst out l aughi ng. We al know what t he poor m an shoul d have sai d, but what he actual ly said was: 39。Thi s is t he Poo and Ee Sed Bir d Com pany. Good l adies, evening and gentlemen !39。 l eson90 Whats f or supper ？ 晚餐吃什么？ Though Br azil i s one of t he ri chest count ri es i n t he worl d, m uch of it has not yet been devel oped. It was mai nl y for t his reason that t he Brazil an gover nm ent deci ded t o have a new cit y built 600 mil es nort h west of Rio de Janeir o. Desi gned by the great ar chit ect Lucio Costa, the new ci ty, Brasi lia, r eplaced Ri o de Janeir o as t he capit al of Br azif i n 1960. Brasil ia has been car ef ul ly pl anned f or m odern l iving. I ts wi de roads, whi ch can t ake f ourt en l anes of t raf ic, have been kept away f rom l iving areas. Chi ldren do not have to cr oss busy str ets t o go to school. Housewi ves can vi si t shopping centr es on foot , for i n these speci al ly desi gned li vi ng ar eas, cars are unnecessar y. At fi rst, t he gover nment had great dif fi cult y i n per suadi ng people t o l eave Rio and t o setl e i n Brasi li a. Since 1960, however , the populati on has been gr owi ng al t he tim e. Brasi li a has quickl y est abli shed i tsel f as the capit al of t he countr y. The i dea t o have the capit al m oved so far inland wil have a great ef ect on t he f ut ur e of Brazi l. Lesson91 Thre men in a basket 三人同籃 A pi l ot not iced a bal oon whi ch seemed t o be m aki ng f or a Royal Air Force Stati on near by. He i nf orm ed the stai on at once, but no one t her e was able t o expl ai n the myst er y. The off icer i n t he cont rol tower was ver y angr y when he hear d t he news, because bal oons can be a gr eat danger t o air cr af t. He sai d t hat someone mi ght by spying on t he stati on and t he pi lot was or dered t o keep tr ack of t he str ange obj ect. The pil ot managed to cir cl e t he bal loon f or some tim e. He coul d m ake out three men i n a basket under it and one of t hem was hol ding fi el d gl ases. When t he bal oon was over t he st ati on, t he pil ot saw one of the men taki ng photographs. Soon af ter war ds, t he bal oon began t o descend and it l anded near an air fiel d. The poli ce wer e cal ed in, but t hey coul d not ar est anyone, for the basket cont ai ned t wo Members of Parli ament and t he Commandi ng Of fi cer of t he st ati on! As t he Commandi ng Ofi cer expl ai ned later, one hal f of t he st at ion did not know what the other half was doi ng ! Lesson92 Asking f or trouble 自找麻 煩 I t m ust have been about t wo i n t he m or ni ng when I r et urned hom e. I tri ed to wake up my wi fe by r ingi ng the door bel l, but she was fast asl ep, so I got a l adder f rom t he shed in t he gar den, put it agai nst the wal, and began cl imbing t owards t he bedr oom window. I was al most t here when a sar casti c voice bel ow sai d,39。 I don39。t thi nk t he windows need cleani ng at t hi s tim e of t he ni ght. 39。 I looked down and nearl y f el of f the l adder when I saw a poli ceman. I imm edi at el y regr et ted answeri ng i n t he way I di d, but I said, 39。I enj oy cl eani ng windows at night .39。 So do I, 39。 answer ed t he poli cem an in the same t one. 39。Excuse m y inter upti ng you. I hat e to i nt er r upt a man when he39。s busy wor ki ng, but woul d you mind i ng wit h me t o t he station ?39。 39。Wel l, I 39。d prefer to st ay here,39。 I sai d. 39。You see, I 39。ve fotten my key.39。 39。Your what ?39。 he cal ed. 39。My key, 39。 I shout ed.39。 Fort unately, the shouting woke up my wi fe who opened the window just as t he poli ceman had start ed to cli mb towards me. Lesson93 A noble gif t 崇高的禮物 One of the most f amous monuments in t he wor ld, the Statue of Liber ty, was pr esented t o the Unit ed St at es of Ameri ca i n the nieenth ce nt ury by t he peopl e of Fr ance. The great statue, which was designed by the sculptor August e Bar tholdi, took ten year s to pl et e. Thesm oked wi th sat isfact ion. My wif e was del ighted that things had returned t o nor mal once more. Anyway, as Bri an poi nted out, it is t he easiest thing in t he worl d to give up smoki ng. He hi mself has done it l ot s of ti mes! Lesson79 By air 乘飛機(jī) I used to tr avel by air a gr eat deal when I was a boy. My parent s, used to li ve i n South Ameri ca and I used to f ly there f rom Eur ope i n the holi days. An ai rhostes would take char ge of me and I never had an unpleasant experience. I am used to t ravel ing by air and only on one occasion have I ever f el t f ri ghtened. After taki ng of f, we wer e f lying low over the city and slowly gaining height, when the plane suddenly t ur ned r ound and fl ew back t o the ai rpor t. Whil e we were wait ing to land, an ai rhost ess told us to keep calm and to get off t he plane quietly as soon as i t had t ouched down. Everybody on boar d was worr ied and we wer e cur ious to f ind out what had happened. Lat er we learnt t hat ther e was a ver y impor tant person on board. The pol ice had been told that a bomb had been pl ant ed on the plane. Af ter we had landed, the plane was sear ch