【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 . I t was the middle of wi nt er . Snow l ay t hi ck on the ground. The woman knew t hat the near est vi lage was mil es away. When i t grew dark. she turned a sui tcase into a bed and put the chil dr en i nside it , coveri ng t hem wi th al the cl ot hes she coul d f ind. Duri ng t he night, it got ter ibly col d. The woman kept as near as she could t o the childr en and even t ried to get i nt o the case hersel f, but it was t oo smal l. Ear ly ,next morning she heard planes passi ng over head and wonder ed how she could send a signal. Then she had an idea. She stamped out the let er s39。 SOS39。 in t he snow. For tunately, a pi lot saw the si gnal and sent amessage by r adio t o the nearest town. I t was not long before a hel icopter ar ri ved on the scene to r escue the sur vi vors of the pl ane cr ash. Lesson76 April Fools Day 愚人節(jié) 39。To end our speci al news bulleti n, 39。 sai d the voice of t he t el evision announcer, 39。 we are taking you to t he macar oni fi elds of Calabria. Macaroni has been grown in t hi s area for over six hundr ed years. Two of the leading grower s, Giuseppe Mol dova and Ricar do Br abant e, tel me that t hey have been expecting a spl endi d cr op this year and harvest ing has begun ear li er than usual. Here you can see two worker s who, between t hem, have j ust fi ni shed cutti ng t hr e cart loads of golden br own macaroni stalks. The whol e vi l age has been wor ki ng day and night gat heri ng and threshing this year 39。s cr op before the September r ains. On t he r ight , you can see Mr s Br abant e hersel f. She has been hel ping her husband f or t hi rty year s now. Mrs Brabante i s t al ki ng t o the manager of t he l ocal fact or y wher e t he crop is processed. This last scene shows you what wi l happen at he end of the har vest : the famous Cal abr ian macar oni eati ng peti ti on ! Signor Frateli , t he present champion, has won i t ever y year since 1961. And t hat ends our special bull et in for today, Thursday, Apri l 1st . We ar e now r et ur ni ng you to t he studi o. 39。 Leson77 A succesful operat ion 一例成功的手術(shù) The mummy of an Egypti an woman who died in 800 B. C. has j ust had an oper at ion. The mummy i s t hat of Shepenmut who was once a singer in t he Templ e of Thebes. As t her e were str ange mar ks on the Xr ay plates taken of t he mummy, doct or s have been t rying to f ind out whether t he woman di ed of a rare disease. The onl y way t o do t hi s was t o operate. The operation, which lasted for over f our hours, proved t o be very dif icult because of the hard r esin which cover ed t he skin. The doctors removed a section of t he mummy and sent it to a l aboratory. They also found somet hi ng which the Xr ay of the god Duamutef. Thi s god which has the head of a cow was nor mal ly placed insi de a mummy. The doctors have not yet decided how the woman died. They f eared that he mummy woul d fal to pieces when they cut it open, but f or tunately t hi s has not happened. The mummy succesfully survived t he oper at ion. Leson78 The l ast one? 最后一枝嗎？ Af ter eading an art icle ent itl ed 39。Ci gar et e Smoking and Your Heal th39。 I l it a ci garet e t o calm my ner ves. I smoked wi th concentr ati on and pl easur e as I was sur e that this would be my last ci garet e. For a whol e wek I di d not smoke at al l and dur ing this ti me, my wif e suff er ed t er ri bl y. I had al the usual symptoms of someone giving up smoki ng: a bad temper and an enormous appeti te. My fri ends kept on offeri ng m e ci gar et t es and ci gar s. They m ade no ef f or t t o hi de t hei r am usem ent whenever I pr oduced a packet of sweet s f r om m y pocket . Af t er seven days of t hi s I went t o a par t y. Ever ybody ar ound m e was sm oki ng and I f el t ext r em el y un f or t abl e. When m y ol d f r i end Br i an ur ged m e t o accept a ci gar et t e, i t was m or e t han I coul d bear . I t ook one gui l t i l y, l i t i t and Geof f r ey l oves. He pr epar ed the speech carefull y and went to the wedding wit h Jenny. He had incl uded a l ar ge number of f unny st or ies in the speech and, of course, it was a gr eat success. As soon as he had f inished, Jenny t old him she wanted to go home. Geof fr ey was a lit tl e di sappointed by t hi s but he did as hi s daughter asked. On t he way home, he asked Jenny if she had enjoyed the speech. To his sur pr ise, she said she hadn39。t . Geoffr ey asked her why this was so and she told hi m that she did not l ike to se so many people laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunel 海峽隧道 I n l858, aFrench engineer, Aime Thome de Gamond, ar ived i n England with a plan for a twent y one mil e tunnel across the Engl ish Channel. He said that i t would be possible t o buil d a pl at form in the centr e of the Channe l. This pl at form would ser ve as a por t and a railway st at ion. The tunnel woul d be wel venti lated if tal chi mneys were built above sea level. In 1860, a bet er plan was put f or war d by an Engl ishman, Wi li am Low. He suggest ed t hat a double r ai l way tunnel should be buil t. Thi s would sol ve t he pr oblem of vent il at ion, f or if a tr ai n enter ed t his t unnel, i t would draw i n f resh air behi nd it . Fort y t wo years l at er atunnel was act ual y begun. I f, at he t ime, t he Br it sh had not fear ed i nvasi on, i t would have been pleted. Recent ly, t her e has agai n been gr eat interest i n t he i dea of a Channel Tunnel . I f it is bui lt, it wil l connect Bri tain t o Eur ope for t he f ir st tim e in hist ory. Leson65 Jumbo versus t he pol ice 小象對警察 Last Chr istm as, the ci rcus owner, Jimmy Gates, decided t o take som e pr esents t o a chil dr en39。s hospi tal. Dresed up as Father Chri stm as and ac panied by a 39。guar d of honour39。 of six pret y gir ls, he set off down t he main st r et of the ci ty ri di ng a baby el phant cal led Jumbo. He, should have known that t he