【正文】 afet y. Even t he bul l seemed to feel sor ry f or him, f or it looked on sym pat het ical y unti l t he drunk was out of the way befor e once m ore t urning i ts at tenti on to t he matador. Lesson71 A famous clock 一個著名的大鐘 When you visi t London, one of t he fi rst things you wi l se is Bi g Ben, the f am ous clock whi ch can be heard al l over t he worl d on the B. . I f the Houses of Par li am ent had hot been burned down i n 1834, t he gr eat clock woul d never have been erected. Big Ben takes its name fr om Si r Benj am in Hal l who was r esponsi bl e f or t he making of t he cl ock when the new Houses of Par liam ent were bei ng bui lt . It i s not only of i mmense si ze, but is extr emely accur ate as wel . Of fi ci als f rom Greenwich Observator y have the clock checked twi ce a day. On the B. . you can hear t he cl ock when it i s act ual ly str iki ng because micr ophones ar e connected t o the clock t ower. Bi g Ben has rarel y gone wr ong. Once, however , i t fai led to give the cor rect time. A pai nt er who had been worki ng on the t ower hung a pot of pai nt on one of t he hands and sl owed it down ! Leson72 A car call ed Bluebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The gr eat r aci ng dri ver , Sir Mal col m Cam pbel , was the f ir st m an to dr ive at over 300 mi les per hour . He set up a new worl d record i n September 1935 at Bonnevi l e Salt Flats, Ut ah. Bl uebir d, the car he was dr ivi ng, had been special y buil t f or him. I t was over 30 f et in le ngth and had a 2500 hor se power engine. Al though Cam pbel l r eached a speed of over 304 mil es per hour, he had great di f icult y i n cont rol ling the car because a t yre bur st duri ng the f ir st r un. Af t er hi s at tempt , Cam pbel l was di sappointed t o l ear n that his a ver age speed had been 299 m iles per hour . However , a few days l at er, he was tol d that a mi st ake had been made. Hi s average speed had been 301 m il es per hour . Since that ti me, racing dr ivers have reached speeds of over 400 m il es an hour. Foll owing hi s father 39。s foot st eps m any years l ater, Si r Malcolm 39。s son, Donald, also set up a wor ld record. Like hi s father , he was dr ivi ng a car cal ed Bluebir d. Lesson73 The record hol der 紀(jì)錄保持者 Lit le boys who pl ay tr uant f rom school ar e unimaginati ve. A qui et day39。s f ishing, or ei ght hours i n a ci nema seeing t he same fi lm over and over again, is usual ly as f ar as t hey get . They have al been put t o shame by a boy who, whi le pl ayi ng tr uant , tr avel ed 1600 mil es. He hi tch hiked to Dover and, t owards eveni ng, went int o a boat t o f ind somewher e t o sl eep. When he woke up next mor ni ng, he di scover ed that the boat had, in the meanti me, t ravel ed to Cal ai s. No one not iced the boy as he crept off . From there, he hit ch hiked to Par is i n a l or r y. The dr iver gave him a f ew bi scuit s and a cup of coff ee and lef t hi m j ust outside t he cit y. The next car the boy stopped did not take hi m i nto t he centr e of Pari s as he hoped it woul d, but to Per pignan on the Fr enchSpanish border . Ther e he was pi cked up by a policeman and sent back to Engl and by t he local aut hor it ies. He has surel y set up a r ecor d f or t he thousands of boys who dr eam of evadi ng school. Leson74 Out of the l imel ight 舞臺之外 An anci ent bus stopped by a dry r iver bed and a par ty of f amous act ors and act r esses got off . Dressed i n dark gl ases and ol d clot hes, they had taken special precaut ions so that no one should r ecogniz e t hem . But as t hey soon discover ed, disguises can someti mes be too perf ect. 39。Thi s is a wonder ful place for a pi i c, 39。 said Glor ia Gl eam . 39。 I t couldn39。t be bet er , Gl or ia, 39。 Br inksley Mer s agr eed. 39。No newspaper m en, no f il m f ans! Why don39。t we e more of ten ?39。 Meanwhi le, two other act ors, Rockwal l Sl inger and Merl in Gr eeves, had car ri ed two l arge f ood basket s to a shady spot under some tr es. When they had al ma de t hemselves for table, a str anger appeared. He looked ver y angry. 39。Now you gut out of her e, al of you!39。 he shouted: 39。 I39。m sher if f here. Do you se that not ice ? I t says No Campingi n case you can39。t read ! 39。 39。 Look, sher if f , 39。said Rockwal l, 39。 don39。t be too har d on us. I 39。m Rockwal l Slinger and this i s Mer li n Gr eves. 39。 39。 Oh, is it ?39。 said t he sher if f wit h a sneer . 39。Wel l, I39。m Br i nksley Meer s, and my other name is Gl ori a Gleam. Now you get out of her e fast !39。 leson75 SOS 呼救信號 When a l ight passenger plane fl ew of f cour se some t ime ago, it cr ashed i n t he mountai ns and i ts pi lot was kil led. The onl y passengers, a young woman and her t wo baby daughter s, wer e unhur t. I t was t he mi ddl e of wint er . Snow lay t hick on t he gr ound. The wom an knew that he near est vil lage was mi les away. When it grew dar k. she t urned a suit case int o a bed and put t he chi ldren i nsi de it , coveri ng them wit h al t he cl othes she could f ind. Dur ing t he ni ght , it got ter ibl y cold. The woman kept as near as she coul d to the chil dr en and e ven t ri ed to get int o the case her sel f, but it was too sm al l. Earl y ,next morni ng she heard pl anes pasi ng over head and wonder ed how she coul d send a si gnal . Then she had an idea. She stamped out the l et ter s39。 SOS39。 in t he snow. For tunat ely, a pil ot saw t he signal and sent a message by radio t o t he nearest town. It was not long befor e a heli copter ar ived on t he scene to rescue t he sur vivors of t he pl ane cr ash. Leson76 April Fools Day 愚人節(jié) 39。To end our speci al news bull eti n, 39。 said the voice of the t elevision announcer, 39。 we ar e t aki ng you to t he macar oni f iel ds of Cal abr ia. Macar oni has been grown i n t hi s area f or over six hundred year s. Two of the l eading gr owers, Giuseppe Moldova and Ricardo Br abant