【正文】 I was there on t im e. 39。 39。 Woul d a l ater tr ai n get you to wor k on t ime ?39。 asked t he inspector . 39。 I suppose i t woul d, but I never catch a l at er tr ai n.39。 39。At what ti me did you ar ri ve at the stati on ?39。 At ten t o eight. I bought a paper and wai ted f or t he tr ain.39。 39。And you di dn39。t not ice anything unusual ?39。 Of course not. 39。 I suggest ,39。 sai d the i nspector, 39。t hat you ar e not t eli ng the t rut h. I suggest that you did not cat ch the o39。cl ock tr ain, but t hat you caught the 8. 25 which woul d st il l get you t o work on ti me. You see, on the mor ning of t he murder, t he o39。cl ock t rai n did not run at al . It broke down at Ferngreen st at i on and was taken off t he line.39。 Leson88 Trapped in a mi ne 困在礦井里 Six m en have been tr apped i n a mi ne for seventeen hours. If t hey ar e not br ought t o the surf ace soon t hey m ay lose their l ives. However, r escue oper ations are pr oving di f icult . I f expl osi ves ar e used, vibrat ions wil l cause the r oof of t he mi ne to coll apse. Rescue worker s ar e t her ef ore dr il li ng a hole on t he nor th si de of the mi ne. They i nt end to br ing t he men up i n a special capsule. If t her e had not been a hard layer of r ock beneat h t he soi l, they would have plet ed the j ob in a f ew hours. As i t is, t hey have been dri l ing f or si xt een hour s and they stil l have a long way t o go. Meanwhi le, a mi cr ophone, which was l ower ed int o the m ine t wo hours ago, has enabl ed the men t o keep in t ouch wi t h the closest r elati ves. Though t hey ar e r unni ng out of f ood and dr ink, the men ar e cheerf ul and confi dent t hat t hey wi l l get out soon. They have been t old t hat r escue oper ati ons ar e pr ogr essi ng smoothl y. I f they knew how di f icult i t was t o dr il l t hrough the har d rock, they would l ose heart . Lesson89 A sli p of the t ongue 口誤 Peopl e wil l do anyt hing t o see a f r e showeven if i t i s a bad one. When the news got r ound that a var iet y show would be pr esented at our l ocal cinema by t he P. and U. Bi r d Sed Com pany, we al r ushed t o see i t. We had to queue for hours t o get i n and ther e must have been sever al hundred people pr esent just be for e the show began. Unf ort unat el y, t he show was one of t he dullest we have ever sen. Those who f ail ed to get in need not have f elt disappoi nt ed as many of the art istes who should have appeared di d not e. The onl y f unny t hings we heard t hat evening came f rom the adver ti ser at the beginning of the pr ogramme. He was obviously very ner vous and f or some minutes stood awkwar dl y befor e the mi crophone. As soon as he opened his mout h, everyone bur st out l aughing. We al l know what t he poor man shoul d have said, but what he actual y sai d was: 39。This i s the Poo and Ee Seed Bir d Company. Good ladies, evening and gent lemen ! 39。 l eson90 What s for supper ？ 晚餐吃什么？ Though Brazil i s one of t he ri chest countr ies i n the wor ld, much of it has not yet been developed. I t was mainly for thi s reason that he Br azi lian government deci ded t o have a new cit y buil t 600 mil es nor thwest of Rio de Janeir o. Designed by the gr eat archi tect Lucio Cost a, t he new cit y, Br asi li a, r epl aced Ri o de Janei ro as t he capit al of Br azi f in 1960. Brasil ia has been car ef ull y planned for modern l ivi ng. I ts wi de roads, whi ch can take fourt een lanes of t raf fi c, have been kept away fr om l iving ar eas. Chil dr en do not have t o cross busy str eet s to go to school . Housewi ves can visit shoppi ng cent res on f oot , for in these special y desi gned l iving ar eas, car s are unnecessar y. At f ir st, the government had gr eat di f icult y in per suading people t o leave Rio and to set le i n Br asi l ia. Since 1960, however , the popul ation has been growi ng al l the t ime. Br asi li a has quickly est abl ished itself as t he capit al of t he countr y. The idea to have t he capit al m oved so f ar i nland wi l have a great ef fect on the f utur e of Br azil . Lesson91 Three men i n a basket 三人同籃 A pi lot noti ced a bal loon which seemed to be maki ng f or a Royal Ai r For ce Stati on near by. He infor med t he st at ion at once, but no one t her e was able t o explain t he mystery. The off icer in the contr ol t ower was ver y angr y when he hear d t he news, because bal loons can be a gr eat danger t o air cr aft . He sai d that som eone m ight by spying on the stati on and the pil ot was ordered t o keep t rack of the st range obj ect . The pi lot managed t o cir cle t he bal loon f or some t im e. He could make out t hree men i n a basket under i t and one of them was hol ding f ield glases. When the bal oon was over the st at ion, the pil ot saw one of t he men taking phot ogr aphs. Soon af ter war ds, t he bal l oon began to descend and i t l anded near an ai rf iel d. The poli ce were cal ed in, but t hey coul d not ar rest anyone, f or the basket cont ai ned two Members of Parl iament and t he Commanding Of f icer of t he st ati on! As the Comm anding Of f icer expl ai ned later , one half of the st at ion di d not know what t he ot her hal f was doi ng ! Lesson92 Aski ng for t roubl e 自找麻煩 I t must have been about two in t he mor ni ng when I ret ur ned home. I t ri ed to wake up my wi fe by ri ngi ng the door bel l, but she was f ast asleep, so I got a ladder f rom the shed in the garden, put it against he wal , and began cli mbing t owar ds the bedroom window. I was almost there when a sar casti c voi ce bel ow said,39。 I don39。t thi nk the wi ndows need cleaning at this tim e of the night .39。 I looked down and nearl y f el l off t he ladder when I saw a poli cem an. I i mmediatel y regr et ted answer ing i n t he way I did, but I said, 39。I enjoy cleaning wi ndows at ni ght .39。 39。So do I ,39。 answe