【正文】 number of uni ver sit y st udent s have volunteered t o dr ive buses whi le t he st ri ke lasts. Al t he young men ar e exper t dr ivers, but bef or e t he y dr ive any of the buses, they wi l have to pass a special test. The student s are goi ng to t ake the test in t wo days39。 t ime. Even so, peopl e are goi ng to f ind i t dif fi cul t to get to wor k. But so f ar, t he publ i c has expr essed it s gr ati tude to the student s in let ers t o the Pr es. Only one or t wo peopl e have obj ect ed that he student s wil l dri ve too f ast ! Lesson85 Never t oo ol d t o l earn 活到老學(xué)到老 I have just r ecei ved a let er f r om my ol d school inf ormi ng me t hat m y f or mer head master, Mr Regm al d Page, wi l be r etir ing next week. Pupil s of the school, ol d and new, wi l be sendi ng him a present t o mark the occasion. Al l t hose who have contr ibuted t owar ds the gi ft wi l sign t hei r nam es i n a l ar ge album which wi l be sent t o the headm ast er 39。s home. We shal al r em e mber Mr Page f or his pati ence and under st andi ng and for the ki ndl y encour agement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngl y t o school. A great m any for mer pupil s wi l be at endi ng a far ewel l di nner i n his honour next Thursday. It i s a curi ous coincidence that the day before hi s r et ir ement , Mr Page wil l have been teachi ng for a t otal of for ty years. Aft er he has r et ir ed, he wi l devote hi msel f to gardening. For hi m, thi s wil l be an ent ir ely new hobby. But t his does not m at t er , for , as he has oft en remar ked, one is never t oo old t o l ear n. Leson86 Out of cont rol 失控 As the m an tr ied to swi ng t he speed boat r ound, the st er ingwheel came away i n his hands. He waved desper at ely t o his panion, who had been wat er ski ing f or t he last fi ft en minutes. Bot h men had hardl y had ti me t o reali ze what was happeni ng when they wer e thr own violent1y into the sea. The speedboat had st ruck a buoy, but it continued t o move very quickly acr oss t he water. Bot h men had j ust begun t o swim t owar ds the shore. when they noti ced wi th dismay that the speed boat was moving i n a ci rcle. It now came st raight towar ds them at tr emendous speed. In les t han a mi nut e, i t roared past them only a few feet away. Af ter it had pased, t hey swam on as qui ckly as they could because t hey knew t hat t he boat would soon r eturn. They had just had enough ti me to swi m out of danger when t he boat agai n pleted a ci rcle. On t his occasion, however , i t had sl owed down considerably. The petr ol had nearl y al been used up. Befor e long, the noise dropped pletel y and the boat began to dr if t gent ly across the wat er . Leson87 A perfect alibi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的證據(jù) 39。At the ti me t he murder was mi t ed, I was tr avel li ng on the 8. 0 o39。clock tr ain t o London, 39。 said the man. 39。Do you al ways catch such an ear ly tr ai n ?39。 asked the i nspect or. 39。Of cour se I do,39。 answer ed the m an. 39。 I m ust be at wor k at o39。cl ock. My em pl oyer wi l confi rm that I was there on ti me.39。 39。 Would a later tr ain get you to work on t ime ?39。 asked the inspect or. 39。 I suppose i t would, but I never catch a l ater tr ain.39。 39。At what ti me di d you ar ive at the stat ion ?39。 39。At ten t o eight. I bought a paper and wai ted f or the t rain. 39。 And you didn39。t notice anythi ng unusual ?39。 39。 Of cour se not. 39。 39。I suggest ,39。 sai d t he inspector , 39。t hat you ar e not tel ing t he tr uth. I suggest t hat you did not cat ch the 8. 0 o39。clock tr ain, but t hat you caught t he 8. 25 which woul d sti l get you t o wor k on ti me. You se, on t he morning of t he mur der , t he o39。cl ock tr ai n did not r un at al l. It br oke down at Ferngr en st at ion and was t aken off t he li ne. 39。 Lesson88 Trapped in a mi ne 困在礦井里 Six men have been t rapped in a m ine f or sevent en hour s. I f they are not brought t o t he sur face soon t hey may lose t hei r lives. However , r escue operati ons ar e proving di f icult . If explosives ar e used, vibr at ions wi l cause t he roof of the mi ne to col lapse. Rescue wor ker s are t her efor e dri l ing a hole on the nort h side of the m ine. They i ntend to br ing the men up i n a speci al capsul e. I f there had not been a har d layer of r ock beneath t he soi l, t hey woul d have pl et ed the j ob in a few hour s. As i t is, they have been dr il ing f or si xteen hour s and they sti l have a long way t o go. Meanwhi le, a mi crophone, which was l owered i nt o t he mine t wo hours ago, has enabl ed the m en to keep in touch wit h t he cl osest r elati ves. Though they are r unni ng out of f ood and dr ink, the m en ar e cheer ful and conf ident t hat t hey wil l get out soon. They have been told that rescue operati ons ar e progr essing smoothl y. I f they knew how di f icult i t was t o dr il t hrough the har d rock, they woul d l ose hear t. Lesson89 A sli p of the t ongue 口誤 Peopl e wil l do anyt hing t o se a fr e showeven if i t is a bad one. When the news got round that a var iet y show would be pr esented at our l ocal cinema by t he P. and U. Bir d Seed Com pany, we al r ushed t o se i t. We had to queue for hours t o get i n and ther e must have been sever al hundr ed people pr esent just be f or e t he show began. Unf ort unat el y, t he show was one of t he dull est we have ever sen. Those who fail 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 only f unny things we heard that evening came f rom the adver ti ser at the beginning of t he pr ogramme. He was obviously ver y ner vous and f or some minutes stood awkwar dl y befor e the m icrophone. As soon as he opened his m out h, everyone burst out l aughing. We al l know what he poor m an should have sai d, but what he act ual ly said was: 39。Thi s is t he