【導(dǎo)讀】sgravitywasnotaspainfulasleavingtheearth?U

　　

【正文】 He l ooked pale and hi s cl othes were i n a f ri ghtf ul st at e. 39。What has happened ?39。 she asked. 39。How di d your cl othes get i nt o such a mess ?39。 39。A fi r e ext i nguisher , my dear,39。 answered t he Ambasador dr il y. 39。Uni versit y student s set t he Em basy on f ir e t hi s mor ni ng. 39。 39。Good heavens! 39。 excl aim ed his wi f e. 39。And where wer e you at t he ti me ?39。 39。I was i n my of fi ce as usual ,39。 answer ed t he Am bassador . 39。The fi r e br oke out i n t he basem ent . I we nt down i mm edi at el y. of course, and t hat f ool , Hor st, aim ed a f ir e ext i ngui sher at m e. He t hought I was on f ir e. I m ust defi ni tel y get t hat f el l ow post ed.39。 The Am bassador39。s wi fe went on aski ng questi ons, when she suddenl y noti ced a bi g hole i n her husband39。s hat . 39。And how can you expl ain t hat ?39。 she asked. 39。Oh, t hat ,39。 sai d t he Am bassador. 39。Someone fi r ed a shot t hr ough m y off i ce wi ndow. Accur at e, don39。t you t hi nk ? Fort unat el y, I wasn39。t weari ng it at t he t im e. I f I had been, I woul d not have been abl e t o get home f or lunch. 39。 Lesson96 The dead ret urn 亡靈返鄉(xiāng) A Festi val f or t he Dead is hel d once a year i n Japan. Thi s fest i val is a cheerf ul occasi on, f or on this day, the dead ar e sai d to r eturn to t hei r homes and t hey ar e wel ed by the li ving. As they ar e expected to be hungr y aft er t hei r long j our ney, f ood is l ai d out for them. Speci aly made lanter ns ar e hung out side each house to help the dead to f ind their way. Al night long, peopl e dance and si ng. I n t he ear ly m orning, the f ood that had been l ai d out for the dead is t hrown into a pati ence and understanding and f or t he kindl y encour agem ent he gave us when we went so unwi l i ngl y to school . A gr eat many f or mer pupi ls wil be at tendi ng a f ar ewel di nner in hi s honour next Thur sday. I t is a cur ious coi nci dence t hat t he day bef or e his r eti rement, Mr Page wi l have been t eachi ng f or a t ot al of f or t y year s. Af t er he has reti r ed, he wil l devot e hi mself t o gar de ni ng. For him , t his wi l be an enti r el y new hobby. But t hi s does not m at er , f or , as he has oft en r em ar ked, one is never t oo ol d t o l ear n. Lesson86 O ut of control 失控 As t he m an tr ied t o swi ng t he speedboat r ound, t he st eer ing wheel cam e away in hi s hands. He waved desper atel y to hi s pani on, who had been wat er ski i ng f or the l ast fi ft een m i nut es. Both m en had har dl y had ti me t o r eal ize what was happeni ng when t hey wer e t hr own vi ol ent 1y i nt o t he sea. The speed boat had st r uck a buoy, but it conti nued t o m ove ver y qui ckl y across the wat er . Bot h m en had j ust begun to swim t owar ds t he shor e. when t hey noti ced wit h dismay t hat t he speed boat was m ovi ng i n a ci r cl e. I t now cam e st r ai ght t owards t hem at t r em endous speed. I n l ess t han a m inute, it r oar ed past t he m onl y a f ew f eet away. Aft er i t had passed, a chance to make a tri p i nto space wi th m y fri end Li Yanpi ng, an astronom er. We vi si ted the m oon i n our spaceshi p! Before we l eave, Li Yanpi ng expl ai ned to m e that the forece of the gravi ty woul d change thre tim es on our journey and that the fi rst change woul d be the m ost powerful. Then we were off. As the rocket rose i nto the air, we were pushed back i nto our seats because we were tryi ng to escape the pul l of the earth?s gravi ty. It was so hard that we coul d not say anything to each other. Gradual l y the wei ght l essened and I was abl e to tal k to him. “ Why is the spaceshi p not fal li ng back to the earth? O n the earth if I fal l from a tree I wil l fal to ground. ” I asked. “ We are too far from the earth now to feel its pul , “ he expl ai ned, “ so we feel as i f there i s no gravi ty at al . When we get cl oser to the moon, we shal feel i ts gravity pul i ng us, but i t wi l not be as strong a pul l as the earth?s. “ I cheered up im m edi atel y and fl oated wei ghtl essl y around i n our spaceshi p cabi n watchi ng the earth be e smal er and the m oon l arger. When we got there, I wanted to expl ore imm edi atel y. “ Com e on, ” I sai d. “ If you are ri ght, my m ass wil l be l es than on the earth because the m oon i s sm al l er and I wi l be abl e to m ove more freely. I mi ght even grow tal er i f I stay here l ong enough. I shal certai nl y weigh l ess!” I l aughed and clim bed down the steps from the spaceshi p. But when I tri ed to step forward, I found I was carri ed twi ce as far as on the earth and fel over. “ O h dear, ” I cri ed, “ wal ki ng does ned a bit of practi ce now that gravi ty has changed. ” After a whi l e I got the hang of i t and we began to enjoy oursel ves. Leavi ng the m oon?s gravi ty was not as painful as l eavi ng the earth?s. But returni ng to the earth was very fri ghtening. We watched, am azed as fi re broke out on the outsi de of the spaceshi p as the earth?s gravi ty i ncreased. Agai n we were pushed back hard i nto our seats as we cam e back to l and. “ That was very exhausti ng but very exciti ng too, ” I sai d. “Now I know m uch m ore about gravi ty! Do you think we coul d bi sit som e stars next tim e?” “O f course, ” he smil ed, “ whi ch star woul d you l i ke to go to?” Caught by a bl ack hol e The spaceshi p warned Li Yanpi ng and m e to be ready as we were approachi ng the “bl ack hol e”. We coul d see some fai nt li ghts around what looked l ike an em pty space. Li Yanping sai d, “ That empty hol e i s li ke a m outh al ways needing to be fed. Those li ghts are thi ns that are bei ng pul l ed into tim e by the gravi ty of the hol e. ” We watched wi th i nterest and am azem ent at the l i ghts whi ch seem ed to be going fai nter and fai nt