【正文】 close to him, he clumsily stepped aside to let it pass. The crowd broke into cheers and the drunk bowed. By this time, however, three men had e into the ring and they quickly dragged the drunk to safety. Even the bull seemed to feel sorry for him, for it looked on sympathetically until the drunk was out of the way before once more turning its attention to the matador. Lesson71 A famous clock 一個著名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of the first things you will see is Big Ben, the famous clock which can be heard all over the world on the . If the Houses of Parliament had hot been burned down in 1834, the great clock would never have been erected. Big Ben takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of Parliament were being built. It is not only of immense size, but is extremely accurate as well. Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day. On the . you can hear the clock when it is actually striking because microphones are connected to the clock tower. Big Ben has rarely gone wrong. Once, however, it failed to give the correct time. A painter who had been working on the tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed it down ! Lesson72 A car called Bluebird “藍鳥”汽車 The great racing driver, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was the first man to drive at over 300 miles per hour. He set up a new world record in September 1935 at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Bluebird, the car he was driving, had been specially built for him. It was over 30 feet in length and had a 2500 horsepower engine. Although Campbell reached a speed of over 304 miles per hour, he had great difficulty in controlling the car because a tyre burst during the first run. After his attempt, Campbell was disappointed to learn that his average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However, a few days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour. Since that time, racing drivers have reached speeds of over 400 miles an hour. Following his father39。s footsteps many years later, Sir Malcolm39。s son, Donald, also set up a world record. Like his father, he was driving a car called Bluebird. Lesson73 The recordholder 紀錄保持者 Little boys who play truant from school are unimaginative. A quiet day39。s fishing, or eight hours in a cinema seeing the same film over and over again, is usually as far as they get. They have all been put to shame by a boy who, while playing truant, travelled 1600 miles. He hitch hiked to Dover and, towards evening, went into a boat to find somewhere to sleep. When he woke up next morning, he discovered that the boat had, in the 環(huán) 評 證 書 號國環(huán)評證乙字第 3212 號國環(huán)評證乙字第 3240 號 拉薩市林周縣藏雄石膏礦采礦項目環(huán) 境 影 響 報 告 書主持單位：四川省有色冶金研究院協(xié)作單位：中國輕工業(yè)成都設計工程有限公司touristshave been picking leaves and cutting their names on the treetrunk. So far, not one of them has been struck down by sudden death! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進來還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to sit outside our front gate and bark. Every time he wanted to e into the garden he would bark until someone opened the gate. As the neighbours plained of the noise, my husband spent weeks training him to press his paw on the latch to let himself in. Rex soon became an expert at opening the gate. However, when I was going out shopping last week, I noticed him in the garden near the gate. This time he was barking so that someone would let him out ! Since then, he has developed another bad habit. As soon as he opens the gate from the outside, he es into the garden and waits until the gate shuts. Then he sits and barks until someone lets him out. After this he immediately lets himself in and begins barking again. Yesterday my husband removed the gate and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him since. Lesson60 The future 卜算未來 At a village fair, I decided to visit a fortuneteller called Madam Bellinsky. I went into her tent and she told me to sit down. After I had given her some money, she looked into a crystal ball and said: 39。A relation of yours is ing to see you. She will be arriving this evening and intends to stay for a few days. The moment you leave this tent, you will get a big surprise. A woman you know well will rush towards you. She will speak to you and then she will lead you away from this place. That is all.39。 As soon as I went outside, I fot all about Madam Bellinsky because my wife hurried towards me. 39。Where have you been hiding ?39。 she asked impatiently. 39。Your sister will be here in less than an hour and we must be at the station to meet her. We are late already.39。 As she walked away, I followed her out of the fair. Lesson61 Trouble with the Hubble 哈勃望遠鏡的困境 In future, astronauts will be required to descend from a spaceship while it is still in space and to return to it. The ability to do this will be necessary in future flights to distant plas. Scientists are now trying to discover if this is possible. The spaceship Astra which left the earth a short time ago, will be travelling three hundred miles into space. At a certain point, the Astra will stop for a short time and an astronaut will attempt to leave the stationary spaceship and then return to it. We shall not know whether the experiment has been successful until we have received a radio message. The first message is expected to arrive at 7 o39。clock this evening. By that time, the Astra will have been flying through space for seventeen hours and will have circled the earth a great many times. When the first radio messages have been received, the results of the trip will be announced immediately. Lesson62 After the fire 大火之后 Firemen had been fighting the forest fire for nearly three weeks before they could get it under control. A short time before, great trees had covered the countryside for miles around. Now, smoke still rose up from the warm ground over the desolate hills. Winter was ing on and the hills threatened the surround