【正文】 you wil see is Bi g Ben, t he famous clock whi ch can be heard al l over the world on the . C. I f the Houses of Parl iament had hot been burned down i n 1834, the great clock would never have been er ected. Big Ben takes i ts name fr om Sir Benjamin Hal who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of Parl iament were being bui lt. I t is not onl y of immense size, but is ext rem el y acurate as wel. Of fi ci al s fr om Greenwi ch Obser vator y have the clock checked t wi ce a day. On the B. B. C. you can hear the cl ock when it i s act ual y st ri ki ng because mi crophones are connect ed t o t he cl ock t ower. Bi g Ben ha s rar el y gone wr ong. Once, however , it f ail ed to gi ve t he cor rect ti me. A pai nt er who had been wor ki ng on t he tower hung a pot of pai nt on one of the hands and sl owed it down ! Leson72 A car cal led Bl uebi rd “藍鳥”汽車 The great r aci ng dri ver, Si r Mal colm Cam pbel, was t he f ir st man t o dri ve at over 300 m il es per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecord i n Sept ember 1935 at Bonnevil e Sal t Fl at s, Ut ah. Bluebir d, t he car he was dr i vi ng, had been special y buil t f or him. I t was over 30 feet i n lengt h and had a 2500 hor sepower engi ne. Al t hough Cam pbel r eached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat di fi cult y i n contr ol li ng t he car because a t yr e bur st duri ng t he fi rst run. Af ter hi s at empt, Cam pbel l was di sappointed t o lear n t hat hi s average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However , a f ew days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour. Since that t ime, raci ng dr iver s have r eached speeds of over 400 mil es an hour . Foll owi ng his f at her 39。s footsteps many years lat er , Sir Malcolm39。s son, Donald, also set up a worl d r ecor d. Li ke hi s father, he was dr iving a car cal ed Bl uebir d. Lesson73 The record holder 紀錄保持者 Lit tle boys who pl ay tr uant from school are unimagi nati ve. A quiet day39。s f ishi ng, or ei ght hours in a ci nema seing t he same fi lm over and over agai n, i s usual ly as f ar as they get . They have al been put to shame by a boy who, whi le pl aying t ruant, t ravel ed 1600 mil es. He hitch hi ked t o Dover and, towards eveni ng, went i nt o a boat t o f ind somewhere to sleep. When he woke up next mor ni ng, he discovered t hat the boat had, i n the meanti me, t ravel ed to Calais. No one noti ced t he boy as he crept off . From t here, he hitchhiked to Pari s in a lorr y. The dri ver gave him a f ew bi scuits and a cup of coff e and l ef t him just outside the cit y. The next car t he boy stopped did not take hi m i nt o t he cent re of Par is as he hoped i t would, but t o Per pi gnan on the Fr enchSpani sh border . There he was picked up by a poli ceman and sent back to Engl and by t he local aut hori ties. He has sur el y set up a record for the t housands of boys who dream of evadi ng school. Lesson74 Out of t he limeli ght 舞臺之外 An anci ent bus stopped by a dr y ri ver bed and a part y of famous actors and actr esses got of f. Dr essed in dark gl asses and old clothes, they had taken speci al pr ecauti ons so t hat no one should recogni ze t hem. But as they soon di scovered, di sgui ses can somet imes be too per fect. 39。This i s a wonderful place for a pii c, 39。 said Gl or ia Gl eam. 39。 I t couldn39。t be bet er , Gloria,39。 Br inksley Meers agr ed. 39。No newspaper men, no fi lm fans! Why don39。t we e mor e often ?39。 Meanwhil e, two ot her act or s, Rockwal Sli nger and Mer lin Greeves, had car ied two large food baskets to a shady spot under some t rees. When they had al made themselves fort able, a str anger appear ed. He looked ver y angry. 39。Now you gut out of her e, al of you!39。 he shouted: 39。 I 39。m sherif f her e. Do you se that notice ? I t says No Camping in case you can39。t read !39。 39。 Look, sher if , 39。sai d Rockwal l,39。 don39。t be t oo har d on us. I 39。m Rockwal Sli nger and t hi s is Mer lin Greeves. 39。 39。 Oh, i s it ?39。 said the sherif f wit h a sneer. 39。Wel l, I39。m Br inksley Meers, and my ot her name i s Glori a Gleam. Now you get out of her e fast !39。 l esson75 SOS 呼救信號 When a li ght passenger plane flew of f course some time ago, i t cr ashed in t he mountains and i ts pil ot was kil led. The onl y passengers, a young woman and her two baby daughters, wer e unhurt. I t was the middle of wint er . Snow lay thick on t he gr ound. The woman knew t hat the nearest vi lage was miles away. When it grew dark. she t ur ned a suit case into a bed and put t he chil dr en inside i t, covering t hem wit h al l the clothes she could find. Dur ing t he ni ght, i t got ter ibly cold. The woman kept as near as she coul d to the chi ldren and even tr ied to get into the case her self, but it was too smal l. Early ,next morning she heard pl anes pasing over head and wondered how she could send a si gnal. Then she had an i dea. She stamped out the let er s39。 SOS39。 in t he snow. Fort unatel y, a pi lot saw the si gnal and sent a message by radi o to the nearest t own. I t was not long befor e a hel icopter ar ived on the scene t o r escue t he survivors of the plane cr ash. Lesson76 Apri l Fools Day 愚人節(jié) 39。To end our speci al news bul letin,39。 sai d the voice of the televisi on announcer, 39。 we ar e taking you to t he macaroni f ields of Cal abri a. Macar oni has been gr own in t his area for over six hundr ed year s. Two of t he l eading grower s, Gi useppe Moldova and Ricardo Brabante, tel me that t hey have been expecting a splendi d cr op this year and har vesting has begun earl ier than usual. Here you can see t wo worker s who, bet wen t hem, have j ust fi ni shed cutt ing thr e cart loads of gol den br own macaroni st al ks. The whole vi lage has been wor ki ng day and ni ght gat her ing and t hreshing thi s year39。s crop before the S