【正文】 never have been er ected. Big Ben t akes it s name f r om Sir Benjamin Hal who was r esponsible f or t he m aking of t he clock when t he new Houses of Parliam ent wer e being built . I t is not only of im mense size, but is extr emely accurat e as well. Of f icials f r om Gr eenwich Observa tor y have t he clock checked t wice a day. On t he B. . you can hear the clock when it is act ualy st r iking because micr ophones ar e conected t o t he clock t ower . Big Ben has r ar ely gone wr ong. Once, however, it f ailed t o give t he cor ect t ime. A paint er who had been wor king on t he t ower hung a pot of paint on one of t he hands and slowed it down ! Lesson72 A car called Bluebir d “ 藍(lán) 鳥”汽車 The great r acing dr iver , Sir M alcolm Cam pbel, was t he f ir st m an t o dr ive at over 300 m iles per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecord in Sept ember 1935 at Bonnevile Salt Flat s, Ut ah. Bluebir d, t he car he was dr iving, had been specialy built f or him . I t was over 30 feet in lengt h and had a 2500 hor se power engine. Alt hough Campbell r eached a speed of over 304 m iles per hour, he had gr eat dif ficult y in cont r oling t he car because a t yr e burst during t he f ir st r un. Af t er his at t em pt, Campbell was disappoint ed to lear n t hat his aver age speed had been 299 m iles per hour . However , a f ew days lat er , he was t old t hat a m istake had been m ade. His aver age speed had been 301 m iles per hour. Since t hat t im e, r acing dr iver s have r eached speeds of over 400 m iles an hour . Folowing his f at her 39。 he said, in a m our nful voice, 39。 I cont inued driving and af t er some t im e, t he examiner tapped loudly. Though t he sound could be hear d clear ly, it t ook m e a long t im e t o r eact . I suddenly pr essed t he br ake pedal har d and we wer e bot h thr own f orwar d. The examiner looked at m e sadly. 39。 lesson69 But not mur der ! 并 非謀殺！ I was being t est ed for a dr iving licence f or t he t hir d t ime. Ihad been asked t o dr ive in heavy t r af fic and had done so successfuly. Af ter having been inst r uct ed t o dr ive out of t own, I began t o acquir e conf idence. Sure t hat I had passed, Iwas alm ost beginning t o enjoy m y t est . The examiner must have been pleased wit h m y per f or mance, f or he sm iled and said, 39。s always plent y t o r ead in t he 39。 he answer ed.39。 Then I 39。but I 39。 he asked, bef ore I had f inished speaking. ‘ Not at al, 39。39。 I 39。 No, not at al, 39。I was just wonder ing how t o spend t he m orninguntil I saw you. You39。 Hulo, Elizabet h, 39。 I said. 39。 Lesson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hatheld Puf fin is a m oder n aer o plane, but it s designer , M r J ohn Wim penny, is f inding it dif f icult t o get it of f t he gr ound. The r eason f or t his is t hat t his plane is also a bicycle. I ts pilot has t o pedal har d t o get it int o t he air . Af t er M r Wim penny had t he plane built , it was t ested t horoughly. I n 1961, it was t he f ir st m an powered air craf t o f ly half a m ile. While being f lown by a cham pion amat eur cyclist in 1963, t he plane cr ashed on an air f ield. Since t hen, M r Wimpenny has had it r ebuilt . He has had t he lengt h of t he wings incr eased so t hat t hey now m easur e 93 f eet almost as long as t hose of a Dakot a. M any people have shown int er est in t his new and unusual spor t . But t hough air cyclist s may lear n how t o f ly over shor t dist ances, and m ay, eventualy, even get acr oss t he English Channel, it is doubt ful whet her t hey wil ever cycle acr oss t he At lant ic. Lesson67 Volcanoes 火山 Haroun Tazieff t he Polish scient ist , has spent his lif e t im e st udying active volcanoes and deep caves in al par t s of t he wor ld. I n 1948, he went t o lake Kivu in t he Congo t o observ e a new volcano which he lat er named Kit ur o. Tazieff was able t o set up his camp ver y close t o t he volcano while it was er upt ing violent ly. Though he m anaged to t ake a number of br ilant phot ogr aphs, he could not st ay near t he volcano f or ver y long. He not iced t hat a r iver of liquid r ock was ing t owar ds him. I t hr eat ened t o sur round him plet ely, but Tazief f m anaged t o escape just in t im e. He wait ed unt il t he volcano became quiet and he was able t o r etur n t wo days lat er . This t im e, he m anaged t o clim b int o t he mout h of Kit ur o so t hat he could t ake phot ogr aphs and m easur e t em perat ures. Tazieff has oft en r isked his lif e in t his way. He has been able t o t ell us m or e about act ive volcanoes t han any m an alive. Lesson68 Per si t ent 糾纏不休 I crossed t he str eet t o avoid m eet ing him , but he saw m e and cam e r unning t owar ds m e. I t was no use pr et ending t hat I had not seen him , so Iwaved t o him . I never enjoy m eeting Ber t Dykes. He never has anything t o do. No m at ter how busy you are, he always insists on ing wit h you. I had t o t hink of a way of pr eventing him f r om f olowing m e ar ound al m or ning. 39。so it was f or t unat e t hat we didn39。J umbo m ust weigh a f ew t ons,39。guar d of honour 39。t . Geof rey asked her why t his was so and she told him t hat she did not like t o see so m any people laughing at him ! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海 峽隧道 I n l858, a Fr ench engineer, Aim e Thome de Gamond, ar r ived in England wit h a plan f or a t went yone mile t unnel acr oss t he English Channel. He said t hat it would be possible t o build a plat f or m in t he cent re of t he Channel. This plat for m would ser ve as a por t and a r ailway st ation. The t unnel would be well vent ilat ed if t al chim neys wer e built above sealevel. In 1860, a bett er plan was put f or ward by an Englishm an, Wilam Low. He suggest ed t hat a double r ailway t unnel should be built . This would solve t he pr oble