【正文】 rkers ar e theref ore dr il li ng a hol e on t he nor th si de of t he mi ne. They int end to br ing t he men up in a special c apsule. If t her e had not been a hard l ayer of r ock beneat h the soil , they would have pleted t he job i n a f ew hours. As it i s, t hey have been dri li ng f or si xt een hour s and t hey st il l have a l ong way to go. Meanwhil e, a micr ophone, whi ch was lower ed into the mi ne two hour s ago, has enabled t he men t o keep i n t ouch wi th the closest r el atives. Though t hey ar e running out of food and dr ink, t he men are cheerf ul and confi dent t hat they wi l get out soon. They have been t old t hat r escue oper at ions are pr ogressi ng smoot hly. If t hey knew how dif fi cul t it was t o dri l thr ough the hard r ock, t hey woul d l ose hear t . Lesson89 A sl ip of t he t ongue 口誤 People wi l do anythi ng to see a f ree showeven i f it i s a bad one. When t he news got r ound t hat a var iety show woul d be present ed at our local ci nema by the P. and U. Bi rd Seed Company, we al l rushed to see it . We had t o queue f or hour s to get in and t here m ust have been sever al hundred peopl e present j ust be fore the show began. Unfor tunately, the show was one of the dul lest we have ever seen. Those who f ai led t o get i n need not ha ve fel t di sappointed as m any of t he ar ti st es who shoul d have appear ed did not e. The onl y funny t hi ngs we hear d t hat eveni ng came fr om t he advert iser at t he begi nni ng of the progr am me. He was obvi ousl y very nervous and for some mi nutes st ood awkwardly bef ore t he mi cr ophone. As soon as he opened hi s mouth, ever yone bur st out laughi ng. We al know what the poor man shoul d have said, but what he actual y sai d was: 39。cl ock tr ain, but t hat you caught the 8. 25 which woul d st il l get you t o work on ti me. You see, on the m or ning of t he murder, t he o39。 sai d the i nspector, 39。 Of course not. 39。And you di dn39。 At ten t o eight. I bought a paper and wai ted f or t he tr ain.39。 39。 asked t he inspector . 39。 39。 I must be at wor k at 10. 0 o39。Of course I do,39。Do you always catch such an ear ly t rai n ?39。cl ock tr ai n t o London,39。s home. We shal al l r emember Mr Page for his pati ence and under standi ng and for t he ki ndly encour agement he gave us when we went so unwi l ingly t o school. A great many for mer pupi ls wi l be at endi ng a f ar ewel dinner in hi s honour next Thursday. I t is a curi ous coi nci dence that the day befor e his r et ir ement, Mr Page wi l have been t eaching f or a total of for ty years. Af ter he has r eti red, he wil l devote hi msel f to gar deni ng. For him, t his wi l be an enti rely new hobby. But this does not m at ter , f or, as he has of t en r em ar ked, one is never too old to l ear n. Lesson86 O ut of control 失控 As t he man tr ied t o swing t he speedboat round, t he st eer ing wheel cam e away in hi s hands. He waved desperately to hi s pani on, who had been water ski ing f or the l ast f if teen mi nut es. Both men had har dly had t ime to r eal ize what was happening when t hey wer e t hr own viol ent 1y int o the sea. The speed boat had st ruck a buoy, but i t conti nued t o move very qui ckl y across the wat er . Both m en had j ust begun to swi m t owards t he shore. when t hey noti ced wit h dismay t hat t he speed boat was m ovi ng in a ci rcl e. I t now cam e str ai ght t owards them at t remendous speed. I n less than a m inute, it r oar ed past them onl y a f ew f et a way. Af t er i t had passed, they swam on as quickly as t hey coul d because t hey knew that the boat woul d soon retur n. They had j ust had enough ti me t o swim out of danger when t he boat again plet ed a ci r cl e. On this occasi on, however , it had slowed down consi der abl y. The pet rol had near ly al been used up. Befor e long, the noise dropped pletely and the boat began to dr if t gent ly across the wat er . Lesson87 A perf ect al ibi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的證據(jù) 39。 to people on their way t o wor k. Thi s wil l reli eve pr esure on the t rains t o some ext ent . Meanwhile, a number of uni ver si ty st udents have volunteered t o dri ve buses whil e t he st ri ke lasts. Al l the young men ar e expert dr ivers, but befor e t hey dr ive any of the buses, they wi l have to pass a special test. The student s are going to t ake t he test in t wo days39。 Lesson84 On st rike 罷工 Busmen have deci ded t o go on str ike next week. The str ike i s due to begin on Tuesday. No one knows how l ong it wi l last. The busmen have stat ed that the str ike wi l continue unti l general agreement i s r eached about pay and wor king conditi ons. Most peopl e bel ieve that the str ike wi l l ast f or at l east a week. Many owner s of pr ivate car s ar e going t o off er 39。 answer ed Crawl ey, 39。 39。 he shouted, 39。s house. When he asked i f Mr Lane li ved there, the poli cem an on dut y t ol d him t hat since his defeat, t he ex Pri me Minister had gone abr oad. On t he fol lowi ng day, Cr awl ey went to t he house again. The same pol iceman was just walking sl owl y past he ent rance , when Cr awley asked the sam e questi on. Though a l it tle suspicious thi s ti me, the poli ceman gave him the sam e answer . The day af ter, Cr awley went to the house once mor e and asked exactl y t he same quest ion. This t ime, t he pol iceman lost his t em per .39。 whi ch have at ti mes been sight ed ar e simpl y str ange f ish. Ocasional ly, unusual cr eat ures are washed to the shor e, but they ar e rar el y caught out at sea. Some t ime ago, however , a peculi ar f ish was caught near Madagascar. A smal fi shi ngboat was car ied m il es out to sea by t he power ful f ish as it pull ed on the l ine. Real izing that his was no or dinary f ish, the f isher ma n made every ef f or t not to damage it i n any way. When it was event ual