【正文】 pati ence and under st andi ng and for the ki ndly encouragement he gave us when we went so unwil ingl y to school . A gr eat many form er pupil s wi l be at ending a farewel l dinner i n hi s honour next Thur sday. It is a cur ious coinci dence t hat he day befor e his r et ir ement , Mr Page wi ll have been t eachi ng f or a t ot al of f or ty year s. After he has retir ed, he wi l devot e hi mself to gardening. For hi m, t hi s wi l be an ent ir ely new hobby. But t hi s does not mat er , f or, as he has of t en r emarked, one is never too ol d to learn. Lesson86 Out of cont rol 失控 As the man t ri ed t o swing the speed boat r ound, the st eri ng wheel came away i n hi s hands. He waved desper at el y to his panion, who had been water skiing f or the last f ift en minutes. Bot h men had hardly had time t o real ize what was happening when they wer e thrown vi ol ent1y i nt o the sea. The speed boat had st ruck a buoy, but it continued t o move ver y quickly acr oss the water . Both men had just begun to swim t owards the shore. when they noticed with dismay that the speedboat was moving in a circle. It now came str aight towards t hem at tr emendous speed. In l ess than a mi nut e, it roared past them onl y a few feet away. Aft er it had pased, they swam on as quickly as they could because they knew that t he boat would soon r et ur n. They had j ust ha d enough t ime to swim out of danger when t he boat again pleted a ci rcle. On t hi s occasion, however , i t had sl owed down consi der ably. The pet rol had near ly al been used up. Bef or e long, the noise dr opped pl et el y and the boat began to dr ift gentl y acr oss the wat er . Lesson87 A perfect ali bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的證據(jù) 39。 to peopl e on t heir way to work. This wi l relieve pr essure on the tr ai ns t o some extent. Meanwhi le, a number of univer si ty st udent s have volunt ered to dr ive buses whi le the stri ke l asts. Al l t he young men ar e exper t dri ver s, but befor e they dri ve any of the buses, they wil l have t o pass a special t est. The students are goi ng t o take t he t est i n two days39。 Leson84 On strike 罷工 Busmen have deci ded to go on st rike next wek. The str ike is due t o begin on Tuesday. No one knows how long i t wi l last . The busmen have st at ed t hat the st rike wil l cont inue until general agreement i s r eached about pay and wor king condi tions. Most peopl e beli eve that he str ike wi l last f or at l east a week. Many owners of pr ivat e cars are goi ng t o of fer 39。 answered Cr awl ey,39。 39。 he shouted, 39。s house. When he asked if Mr Lane li ved there, t he policeman on dut y told him t hat si nce his defeat, the exPr ime Minister had gone abr oad. On t he f ol lowing day, Cr awl ey went to t he house again. The same pol iceman was j ust walking slowly past he entrance, when Crawley asked the same quest ion. Though a lit tl e suspicious t hi s time, the poli ceman gave him the same answer . The day af ter, Crawley went to t he house once more and asked exact ly t he same question. This ti me, t he pol iceman lost his t emper .39。 whi ch have at times been si ghted ar e si mpl y st range fi sh. Ocasional ly, unusual cr eatures ar e washed to t he shore, but they are r ar el y caught out at sea. Some tim e ago, however , a peculiar fi sh was caught near Madagascar . A smal fi shing boat was car ried mil es out t o sea by t he power ful f ish as i t pulled on the line. Real izing that this was no ordinary f ish, the fi sher man m ade every efor t not t o damage i t i n any way. When i t was event ual y br ought t o shor e, it was found t o be over t hi rteen feet long. It had a head li ke a horse, big blue eyes, shining si lver ski n, and a bri ght red tail , The fish, which has si nce been sent t o a museum where it i s being examined by a scientist, is cal led an oar fi sh. Such cr eatures have rarely been seen al ive by man as t hey li ve at a dept h of six hundred feet . Leson83 Aft er the elect ions 大選之后 The former Prime Mi nist er , Mr Wentwort h Lane, was defeat ed i n the recent elect ions. He is now r et ir ing fr om poli tical if e and has gone abroad. My f riend, Crawley, has always been a f anat ical opponent of Mr Lane39。s clothes. Now, dr essed in a blue uni form and wit h a r if le over hi s shoul der, the prisoner mar ched boldly up and down i n fr ont of t he camp. He could hear shouti ng i n the camp it self . Li ghts were blazi ng and men were r unning here and t her e: they had just discovered that a pri soner had escaped. At that moment , a l ar ge black car wi th four of fi cers inside it, st opped at the camp gat es. The of fi cers got out and t he pr isoner st ood t o at tent ion and saluted as t hey passed. When they had gone, the driver of the car came towards hi m. The man obvi ousl y wanted to t al k. He was r at her el derl y wit h gr ey hair and clear blue eyes. The prisoner felt sorr y for hi m, but t her e was not hi ng else he coul d do. As t he man came near, the pri soner knocked hi m to t he ground wi th a sharp blow. Then, jumping into t he car , he drove of f as qui ckly as he coul d. Leson82 Monster or fish? 是妖還是魚？ Fisher men and sailors som eti mes claim to have seen monst er s in the sea. Though peopl e have of ten laughed at stor ies t ol d by s eamen, it i s now known that many of these 39。and an enormous appeti te. My fri ends kept on offeri ng me cigaretes and cigar s. They made no efor t o hi de t heir amusement whenever I pr oduced a packet of swets f rom my pocket . Af ter seven days of this I went to a party. Everybody ar ound me was smoki ng and I f el t extremely unfort able. When my old f riend Br ian urged me t o accept a cigar ete, it was more than I coul d bear. I took one guil til y, li t i t and smoked wi th sati sf acti on. My wif e was del ight ed t hat things had returned t o normal once mor e. Anyway, as Brian poi nt ed out, it is the easiest thing