【正文】 Br azi l. Leson91 Three m en in a basket 三人同籃 A pil ot not iced a baloon whi ch semed t o be making f or a Royal Ai r Force St at ion nearby. He inf orm ed the stati on at once, but no one ther e was abl e to explai n the m yst er y. The of fi cer i n t he contr ol tower was ver y angry when he heard the news, because bal oons can be a great danger to ai rcraf t. He said t hat someone might by spyi ng on t he st at ion and t he pi lot was or der ed to keep tr ack of t he str ange object. The pil ot managed to ci rcl e the bal oon for some ti me. He coul d make out thr e men in a basket under it and one of t hem was hol ding f ield glasses. When the bal oon was over t he st at ion, the pi lot saw one of t he men t aki ng phot ogr aphs. Soon af ter wards, t he bal loon began to descend and it l anded near an ai rf ield. The poli ce were cal ed in, but t hey coul d not ar rest anyone, f or t he basket contai ned t wo Member s of Parl ia ment and t he Commanding Of f icer of t he st ati on! As t he Commanding Of f icer explai ned l ater, one half of the stat ion di d not know wha t t he ot her half was doi ng ! Lesson92 Asking for t roubl e 自找麻煩 I t must have been about two in t he morni ng when I ret ur ned hom e. I t ri ed to wake up m y wi fe by r ingi ng the door bel l, but she was f ast asl eep, so I got a ladder f rom the shed in the garden, put it against t he wal , and began cl im bing t owar ds the bedroom window. I was al most there when a sarcasti c voi ce bel ow said,39。 Lesson88 Trapped in a mi ne 困在礦井里 Si x men have been t rapped in a mine f or sevent een hour s. I f they are not brought to t he sur face soon they may l ose t hei r li ves. However , rescue operati ons ar e provi ng di f fi cul t. If explosives are us ed, vibr ati ons wi l cause t he roof of the m ine to col lapse. Rescue wor ker s are t herefor e dri l ing a hol e on the nort h side of t he mine. They intend t o bri ng the men up in a speci al capsul e. I f there had not been a har d layer of rock beneath the soi l, t hey woul d have pl eted the j ob in a few hour s. As it is, they have been dr i l li ng for sixt en hours 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 to keep i n touch wi th the closest rel at ives. Though they ar e running out of food and dri nk, t he men are cheerf ul and confi dent that they wi l get out soon. They have been t ol d t hat r escue oper at ions are pr ogresi ng sm oot hly. If t hey knew how dif fi cul t it was to dr il l thr ough t he har d r ock, t hey woul d lose hear t. Leson89 A sl ip of t he tongue 口誤 People wi l do anything to see a fr ee showeven i f it is a bad one. When the news got round t hat a vari ety show woul d be present ed at our local ci nem a by the P. and U. Bir d Seed Company, we al l rushed to see it . We had t o queue f or hour s to get in and t her e must have been several hundr ed peopl e present just be f ore t he show began. Unfor tunately, the show was one of the dull est we have ever seen. Those who fai led t o get i n need not have felt di sappointed as many of the ar ti st es who should 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 pr ogr am me. He was obviousl y very nervous and for some mi nutes stood 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。clock tr ain, but t hat you caught t he 8. 25 which woul d sti l get you t o wor k on ti me. You se, on the m orning of t he murder , t he o39。 sai d t he inspector , 39。 39。 39。And you didn39。At ten t o eight. I bought a paper and wai ted f or the tr ain.39。 At what t i m e di d you ar ive at the stat ion ?39。 asked the i nspector. 39。 39。 I must be at work at o39。Of cour se I do, 39。Do you al ways cat ch such an earl y tr ain ?39。clock t rai n to London,39。s hom e. We shal l al l remember Mr Page for his pat i ence and under st andi ng and f or the ki ndl y encouragement he gave us when we went so unwil li ngl y to school. A gr eat m any f orm er pupil s wi l be at ending a farewel l di nner i n his honour next Thur sday. It i s a cur ious coincidence that the day bef ore hi s ret ir em ent , Mr Page wil l have been teachi ng for a t otal of f ort y year s. Af t er he has r et ir ed, he wi l devot e him sel f t o gardening. For hi m, thi s wil l be an ent ir el y new hobby. But t hi s does not mat ter, f or, as he has of ten r em ar ked, one i s never too ol d to lear n. Lesson86 O ut of control 失控 As t he man t ri ed to swi ng the speedboat round, t he steer i ng wheel came away in his hands. He waved desperatel y to hi s pani on, who had been water skii ng for the l ast f if teen mi nut es. Both men had har dly had t im e to r eal ize what was happening when t hey were t hrown vi ol ent1y i nt o t he sea. The speed boat had str uck a buoy, but i t cont inued to m ove ver y quickly across the wat er . Both m en had just begun to swi m towards t he shor e. when t hey not iced wi th di smay t hat t he speed boat was moving i n a cir cle. It now came str aight towards t hem at tr em endous speed. I n l ess t han a minut e, i t r oared past t hem only a few f eet away. Aft er it had passed, t hey swam on as qui ckl y as they coul d because they knew t hat t he boat would soon ret urn. They had j ust had enough t im e to swi m out of danger when the boat again pl et ed a cir cle. On t hi s occasion, however, i t had slowed down considerably. The pet rol had near ly al l been used up. Bef or e l ong, the noi se dr opped plet el y and the boat began to dri ft gent ly acr oss t he water. Leson87 A perf ect ali bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的證據(jù) 39。 t o peopl e on their way to wor k