【正文】 enny, is f inding i t dif fi cul t o get it off t he ground. The r eason f or t his i s that thi s pl ane is also a bi cycle. I ts pil ot has t o pedal hard t o get it int o the ai r. Af ter Mr Wim penny had the pl ane bui lt, i t was test ed thor oughly. I n 1961, i t was t he fi rst manpower ed ai rcr af t to f ly hal f a mi le. Whi le being f lown by a champi on amateur cycli st i n 1963, t he plane cr ashed on an air f ield. Since t hen, Mr Wimpenny has had i t rebuil t. He has had the l engt h of the wi ngs increased so t hat they now measure 93 feetalmost as long as t hose of a Dakota. Many peopl e have shown i nt erest i n t hi s new and unusual sport . But t hough ai r cycli sts may l ear n how t o f ly over shor t di st ances, and m ay, event ual ly, even get acr oss t he Engl ish Channel , it is doubtf ul whet her t hey wil l ever cycl e acr oss t he At lanti c. Leson67 Volcanoes 火山 Haroun Tazief t he Polish scienti st , has spent hi s li fet im e st udyi ng act ive volcanoes and deep caves in al l par ts of t he worl d. I n 1948, he went to lake Kivu in t he Congo to obser ve a new volcano which he l ater nam ed Kit uro. Tazi ef was able t o set up hi s camp ver y close to the volcano whil e it was er upt ing viol ent ly. Though he managed to take a number of br il li ant photographs, he coul d not st ay near t he vol cano f or ver y long. He noti ced t hat a ri ver of li quid r ock was i ng towar ds him. I t threatened to sur round him pletel y, but Tazi ef f managed t o escape just in tim e. He wait ed unt il the vol cano became qui et and he was able t o r et urn two days lat er . This t ime, he managed t o cli mb i nt o t he mouth of Ki tur o so that he coul d take photographs and m easure t emper atures. Tazi ef f has of ten r i sked hi s li fe i n t hi s way. He has been able t o t el l us more about acti ve volcanoes than any man al ive. Lesson68 Persi st ent 糾纏不休 I crossed t he str et to avoid meet ing hi m, but he saw m e and cam e running t owards me. It was no use pret ending that I had not seen him , so I waved t o him . I never enjoy meet ing Ber t Dykes. He never has anyt hing t o do. No mat er how busy you are, he always i nsist s on ing wi th you. I had to t hink of a way of pr eventi ng him fr om f oll owing m e ar ound al l mor ni ng. 39。 I said. 39。 39。 Ber t answered. 39。r e not busy doing anyt hing, ar e you ?39。 No, not at al ,39。 I 39。 39。 he asked, befor e I had fi nished speaki ng. ‘ Not at al, 39。but I39。 Then I39。 he answer ed. 39。s al ways plenty t o r ead i n the 39。 l esson69 But not m urder! 并非謀殺！ I was bei ng tested f or a dr i vi ng l icence f or the t hi rd ti me. I had been asked t o dri ve in heavy tr af ic and had done so successf ull y. Af t er having bee n instr uct ed to dr ive out of town, I began t o acqui re confi dence. Sur e that I had passed, I was almost begi nni ng to enj oy my t est. The examiner must have been pleased wi th my perf ormance, f or he sm il ed and said, 39。 I cont inued dri ving and aft er some t im e, t he exami ner t apped l oudl y. Though the sound coul d be hear d clearl y, i t took me a long ti me t o r eact. I suddenly pr esed the br ake pedal har d and we wer e bot h t hr own f orwar d. The examiner looked at me sadl y. 39。 he sai d, i n a mour nf ul voi ce, 39。 leson70 Red f or danger 危險(xiǎn)的紅色 Dur ing a bul lf ight, a dr unk suddenl y wander ed int o the middle of t he ri ng. The crowd began to shout, but the dr unk was unaware of t he danger. The bull was busy wi t h the m at ador at the t im e, but it suddenly caught sight of the dr unk who was shouti ng r ude r emarks and waving a r ed cap. Apparentl y sensit ive t o cri ti ci sm, the bull f ot al l about the m at ador and char ged at t he drunk. The cr owd suddenly gr ew quiet . The dr unk, however , seemed quit e sur e of himself . When the bul l got close to hi m, he clumsil y stepped asi de t o l et i t pass. The cr owd broke i nt o cheer s and the drunk bowed. By thi s ti me, however, t hree men had e i nt o t he ri ng and t hey qui ckl y dr agged the dr unk to safet y. Even t he bul l se emed to feel sor ry f or him, f or it looked on sym pat het ical y until t he drunk was out of t he way befor e once mor e t ur ning i ts at tenti on to t he matador. Leson71 A famous clock 一個(gè)著名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of the f ir st things you wi l se is Bi g Ben, t he famous clock whi ch can be heard al l over the wor ld on the B. . I f the Houses of Par liament had hot been burned down i n 1834, the gr eat clock would never have been erected. Big Ben takes i ts name f r om Si r Benj am in Hal l who was responsibl e for t he making of the cl ock when t he new Houses of Parl iament were being bui lt . I t is not only of i mmense si ze, but is extr em el y accur at e as wel . Of ici al s fr om Gr eenwich Observator y have t he clock checked twi ce a day. On the B. . you can hear the cl ock when it is actual y str iking because m icrophones ar e connect ed to the clock t ower . Big Ben has r arely gone wr ong. Once, however, i t fail ed to gi ve the corr ect t im e. A pai nter who had been wor king on t he tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and sl owed it down ! Lesson72 A car called Bluebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The great racing dr iver, Si r Malcolm Campbel , was t he fi rst man t o dri ve at over 300 mil es per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecor d i n Sept ember 1935 at Bonnevil le Sal t Fl ats, Utah. Bluebir d, t he car he was dr iving, had been speci al ly bui lt f or hi m. It was over 30 feet in l engt h and had a 2500 hor se power engine. Al t hough Campbel r eached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat dif f icul t y i n cont r ol l i ng the car because a t yre bur st duri ng the f ir st run. Aft er hi s at em pt , Campbel l was di sappoint ed to l ear n that his average speed had been 299 m il es per hour . However