【正文】 ck checked twi ce a day. On the B. . you can hear the cl ock when i t is actual y str iking because mi crophones are connect ed to the clock tower . Big Ben has r ar ely gone wr ong. Once, however, i t f ail ed to gi ve the corr ect t ime. A pai nt er who had been wor king on t he tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed i t down ! Lesson72 A car cal led Bl uebird “藍鳥”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 iculty in contr oll ing t he car be cause a tyr e burst dur ing t he fi rst r un. Af ter his at tempt, Campbel was disappoi nted to learn t hat hi s aver age speed had been 299 mi les per hour. However, a f ew days later , he was told that a mist ake had been made. Hi s aver age speed had been 301 m il es per hour . Since that ti me, racing dr ivers have reached speeds of over 400 m il es an hour. Foll owing hi s father 39。s foot st eps m any years l ater, Si r Malcolm 39。s fi shi ng, or eight hour s in a ci nem a seing the sam e fi lm over and over again, is usual y as far as they get. They have al been put t o sham e by a boy who, whil e playing t ruant, tr avel led 1600 mi les. He hitch hiked t o Dover and, towards eveni ng, went i nt o a boat to f ind somewhere t o sleep. When he woke up next mor ning, he di scovered t hat t he boat had, i n the meanti me, tr avel ed to Cal ais. No one noticed t he boy as he cr ept off . From ther e, he hit ch hiked t o Par is in a l orr y. The dr iver gave hi m a few bi scuit s and a cup of cof fee and lef t hi m just out si de the cit y. The next car t he boy st opped di d not t ake hi m into the cent re of Pari s as he hoped i t woul d, but t o Perpignan on t he French Spani sh bor der . Ther e he was picked up by a pol i cem an and sent back t o Engl and by the l ocal authori ti es. He has sur ely set up a record f or the t housands of boys who dream of evading school. Lesson74 Out of t he li meli ght 舞臺之外 An ancient bus stopped by a dr y ri ver bed and a part y of famous actor s and actr eses got of f. Dr esed in dar k glasses and old cl ot hes, they had t aken speci al pr ecauti ons so t hat no one shoul d recogni ze them. But as they soon di scover ed, di sguises can somet imes be t oo per fect. 39。 sai d Gl or i a Gleam. 39。t be bet ter, Gl ori a,39。No newspaper men, no f il m fans! Why don39。 Meanwhil e, t wo ot her actor s, Rockwal l Sli nger and Mer li n Gr eves, had car ri ed two lar ge food baskets t o a shady spot under som e tr ees. When t hey had al l m ade t hemsel ves f ort abl e, a str anger appear ed. He l ooked very angr y. 39。 he shout ed: 39。m sheri f here. Do you see that notice ? It says No Campi ng in case you can39。 39。sai d Rockwal ,39。t be t oo har d on us. I39。 39。 said the sher if f wi th a sneer . 39。m Bri nksl ey Meers, and m y other nam e is Gl ori a Gl eam . Now you get out of her e f ast !39。 SOS39。To end our special news bul leti n,39。 we are t aki ng you to the macaroni fi el ds of Cal abr ia. Macaroni has been grown in t his ar ea f or over six hundred years. Two of the l eadi ng grower s, Gi useppe Moldova and Ri car do Brabant e, tel me that hey have been expecti ng a spl endi d crop t his year and harvesti ng has begun ear li er t han usual. Her e you can see two worker s who, between t hem , have just fi nished cut ti ng three cart l oads of golden brown macar oni st al ks. The whole vi l age has been worki ng day and ni ght gatheri ng and threshing t his year 39。 Lesson77 A sucessf ul operati on 一例成功的手術 The m um my of an Egypti an woman who died i n 800 B. C. has j ust had an oper ation. The mumm y is t hat of Shepenmut who was once a singer in t he Tem ple of Thebes. As ther e were str ange marks on t he Xr ay plates t aken of t he m ummy, doct ors have been t ryi ng to f ind out whether the wom an di ed of a rar e disease. The onl y way t o do thi s was to operat e. The operati on, whi ch lasted f or over four hours, pr oved to be very dif fi cul t because of the har d resin whi ch cover ed the skin. The doct or s r em oved a section of t he mumm y and sent it to a laborat or y. They al so found som et hing whi ch the X ray of t he god Duam ut ef. This god whi ch has the head of a cow was nor mal y placed inside a m ummy. The doct ors have not yet decided how the woman di ed. They feared t hat he mumm y would f al to pieces when t hey cut i t open, but f or tunatel y thi s has not happened. The mumm y succesf ul ly sur vi ved the operati on. Leson78 The last one? 最后一 枝嗎？ Af t er r eadi ng an art icl e ent i t l ed 39。 I l it a ci gar et te to calm my ner ves. I sm oked wi th concent rat ion and pleasur e as I was sur e that thi s woul d be my last ci gar ete. For a whole week I di d not smoke at al and dur ing t his t ime, my wif e suf f er ed ter ri bl y. I had al l t he usual sym pt oms of som eone gi vi ng up smoking: a bad temper and an enorm ous appeti te. My f ri ends kept on off er ing m e cigaret es and ci gar s. They made no ef for t o hide t hei r amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweet s f rom my pocket . Af t er seven days of thi s I went t o a part y. Ever ybody around me was sm oki ng and I felt extr emely unfor table. When m y old f ri end Bri an urged me to accept a cigaret te, it was mor e than I coul d bear. I took one guil ti ly, li t it and sm oked wi th sat isfacti on. My wif e was deli ght ed that things had r et urned to nor mal once m ore. Anyway, as Br ian pointed out , i t is t he easiest thing i n t he worl d to gi ve up smoking. He him self