【正文】 ard t o get i t i nt o t he ai r. Af ter Mr Wim penny had t he pl ane buil t, i t was test ed t hor oughl y. I n 1961, it was t he fi r st man power ed ai r cr af t t o fl y hal f a mi le. Whi le bei ng f l own by a cham pi on am ateur cycli st i n 1963, t he pl ane crashed on an ai rf iel d. Si nce t hen, Mr Wim penny has had i t r ebuil t. He has had t he l engt h of the wi ngs i ncreased so t hat t hey now m easur e 93 feetalm ost as l ong as t hose of a Dakota. Many peopl e have shown i nt er est i n t hi s new and unusual sport . But t hough ai r cycli st s m ay 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 Engli sh Channel , it i s doubt ful whet her t hey wil l ever cycl e across the At lanti c. Lesson67 Vol canoes 火山 Har oun Tazi ef f the Poli sh sci ent ist, has spent hi s li f e tim e st udying acti ve vol canoes and deep caves i n al part s of the wor ld. I n 1948, he went t o l ake Ki vu i n t he Congo t o obser ve a new vol cano which he l at er nam ed Ki t ur o. Tazi ef f was abl e t o set up his camp ver y cl ose to t he vol cano whil e it was er upti ng vi ol ent ly. Though he m anaged t o t ake a num ber of br il i ant phot ographs, he coul d not st ay near t he vol cano f or ver y l ong. He noti ced t hat a ri ver of li quid r ock was ing t owar ds him. I t thr eat ened t o sur r ound him pl et el y, but Tazi ef m anaged to escape j ust i n tim e. He wait ed unt il t he vol cano becam e quiet and he was abl e t o ret ur n t wo days l at er. Thi s t im e, he m anaged to cl im b int o the m out h of Kit uro so t hat he could t ake phot ogr aphs and measur e t em perat ur es. Tazi ef has oft en ri sked hi s l if e i n t hi s way. He has been abl e t o tel us m or e about acti ve vol canoes than any man ali ve. Leson68 Persi st ent 糾纏不休 I crossed t he st r et to avoi d m eet ing him , but he saw m e and cam e r unni ng t owar ds me. It was no use pret endi ng t hat I had not se en him, so I waved t o him. I never enj oy m eet ing Ber t Dykes. He never has anyt hi ng t o do. No m at er how busy you ar e, he al ways i nsist s on i ng wi th you. I had to t hink of a way of pr eventi ng hi m fr om f oll owing m e ar ound al l mor ni ng. 39。so i t was fort unat e t hat we di dn39。Jum bo m ust wei gh a few t ons, 39。guar d of honour39。t we e more Engl ishm an, Wil li am Low. He suggest ed t hat a doubl e rail way t unnel should be buil t. Thi s woul d solve t he pr oblem of venti lati on, f or if a t r ai n ent ered t hi s t unnel, it woul d draw in f r esh air behind i t. Fort yt wo year s l at er a t unnel was actual y begun. If , at t he tim e, t he Br it ish had not f ear ed i nvasi on, i t would have been pl et ed. Recent l y, t her e has again been gr eat i nt er est i n t he i dea of a Channel Tunnel. I f i t is buil t, i t wil l connect Br it ai n t o Eur ope f or t he fi r st t im e i n hi st or y. Lesson65 Jum bo versus t he pol ice 小象對(duì)警察 Last Chr i stm as, t he ci r cus owner, Jimm y Gat es, deci ded t o t ake som e pr esent s t o a chi l dr en39。 Br inksley Mer s agr eed. 39。 I t couldn39。Thi s is a wonder ful place for a pi i c, 39。s son, Donal d, al so set up a wor l d record. Li ke hi s fat her, he was dr i vi ng a car cal ed Bl uebir d. Lesson73 The record hol der 紀(jì)錄保持者 Lit tl e boys who play t r uant fr om school are unim agi nat i ve. A qui et day39。 l eson70 Red f or danger 危險(xiǎn)的紅色 Dur ing a bul lf ight, a dr unk suddenl y wander ed i nt o t he m iddle of t he ri ng. The cr owd began t o shout , but t he dr unk wa s unawar e of t he danger. The bull was busy wi th t he mat ador at t he ti me, but i t suddenl y caught sight of t he dr unk who was shouti ng r ude r em arks and waving a r ed cap. Appar entl y sensit i ve t o cri ti ci sm , t he bull f or got al l about t he m at ador and charged at the dr unk. The crowd suddenl y gr ew qui et . The dr unk, however, seem ed qui te sur e of hi msel f. When t he bull got close to hi m, he clumsil y stepped asi de t o l et i t pass. The cr owd br oke i nto cheer s and t he dr unk bowed. By t his t im e, however , thr e m en had e int o the r ing and t hey qui ckl y dragged the dr unk t o safet y. Even t he bul seem ed t o feel sor ry f or him, f or it l ooked on sym pat het i cal y unti l t he dr unk was out of t he way bef or e once mor e tur ni ng it s at ent ion t o t he m at ador . Lesson71 A f am ous cl ock 一個(gè)著 名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of t he f ir st t hings you wil l see i s Bi g Ben, t he f am ous cl ock whi ch can be hear d al l over t he worl d on t he B. B. C. If t he Houses of Parli ament had hot been bur ned down in 1834, the gr eat clock woul d never have been er ect ed. Bi g Ben t akes it s nam e f rom Sir Benjami n Hal who was responsibl e for t he m aki ng of the cl ock when t he new Houses of Parl iament were bei ng buil t. I t is not onl y of im mense si ze, but i s ext r em el y accur at e as wel . Of i ci al s fr om Greenwich Observator y have t he clock checked t wi ce a day. On the B. B. C. you can hear t he cl ock when it i s act ual y str i ki ng because m icr ophones ar e connected t o t he cl ock t ower. Bi g Ben has rar el y gone wr ong. Once, however , i t f ai led t o give t he cor rect tim e. A paint er who had been wor ki ng on t he t ower hung a pot of pai nt on one of t he hands and sl owed it down ! Lesson72 A car cal ed Bl uebi rd “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The great r aci ng dri ver , Sir Mal col m Cam pbel l, was t he f ir st m an t o dr i ve at over 300 m il es per hour . He set up a new worl d r ecor d i n Sept em ber 1935 at Bonnevil le Salt Fl at s, Utah. Bluebi r d, t he car he was dri vi ng, had been speci al l y bui lt f or him . It was over 30 feet in l engt h and had a 2500 hor se power engine. Alt hough Cam pbel r eached a speed of over 304 mi l es per hour, he had gr eat dif fi cul t y in contr oll ing t he car