【正文】 ted on her hip. She was wearing a fulllength skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity. 不久之前，在愛(ài)琴海的基亞島上，考古工作者有一項(xiàng)有趣的發(fā)現(xiàn)。 “13下是不如 1下好，但總比 1 下也不敲強(qiáng)。 “不錯(cuò)，鐘能報(bào)時(shí)了，但是，恐怕每到 1 點(diǎn)鐘，它總要敲 13 下，對(duì)此我已無(wú)能為力了。不過(guò)，鐘又能報(bào)時(shí)了，我還是很高興的。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚。 “我想把這口鐘修好， ”比爾回答說(shuō)。他看見(jiàn)一個(gè)人，馬上認(rèn)出那是本地雜貨店主經(jīng)比爾 .威爾金斯。牧師拿著一支電筒走上鐘樓想去看看究竟發(fā)生了什么事情。教堂的鐘很大，以前不分晝夜打點(diǎn)報(bào)時(shí)，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無(wú)聲無(wú)息了。 我們教區(qū)的牧師總是為各種各樣的事籌集資金。s better than nothing. Now let39。 said the vicar. 39。We39。s nothing I can do about it.39。m afraid that at one o39。It39。s the trouble, vicar,39。 39。ve probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I39。 said the vicar. 39。 本文轉(zhuǎn)載自新概念英語(yǔ)網(wǎng) 2 39。 I39。m trying to repair the bell,39。 asked the vicar in surprise. 39。clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer. 39。 Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since. 39。搜尋工作進(jìn)行了好幾個(gè)星期，但始終未能逮住那只美洲獅。有人抱怨說(shuō)夜里聽(tīng)見(jiàn) “像貓一樣的叫聲 ”；一位商人去釣魚(yú)，看見(jiàn)那只美洲獅在樹(shù)上。事實(shí)上搜尋工作很困難，因?yàn)槌３Ｊ窃绯吭诩椎匕l(fā)現(xiàn)那只美洲獅，晚上卻在 20英里外的乙地發(fā)現(xiàn)它 的蹤跡。那里的一位婦女在采摘黑莓時(shí)的看見(jiàn) “一只大貓 ”，離她僅 5碼遠(yuǎn)，她剛看見(jiàn)它，它就立刻逃走了?？墒?，隨著證據(jù)越來(lái)越多，動(dòng)物園的專(zhuān)家們感到有必要進(jìn)行一番調(diào)查，因?yàn)榉彩锹暦Q(chēng)見(jiàn)到過(guò)美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相似。 at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it e from ? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside. 美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動(dòng)物，產(chǎn)于美洲。 only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered（ 的） . The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people plained of 39。本文轉(zhuǎn)載自新概念英語(yǔ)網(wǎng) 1 Lesson1 A puma at large Pumas are large, catlike animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted fortyfive miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar. The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 39。a large cat39。catlike noises39。當(dāng)倫敦動(dòng)物園接到報(bào)告說(shuō)，在倫敦以南 45英里處發(fā)現(xiàn)一只美洲獅時(shí)，這些報(bào)告并沒(méi)有受到重視。 搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開(kāi)始的。專(zhuān)家證實(shí)，美洲獅非被逼得走投無(wú)路，是決不會(huì)傷人的。無(wú)論它走哪兒，一路上總會(huì)留下一串死鹿及死兔子之類(lèi)的小動(dòng)物，在許多地方看見(jiàn)爪印，灌木叢中發(fā)現(xiàn)了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。專(zhuān)家們?nèi)缃褚呀?jīng)完全肯定那只動(dòng)物就是美洲獅，但它是從哪兒來(lái)的呢？由于全國(guó)動(dòng)物園沒(méi)有一家報(bào)告丟了美洲獅，因此那只美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養(yǎng)的，不知怎么設(shè)法逃出來(lái)了。想到在寧?kù)o的鄉(xiāng)村里有一頭危險(xiǎn)的野獸繼續(xù)逍遙流竄，真令人擔(dān)心。 One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o39。Whatever are you doing up here Bill ?39。 I39。 answered Bill.39。ve been ing up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.39。You certainly did give me a surprise!39。You39。m glad the bell is working again.39。That39。 answered Bill. 39。s working all right, but I39。clock it will strike thirteen times and there39。 39。ll get used to that Bill,39。Thirteen is not as good as one but it39。s go downstairs and have a cup of tea.39。但始終未能籌足資金把教堂的鐘修好。 一天夜里，我們的牧師突然被驚醒了，大鐘又在 “打點(diǎn) ”報(bào)時(shí)了！他一看表，才 1點(diǎn)鐘，可是那鐘一邊敲了13 下才停。借著電筒光。 “你究竟在這上面干什么，比爾？ ”牧師驚訝地問(wèn)。 “好幾個(gè)星期了，我天天夜里 到鐘樓上來(lái)。 ” “你確實(shí)使我大吃了一驚！ ”牧師說(shuō)， “也許同時(shí)你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。 ” “問(wèn)題就在這里，牧師， ”比爾回答說(shuō)。 ” “大家慢慢就習(xí)慣了，比爾， ”牧師說(shuō)。來(lái)，咱們下樓去喝杯茶吧。一個(gè)美國(guó)考古隊(duì)在阿伊亞 .依里尼海角的一座古城里考察了一座廟宇。里面房間很大，墻壁裝飾華麗。 本文轉(zhuǎn)載自新概念英語(yǔ)網(wǎng) 3 考古工作者考察的這座廟宇從公元前 15世紀(jì)直到羅馬時(shí)代一直是祭祀祈禱的場(chǎng)所。每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上過(guò)色。她的腦袋一定是在古希臘羅馬時(shí)代就為人所發(fā)現(xiàn)，并受到精心的保護(hù)?？脊殴ぷ髡甙堰@些碎片重新拼裝起來(lái)后，驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)那位女神原來(lái)是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。身穿一條拖地長(zhǎng)裙，盡管上了年紀(jì)，但體態(tài)確實(shí)優(yōu)美。 Lesson4 The double life of Alfred Bloggs These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than clerks who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as39。 for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of being white collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation. When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls ( ) and spent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at night, he took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alf39。Mr. Bloggs39。Alf39。坐辦公室的之所以常常被稱(chēng)作 “白領(lǐng)工人 ”，就是因?yàn)樗麄兺ǔＪ谴┲差I(lǐng)白襯衫，系著領(lǐng)帶去上班。而這常常會(huì)引起種種奇怪的現(xiàn)象，在埃爾斯米爾公司當(dāng)清潔工的艾爾弗雷德 .布洛斯就是一個(gè)例子。他只說(shuō)在埃 爾斯米爾公司上班。晚上回家前，他洗個(gè)淋浴，重新?lián)Q上那身黑色西服。艾爾弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁給了一個(gè)清潔工，而且她永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)知道了，因?yàn)榘瑺柛ヒ颜业叫铰?，不久就要坐辦公室里工作了。不過(guò)他覺(jué)得，地位升高了，損失點(diǎn)兒錢(qián)也值得。別人將稱(chēng)呼他為 “布洛格斯先生 ”，而不再叫他 “艾爾弗 ”了。s palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then ref