【正文】 awley,39。 Lesson84 On stri ke 罷工 Busm en have decided to go on st ri ke next week. The st ri ke is due to begi n on Tuesday. No one knows how long i t wi l l ast . The busmen have st ated t hat the st ri ke wil l conti nue unt il gener al agr ement is r eached about pay and worki ng condit ions. Most people beli eve t hat t he st ri ke wi l last for a t least a week. Many owner s of pri vat e car s are goi ng to of fer 39。 t o peopl e on their way to wor k. Thi s wi l r el ieve pressur e on the t rai ns to some extent. Meanwhil e, a number of universit y student s have vol unt er ed to dr ive buses whi le the str ike l asts. Al l t he young men ar e exper t dri ver s, but bef ore t hey dri ve any of t he buses, t hey wi l l have t o pass a speci al t est . The st udents ar e goi ng t o t ake the t est i n two days39。s hom e. We shal l al l remember Mr Page f or hi s pat ience and understanding and f or t he kindly encouragem ent he gave us when we went so unwi l ingly to school . A gr eat many f or mer pupils wil l be at tending a f arewel dinner in hi s honour next Thur sday. I t is a cur ious coi nci dence t hat t he day bef or e his r eti rement, Mr Page wi l have been t eaching f or a tot al of f ort y year s. Af ter he has reti red, he wi l devot e himself t o gar deni ng. For him, this wi l be an enti rel y new hobby. But thi s does not mat er , for , as he has oft en remar ked, one is never t oo ol d t o l ear n. Lesson86 Out of control 失控 As the m an tr ied t o swing t he speedboat r ound, t he st er ingwheel cam e away in hi s hands. He waved desper ately to hi s panion, who had been wa ter ski ing f or the l ast fi ft een minut es. Both m en had har dl y had ti me t o r eal ize what was happeni ng when they wer e thr own viol ent 1y int o the sea. The speed boat had st ruck a buoy, but it conti nued t o move very qui ckl y acr oss the water . Bot h men had j ust be gun to swi m t owards the shore. when they noti ced wit h dismay t hat t he speed boat was movi ng in a ci rcle. I t now cam e st rai ght t owar ds them at t remendous speed. I n less than a mi nute, it r oar ed past the m onl y a f ew feet away. Af ter i t had passed, they swam on as quickly as t hey could because t hey knew that the boat woul d soon r etur n. They had just had enough ti me t o swim out of danger when t he boat agai n pleted a ci rcl e. On this occasi on, however , it had sl owed down consi der abl y. The petr ol had nearl y al been used up. Befor e long, t he noise dropped pl etely and t he boat began to dr if t gentl y across the wat er . Lesson87 A perfect al ibi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場的證據(jù) 39。clock t rain to London, 39。Do you al ways cat ch such an ear ly tr ai n ?39。Of cour se I do, 39。 I m ust be at work at o39。 39。 asked the i nspect or. 39。 39。 39。 And you didn39。 39。 39。 said t he inspector , 39。clock t rain, but that you caught t he whi ch woul d sti l get you t o wor k on t ime. You see, on t he morni ng of the mur der , the o39。 Lesson88 Trapped i n a mine 困在礦井里 Si x men have been t rapped in a mine f or seventeen hour s. I f they are not br ought to t he sur f ace soon they may l ose t hei r li ves. However , rescue operat ions are pr ovi ng dif fi cul t. I f explosives are used, vi br ati ons wi l l cause the r oof of the mine t o collapse. Rescue wor kers ar e theref or e dr il ing a hol e on the nor th side of t he m i ne. They i ntend to bri ng the men up in a speci al capsul e. I f there had not been a har d layer of rock beneath t he soi l, t hey woul d have pl eted the j ob in a few hour s. As it is, they have been dr il ling for sixte en hours and they sti l have a long way t o go. Meanwhile, a mi crophone, which was l owered i nto t he mine t wo hours ago, has enabled the m en to keep in touch wit h t he cl osest relat ives. Though they are r unni ng out of f ood and dr ink, the m en ar e cheer ful and conf ident that they wil l get out soon. They have been told that rescue operati ons ar e pr ogr essing smoothl y. I f they knew how di f icult i t was to dr il l through t he har d r ock, they would lose hear t. Lesson89 A sli p of the tongue 口誤 Peopl e wi l do anyt hing t o se a fr e showeven if i t is a bad one. When the news got round that a vari et y show would be pr esented at our local cinema by the P. and U. Bir d Seed Company, we al r ushed t o se i t. We had to queue for hours t o get in and t her e must have been seve ral hundr ed people pr esent just be f or e t he show began. Unf ort unat el y, the show was one of the dull est we have ever sen. Those who fail ed to get in need not have f elt disappoi nt ed as many of the art istes who should have appear ed did not e. The onl y funny t hings we hear d t hat eveni ng cam e fr om t he adver tiser at he begi nni ng of the pr ogr amme. He was obviousl y very ner vous and f or some m inutes stood awkwardl y bef ore t he mi cr ophone. As soon as he opened hi s mouth, ever yone bur st out laughing. We al know what t he poor man shoul d have sai d, but what he actual y sai d was: 39。 l eson90 What s for supper ？ 晚餐吃什么？ Though Brazil i s one of t he ri chest countr ies i n the wor ld, much of it has not yet been developed. I t was mainly for t hi s rea son that the Br azi li an government deci ded to have a new cit y buil t 600 m il es nor th west of Rio de Janeir o. Designed by t he gr eat ar chi tect Lucio Cost a, t he new cit y, Br asi li a, r epl aced Ri o de Janei ro as t he capit al of Br azi f in 1960. Brasil ia has been car ef ull y planned for modern l ivi ng. I ts wi de roads, whi ch can take four teen lane s of t raf fi c, have been kept away fr om l ivi ng ar eas. Chil dren do not have t o cross busy st reets t o go to school . Housewi ves can visit shoppi ng cent res on f oot , for i n these special y desi gned l ivi ng ar eas, car s are unnecessar y. At f i rst, the gover nm ent had gr eat dif f