【正文】 Mol dova and Ri car do Br abant e, t el m e t hat hey have been expecti ng a spl endi d cr op t his year and har vesti ng has begun ear li er than usual. Her e you can see t wo wor ker s who, bet ween t hem , have j ust f ini shed cut ti ng t hr ee car t l oads of gol den br own m acar oni st alks. The whol e vil lage has been wor ki ng day and ni ght gat her i ng and t hr eshi ng t hi s year39。 Lesson77 A successf ul operat ion 一例成功的手術(shù) The mumm y of an Egypti an wom an who di ed i n 800 B. C. has just had an operati on. The m um my i s t hat of Shepenm ut who was once a si nger i n the Tem pl e of Thebes. As t her e wer e st r ange m ar ks on the X r ay pl at es taken of t he m umm y, doctor s have been tr ying t o fi nd out whet her t he woman di ed of a r are di sease. The only way t o do t his was t o oper ate. The oper at i on, which l ast ed for over f our hour s, pr oved t o be ver y dif fi cult because of t he har d r esi n whi ch covered t he ski n. The doct or s r emoved a secti on of t he m umm y and sent i t o a l abor at or y. They also f ound somet hi ng which t he Xr ay of the god Duamut ef . Thi s god whi ch has t he head of a cow was norm al l y pl aced i nsi de a mumm y. The doctor s have not yet deci ded how t he wom an died. They f ear ed t hat t he m umm y woul d f al l t o pi eces when t he y cut i t open, but fort unat el y t hi s has not happened. The m um my successf ull y sur vi ved t he oper at i on. Lesson78 The l ast one? 最后一枝嗎？ Af ter r eadi ng an ar ti cl e ent it l ed 39。 I l it a ci gar et t e to calm m y ner ves. I sm oked wi t h conc ent r at ion and pl easur e as I was sur e t hat t hi s would be m y l ast ci gar et e. For a whol e week I di d not sm oke at al and duri ng t hi s tim e, m y wi fe suff ered t er ri bl y. I had al l t he usual sympt om s of someone gi vi ng up sm oki ng: a bad t em per and an enor m ous appet it e. My fr i ends kept on of feri ng m e ci gar et es and ci gar s. They made no ef ort t o hide t hei r am usement whenever I pr oduced a packet of sweet s fr om m y pocket. Af t er seven days of thi s I went t o a part y. Ever ybody ar ound m e was sm oki ng and I felt extr em ely un f or tabl e. When m y old f ri end Bri an ur ged m e to accept a ci gar et te, it was m or e t han I could bear. I t ook one guil ti l y, li t it and sm oked wit h sat isf acti on. My wi f e was deli ghted t hat t hi ngs had r etur ned t o norm al once mor e. Anyway, as Bri an poi nt ed out, it i s t he easi e st t hi ng i n the wor l d t o gi ve up sm oki ng. He hi msel f has done i t lots of t im es! Lesson79 By air 乘飛機(jī) I used to t r avel by ai r a gr eat deal when I was a boy. My par ent s, used t o li ve in Sout h Ameri ca and I used t o fl y t her e f rom Europe i n the holi days. An air host es woul d take char ge of m e and I never had an unpl easant experi ence. I am used to t r avel ing by air and onl y on one occasi on have I ever f elt f ri ghtened. Af t er t aki ng off , we wer e fl yi ng l ow over t he ci t y and sl owly gai ni ng hei ght, when t he pl ane suddenl y t ur ned round and fl ew back t o t he air por t. Whil e we wer e wait ing t o l and, an ai r host es t old us t o keep calm and t o get of f the pl ane qui etl y as soon as i t had touched down. Everybody on boar d was wor ri ed and we wer e cur i ous t o fi nd out what had happened. Lat er we l ear nt that there was a ver y im por t ant person on boar d. The pol ice had been t ol d t hat a bom b had been pl ant ed on t he pl ane. Aft er we had l anded, t he pl ane was sear ched t hor oughl y. Fort unat el y, not hing was f ound and f i ve hour s later we wer e able t o t ake of f agai n. Leson80 The Cryst al Pal ace 水晶宮 Per haps t he m ost extr aordi nar y bui l di ng of the ni ent h cent ur y was t he Cryst al Pal ace, whi ch was buil t i n Hyde Par k f or t he Gr eat Exhi bi ti on of 1851. The Cr yst al Pal ace was di f er ent fr om al ot her buil di ngs in t he worl d, for it was m ade of i r on and gl ass. I t was one of t he bi ggest buil dings of al l tim e and a l ot of peopl e f rom m any countr i es came t o see i t. A great m any goods wer e sent t o the exhi bit i on f r om vari ous part s of t he wor l d. There was al so a gr eat deal of m achi ner y on display. The m ost wonderf ul pi ece of m achi ner y on show was Nasm yt h39。s cl othes. Now, dr esed i n a bl ue uni f or m and wit h a r if le over his shoul der , the pri soner mar ched boldl y up and down in fr ont of the camp. He could hear shouti ng in the cam p it sel f. Li ght s were bl azi ng and men were running here and t her e: t hey had just di scover e d that a pri soner had escaped. At that moment, a l arge black car wit h f our of fi cer s inside i t, st opped at the camp gat es. The off icers got out and t he pr isoner st ood to at ent ion and saluted as t hey passed. When t hey had gone, t he dri ver of the car cam e towar ds hi m. The man obviously want ed t o t al k. He was rat her elder ly wi th gr ey hair and clear bl ue eyes. The pr isoner f elt sorr y for hi m, but t her e was nothing el se he could do. As t he man came near , the i nst r uct ed to dri ve out of town, I began t o acqui re confi dence. Sur e t hat I had passed, I was alm ost begi nni ng to enj oy my t e st . The exami ner must have been pleased wi th my perf orm ance, f or he sm il ed and said, 39。 I continued dr iving and aft er some ti me, t he exami ner t aped l oudl y. Though the sound coul d be hear d clearl y, i t took me a long t ime to r eact. I suddenly presed t he br ake pedal har d and we wer e both t hrown f orwar d. The exami ner l ooked at me sadl y. 39。 he sai d, i n a m our nful voice, 39。 lesson70 Red f or danger 危險的紅色 Dur ing a bul lf ight, a dr unk suddenl y wander ed int o the m iddle of t he ri ng. The cr owd began t o shout , but the dr unk was unawar e of the danger . The bul l was