【正文】 “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 refused to publish it. The article began: 39。s palace.39。s palace. 報(bào)刊雜志的編輯常常為了向讀者提供成立一些關(guān)緊要的事實(shí)和統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字而走向極端。稿子寄來后，編輯看第一句話就拒絕予以發(fā)表。 ”編輯立即給那位記者發(fā)去傳真，要求他核實(shí)一下臺階的確切數(shù)字和圍墻的高度。他給記者先后發(fā)去兩份傳真，但對方毫無反應(yīng)。但記者還是沒有回復(fù)。一周之后，編輯終于接到記者的傳真。不過，他終于獲準(zhǔn)發(fā)回了一份傳真。 Lesson 6 Smashandgrab The expensive shops in a famous arcade near Piccadilly were just opening. At this time of the morning, the arcade was almost empty. Mr Taylor, the owner of a jewellery shop was admiring a new window display. Two of his assistants had been working busily since 8 o39。s. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stockings over their faces jumped out and smashed the window of the shop with iron bars. While this was going on, Mr Taylor was upstairs. He and his staff began throwing furniture out of the window. Chairs and tables went flying into the arcade. One of the thieves was struck by a heavy statue, but he was too busy helping himself to diamonds to notice any pain. The raid was all over in three minutes, for the men scrambled back into the car and it moved off at a fantastic speed. Just as it was leaving, Mr Taylor rushed out and ran after it throwing ashtrays and vases, but it was impossible to stop the thieves. They had got away with thousands of pounds worth of diamonds. 皮卡迪利大街附近的一條著名拱廊街道上，幾家高檔商店剛剛開始營業(yè)。珠寶店主泰勒先生正在欣賞新布置的櫥窗。鉆石項(xiàng)鏈、戒指漂亮地陳列在黑色絲絨上面。 寧靜突然被打破，一輛大轎車亮著前燈，響著喇叭，呼嘯著沖進(jìn)了拱廊街，在珠寶店門口停了下來。他們用鐵棒把商店櫥窗的玻璃砸碎。他與店員 動手向窗外投擲家具，椅子，桌子飛落花流水在拱廊街上。這場搶劫只持續(xù)了 3分鐘，因?yàn)楦`賊爭先恐后地爬上轎車，以驚人的速度開跑了。但他已無法抓住那些竊賊了。 Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies Children often have far more sense than their elders. This simple truth was demonstrated rather dramatically during a civil defence exercise in a small town in Canada. Most of the inhabitants were asked to take part in the exercise during which they had to pretend that their city had been bombed. Airraid warnings were sounded and thousands of people went into special airraid shelters. Doctors and nurses remained above ground while Police patrolled the streets in case anyone tried to leave the shelters too soon. The police did not have much to do because the citizens took the exercise seriously. They stayed underground for twenty minutes and waited for the siren to sound again. On leaving the airraid shelters, they saw that doctors and nurses were busy. A great many people had volunteered to act as casualties. Theatrical makeup and artificial blood had been used to make the injuries look realistic. A lot of People were lying 39。 in the streets. The living helped to carry the dead and wounded to special stations. A Child of six was brought in by two adults. The child was supposed to be dead. With theatrical makeup on his face, he looked as if he had died of shock. Some people were so moved by the sight that they began to cry. However, the child suddenly sat up and a doctor asked him to ment on his death. The child looked around for a moment and said, 39。re all crazy!39。對英國人來說，值得慶幸的是英國銀行有一個(gè)殘鈔鑒別組，負(fù)責(zé)理那些把錢塞進(jìn)機(jī)器或塞給狗的人提出的索賠要求。 最近的一個(gè)案例與簡 .巴特林有關(guān)，她的未婚夫約翰擁有一家生意興隆家具店。然 后，他和簡一起去騎馬。可以想像他們發(fā)現(xiàn)一只煮得很好看的錢包，鈔票已化成灰時(shí)的沮喪心情。他們鑒定了這些殘留物。 “只要有東西可供識別，我們會把錢還給人家的， ”銀行的一位女發(fā)言人說。 ” Lesson8 A famous monastery The Great St Bernard Pass connects Switzerland to Italy. At 2470 metres, it is the highest mountain pass in Europe. The famous monastery of St Bernard, which was founded in the eleventh century, lies about a mile away. For hundreds of years, St Bernard dogs have saved the lives of travellers crossing the dangerous Pass. These friendly dogs, which were first brought from Asia, were used as watchdogs even in Roman times. Now that a tunnel has been built through the mountains, the Pass is less dangerous, but each year, the dogs are still sent out into the snow whenever a traveller is in difficulty. Despite the new tunnel, there are still a few people who rashly attempt to cross the Pass on foot. During the summer months, the monastery is very busy, for it is visited by thousands of people who cross the Pass in cars, As there are so many people about, the dogs have to be kept in a special enclosure. In winter, however, life at the monastery is quite different. The temperature drops to 30 and very few people attempt to cross the Pass. The monks Prefer winter to summer for they have more privacy. The dogs have greater freedom, too, for they are allowed to wander outside their enclosure. The only regular visitors to the monastery in winter are parties of skiers who go there at Christmas and Easter. These young people, who love the peace of the mountains, always receive a warm. Wele at St Bernard39。 11世紀(jì)建造的著名的圣伯納德修道院位于離山口 1英里遠(yuǎn)的地方。那些最先從亞洲引進(jìn)的狗，待人友好，早在羅馬時(shí)代就給人當(dāng)看門狗了。但每年還要派狗到雪山地里去幫助那些遇到困難的旅游者，盡管修通了隧道，但仍有一些人想冒險(xiǎn)徒步跨越圣伯納德山口。 由于來人太多，狗被關(guān)在專門的圍欄里。氣溫下降到零下 30 度，試圖跨越山口的人寥寥無幾。因?yàn)樵诙?，他們可以更多地過無人打擾的生活。冬天常來修道院參觀的只有一批批滑雪者。這些熱愛高山清靜環(huán)境的年輕人每年都受到圣伯納德道院的熱烈歡迎。它們可以對人友好，充滿柔情。它們從不像狗和馬一樣變得那么順從。在它們的一生中，大多數(shù)貓都對人存有戒心。顯然，這種說法里面包含著許多真實(shí)性。 最近，紐約動物醫(yī)療中心對 132 只貓進(jìn)行了為期 5 個(gè)月的綜合研究。當(dāng)然，紐約是進(jìn)行 這種有趣的試驗(yàn)的一個(gè)理想的地方，因?yàn)槟抢锔静蝗狈Ω邩谴髲B，有的是高層的窗檻從上往下墜落。 “貓就像訓(xùn)練有素的跳傘隊(duì)員， ” 一位醫(yī)生說。在一個(gè)長長的跌落過程中，它們可以達(dá)到每小時(shí) 60 里甚至更快的速度。它們伸展四肢，就像飛行中的松鼠一樣。 Lesson10 The loss of Titanic The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 89l. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen water tight partments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life. Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy waters of the North Atlantic, a huge iceberg w