【正文】 i ze, but i s ext r em el y accur at e as wel . Of ici al s fr om Greenwich Observator y have t he cl ock checked t wi ce a day. On t he B. B. C. you can hear t he cl ock when i t is act ual y str iki ng because mi cr ophones ar e connect ed t o t he clock t ower . Bi g Ben has r arel y gone wr ong. Once, however, i t fail ed to gi ve the corr ect t im e. A pai nt 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 i t down ! Leson72 A car cal l ed Bluebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The gr eat r aci ng dri ver , Si r Mal colm Campbel l, was t he fi rst man to dr i ve at over 300 m il es per hour . He set up a new wor ld r ecor d in Sept em ber 1935 at Bonnevil le Salt Fl at s, Ut ah. Bl uebi rd, t he car he was dri ving, ha d been special ly buil t for him . It was over 30 f eet i n l ength and had a 2500 horsepower engi ne. Al though Campbel reached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat dif fi cul ty in contr olli ng the car because a tyr e bur st dur ing t he fi rst run. Af ter his at empt, Campbel was disappoi nt ed to lear n t hat his average speed had been 299 mil es per hour. However, a f ew days later , he was t old t hat a m istake had been m ade. Hi s average speed had been 301 mil es per hour. Si nce t hat t ime, r acing dr iver s have r ea ched speeds of over 400 mil es an hour . Fol lowi ng his f at her 39。s son, Donal d, also set up a worl d r ecor d. Li ke his f at her , he was dri vi ng a car cal led Bl uebir d. Lesson73 The record holder 紀(jì)錄保持者 Li t le boys who play t ruant fr om school are uni maginative. A qui et day39。Thi s is a wonderf ul pl ace for a piic, 39。 It couldn39。 Br inksl ey Meers agr ed. 39。t we e m ore of ten ?39。Now you gut out of here, al of you! 39。 I 39。t r ead !39。 Look, sher if f, 39。 don39。m Rockwal Sl inger and t his i s Mer lin Greeves. 39。 Oh, is i t ?39。Wel , I39。 l eson75 SO S 呼救信號(hào) When a l ight passenger pl ane fl ew off course some t ime ago, it crashed in t he mountains and it s pil ot was ki l ed. The only passenger s, a young woman and her two baby daught ers, were unhurt . It was the middle of wi nter . Snow l ay thi ck on the gr ound. The wom an knew t hat t he near est vi l l age was m i l es away. When i t gr ew dar k. she t ur ned a sui t case i nt o a bed and put t he si nce. Leson60 The fut ure 卜算未來 At a vi l age fair , I decided t o visit a f ort une tel er cal led Madam Bel li nsky. I went i nto her tent and she t old m e to si t down. Af ter I had given her some m oney, she l ooked i nto a cr yst al bal and sai d: 39。 As soon as I went out side, I f ot al about Madam Bel li nsky because my wif e hurr ied t owar ds me. 39。 she asked im pat ientl y. 39。 As she wal ked away, I fol lowed her out of the f air . Lesson61 Trouble wi t h the Hubble 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 I n f utur e, ast ronauts wi l be r equi red t o descend fr om a spaceship whi le it is st il i n space and to retur n t o it . The abi li ty t o do thi s wi l be necessary in f utur e fl ights to di st ant plas. Sci ent i st s are now tr yi ng to di scover if t hi s is possi ble. The spaceship Astr a which l ef t the eart h a short ti me ago, wil l be tr avel ing t hree hundr ed mi les int o s pace. At a cer tain poi nt, the Ast ra wi l l st op for a shor t ti me and an astr onaut wil l at tempt t o leave the stati onar y spaceshi p and then r et urn to i t. We shal not know whether the exper im ent has been successf ul unt il we have r eceived a r adi o message. The fi rst mesage is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。s closest fr iends asked him t o make a speech at a weddi ng recept ion. This i s the sort of thi ng that Geof f rey l oves. He prepared t he speech car ef ull y and went t o the weddi ng wit h Jenny. He had included a l ar ge number of f unny st ori es i n the speech and, of course, it was a gr eat success . As soon as he had f inished, Jenny told hi m she wanted t o go home. Geoff rey was a l it tl e disappoint ed by thi s but he did as hi s daughter asked. On t he way home, he asked Jenny if she had enj oyed t he speech. To hi s sur pri se, she sai d she hadn39。s hospital . Dr essed up as Father Chri st mas and apanied by a 39。 of si x pr et ty gi rl s, he set of f down the m ai n str eet of the ci ty r idi ng a baby el ephant cal led Jumbo. He, shoul d have known t hat he police woul d never al ow t hi s sor t of thing. A pol iceman appr oached Jimm y and tol d him he ought to have gone along a side st reet as Jumbo was holdi ng up the t raf i c. Though Ji mmy agr eed t o go at once, Jum bo ref used t o move. Fi ft en pol icemen had to push ver y hard to get him off t he main str eet. The pol ice had a di f icult t ime, but t hey were most amused. 39。 said a pol iceman aft er wards, 39。t have to car y him. Of cour se, we shoul d ar est hi m, but as he has a good re cor d, we shal l et him of f t his t im e. 39。Hul lo, Bert ,39。Fancy m et ing you here ! 39。Hull o, Elizabeth,39。 I was j ust wonder ing how to spend the mor ning unti l I saw you. You39。 No, not at al ,39。 I 39。 39。 he asked, befor e I had fi ni shed speaki ng. ‘ Not at al l, 39。but I39。 39。l l e wi th you,39。 There39。wai t ing r oom ! 39。Just one more thing, Mr Eames. Let us suppose that a child suddenl y crosses t he road i n fr ont of you. As soon as I t ap on the wi ndow, I want t he car to be st opped i mmediat el y.39。Mr Eames,39。 you have just kil ed that chi ld !39。s f ootsteps many year s later , Sir Mal col m39。s f ishing, or ei ght hours i n a cinema seei ng the same f il m over and over agai n, i s usual l y as f ar as t hey get. They have al l been put to shame by a boy who, whi le pl ayi ng tr uant , t ravel ed 1600 m il es. He hit c h hi ked to Dover and, t owar ds evening, went into a boat to fi nd som ewher e to sl ep. When he woke up next morni ng, he discover ed that the boat had, in t he meant im e, t ravel