【正文】 as suddenly spotted by a lookout. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct collision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen water tight partments had already been flooded ! The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icy water. As there were not enough lifeboats for everybody, 1500 lives were lost. 巨輪 “泰坦尼克 ”號 1912年 4月 10日從南安普敦起錨駛向紐約。卻使用現(xiàn)代標準來衡量， 45,000 噸的 “泰坦尼克 ”號與算得上一艘巨輪了。因為船由 16 個密封艙組成，即使有兩個艙進水，仍可漂浮的水面上。人們將永遠記著這艘巨輪的沉沒慘劇。突然，了望員發(fā)現(xiàn)一座冰山。 “泰坦尼克 ”這個彎拐得及時，緊貼著高出海面 100英尺的巨大的冰墻擦過去。由于這個聲音非常輕，沒人會想到船身已遭損壞。于是，他發(fā)出棄船的命令，幾百人跳進了冰冷刺骨的海水里。 Lesson11 Not guilty Going through the Customs is a tiresome business. The strangest thing about it is that really honest people are often made to feel guilty. The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never troubled by such feelings, even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase. When I returned from abroad recently, a particularly officious young Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler. 39。 he asked, looking me in the eye. 39。 I answered confidently. 39。 39。 I answered. The Officer went through the case with great care. All the things I had packed so carefully were soon in a dreadful mess. I felt sure I would never be able to close the case again. Suddenly, I saw the Officer39。Perfume, eh?39。You should have declared that.39。 39。t perfume,39。 It39。 Then I added with a smile,39。s a strange mixture I make myself.39。Try it!39。但是，當你通過綠色通道，沒有任何東西需要申報時，他們?nèi)钥梢詳r住你。最近一次，我也出國歸來，碰上一位特別好管閑事的年輕海關(guān)官員，他顯然把我當成走私犯。 “沒有。 “請打開這只手提箱好嗎？ ” “好的。 那位官員十分仔細地把箱子檢查了一遍。我相信那箱子再也關(guān)不上了。他在我的箱底發(fā)現(xiàn)了一只小瓶，高興地一把抓了起來。 ” “不，這不是香水， ”我說， “是發(fā)膠。 ” “你就聞一聞吧！ ”我催促說。一股怪味襲來，使他相信了我說的真話。 Lesson12 Life on a desert island Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines. Life there is simple and good. Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work. The other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never es. Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunity to find out. Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink. They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and tins of beer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island. There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem. The men collected rainwater in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of them put it 39。. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave. 我們許多人對于荒島生活有一種不切實際的想法。在那里，生活簡單又美好。另一種想法恰恰相反，認為荒島生活很可怕，要么餓死，要么像魯濱孫那樣，天天盼船來，卻總沒見船影。但很少有人能有機會去弄個究竟。他們駕著一條嚴重損壞的小船從維爾京群島阿密修理。然后在加勒比海上劃 行了幾英里，到了一座珊瑚島上。他們用像皮艇蓄積雨水。他們天天捕捉龍蝦和魚，正如其中一位所說，吃得 “像國王一樣好 ”。這二位不得不離開那個荒島時，還真的感到遺憾呢！ Lesson13 It?s only me After her husband had gone to work, Mrs Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework that morning, for in the evening she would be going to a fancy dress party with her husband. She intended to dress up as a ghost and as she had made her costume the night before, she was impatient to try it on. Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective. After putting it on, Mrs Richards went downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would be fortable to wear. Just as Mrs Richards was entering the diningroom, there was a knock on the front door. She knew that it must be the baker. She had told him to e straight in if ever she failed to open the door and to leave the bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to frighten the poor man, Mrs Richards quickly hid in the small storeroom under the stairs. She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door of the storeroom was opened and a man entered. Mrs Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had e to read the meter. She tried to explain the situation, saying39。s only me39。那天上午，她興奮得什么家務(wù)活都不想做，因為晚上她要同丈夫一起參加一個化裝舞會。頭天晚上她已把化裝服做好，這時她急于想試試。理查茲夫人穿上化裝服后下了樓，想看穿起來是否舒服。她知道來了一定面包師。理查茲夫人不想嚇唬這個可憐人，便趕緊躲到了樓梯下的小儲藏室里。突然貯 藏門開了，一個男人走了進來。她說了聲 “是我，別怕！ ”然后想進行一番解釋，但已來不及了。理查茲夫人朝他走去，只見他 “砰 ”的一聲關(guān)上門逃走了。 protection39。protechon money39。the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue39。如果交款不及時 ,歹徒們就會很快搗毀他的商店 ,讓他破產(chǎn) .榨取 保護金 并不是一種現(xiàn)代的罪惡行徑 .早在 14 世紀 ,英國人約翰 .霍克伍德就有過非凡的發(fā)現(xiàn) :人們情愿拿出大筆的錢 ,也不愿畢生的心血毀于歹徒之手 . 600 年前 ,約翰 .霍克伍德爵士帶著一隊士兵來到意大利 ,在佛羅倫薩附近駐扎下來 ,很快就出了名 .意大利人叫他喬凡尼 .阿庫托 .每次意大利各城邦之間打伏 ,霍克伍德把他的士兵雇傭給愿給他出高價的君主?；艨宋榈掠眠@種方法掙了大筆錢 .盡管如此 ,意大利人還是把他視作某種英雄。爸爸媽媽當然經(jīng)常給孩子零花錢，但是，叔舅嬸姨也是孩子們額外收入來源。如果 50 便士不拿來換糖吃，則可以放在儲蓄罐里叮當響上好幾月。對大部分孩子來說，用 50 便士來買一大塊好的巧克力，是算不了什么的。我給了不少 50 便士的硬幣，但沒有幾個存到儲蓄罐里。在他去糖果店的路上， 50便士掉在地上，在 人行道上跳了幾下，掉進了陰溝里。但他摸了半天也沒找到那 50 便士硬幣，他的胳膊反倒退不出來了。有人打電話叫來消防隊，兩位消防隊員使用了一種特殊的潤滑劑才使喬治得以解脫。 Lesson16 Mary had a little lamb Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece. One of Ma