【正文】 兩名店員從早上8點(diǎn)就開始忙碌，這時(shí)剛剛布置完畢。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了幾分鐘就回到了店里。一人留在駕駛座上，另外兩個(gè)用黑色長筒絲襪蒙面的人跳下車來。這開始發(fā)生時(shí)，泰勒先生正在樓上。一個(gè)竊賊被一尊很重的雕像擊中，但由于他忙著搶鉆石首飾，竟連疼痛都顧不上了。就在轎車離開的時(shí)候，泰勒先生從店里沖了出來，跟在車后追趕，一邊還往車上扔煙灰缸、花瓶。他們已帶著價(jià)值數(shù)千鎊的首飾逃之夭夭了。t despair when they made mistakes like this （and a lot of people do）！ Fortunately for them， the Bank of England has a team called Mutilated Ladies which deals with claims from people who fed their money to a machine or to their dog. Dogs， it seems， love to chew up money！A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fianc233。39。So long as there39。 said a spokeswoman for the Bank. 39。s head appears on English bank notes， and 39。 refers to this.New words and expressions 生詞和短語mutilate v. 使殘缺不全chew v. 咀嚼m(xù)icrowave n. 微波，微波爐oven n. 爐灶safekeeping n. 妥善保管Newcastle n. 紐卡斯?fàn)枺ㄓ凼校﹊dentify v. 鑒定，識(shí)別spokeswoman n. 女發(fā)言人參考譯文這種事情在你身上出現(xiàn)過嗎？你有沒有把褲子塞洗衣機(jī)，然后又想在褲子的后兜有一張大面值的紙幣？當(dāng)你把褲子搶救出來時(shí)，你有沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣已經(jīng)變得比白紙還白？當(dāng)英國人犯這種錯(cuò)誤時(shí)，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。看起來，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢幣。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?？梢韵胂袼麄儼l(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?！爸灰袞|西可供識(shí)別，我們會(huì)把錢還給人家的，”銀行的一位女發(fā)言人說。”Lesson 8 A famous monastery著名的修道院The Great St. Bernard Pass connects Switzerland to Italy. At 2，473 metres， it is the highest mountain pass in Europe. The famous monastery of St. Bernard， witch was founded in 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 ahs 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 o and very few people attempt to cross the Pass. The monks prefer winter to summer of 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 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。s ability to survive falls is based on fact. Recently the New York Animal Medical Center made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months. All these cats had one experience in mon： they had fallen off high buildings， yet only eight of them died from shock or injuries. Of course， New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study， because there is no shortage of tall buildings. There are plenty of highrise windowsills to fall from！ One cat， Sabrina， fell 32 storeys， yet only suffered from a broken tooth. 39。 a doctor said. It seems that the further cats fall， the less they are likely to injure themselves. In a long drop， they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more. At high speeds， falling cats have time to relax. They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels. This increases their airresistance and reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground.New words and expressions 生詞和短語fascinate ，吸引住 impact affectionate ，柔情的mysterious ，難以理解的submissive ，順從的feline independence ，獨(dú)立性highrise windowsill paratrooper squirrel airresistance 參考譯文貓總能引起人們的極大興趣。但是，它們又有自己神秘的生活方式。結(jié)果是人們已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)尊重貓的獨(dú)立性。最使我們感興趣的一件事情就是一種通俗的信念——貓有九條命。貓?jiān)诘鋾r(shí)能夠大難不死是有事實(shí)作為依據(jù)的。所有這些貓有一個(gè)共同的經(jīng)歷：它們都曾從高層建筑上摔下來過，但只有其中的8只貓死于震蕩或跌傷。有一只叫薩伯瑞的貓從32層樓上掉下來，但只摔斷一顆牙?？雌饋?，貓跌落的距離越長，它們就越不會(huì)傷害自己。在高速下落中，貓有時(shí)間放松自己。這樣就加大了空氣阻力，并減少了它們著地時(shí)沖擊力帶來的震動(dòng)。船上載有1，316名乘客與891名船員。當(dāng)時(shí)，這艘輪船不僅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被認(rèn)為是不會(huì)沉沒的。然而，這艘巨輪首航就下沉，造成大批人員死亡?！疤┨鼓峥恕逼鸷胶蟮牡?天，它正行駛在北大西洋冰冷的海面上。警報(bào)響過不久，巨輪急轉(zhuǎn)彎，以避免與冰山正面相撞。突然，從船艙下部傳來一聲微顫音，船長走下船艙去查看究竟。在下面，船長驚恐的地發(fā)現(xiàn)“泰坦尼克”號(hào)正在急速下沉，16個(gè)密封艙已有5個(gè)進(jìn)水。由于沒有足夠的救生艇運(yùn)載所有乘客，結(jié)果，1，500 人喪