【正文】 they not iced wi th di smay that the speedboat was moving i n a cir cle. It now came str aight towards t hem at tr emendous speed. In l es t han a minut e, i t roared past t hem only a few f eet away. Af ter it had passed, t hey swam on as qui ckl y as they coul d because they knew t hat t he boat would soon r et urn. They had j ust had enough t ime to swi m out of danger when the boat again pl eted a cir cle. On t hi s oc casion, however, i t had slowed down considerably. The pet r ol had near l y al l been used up. Bef or e l ong, t he noi se dr opped pl et el y and t he boat began t o dr i f t gent l y acr oss t he wat er . Lesson87 A perf ect al i bi 極好的不在犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的證據(jù) 39。At t sensi t i ve t o cri ti ci sm , the bull f or got al l about the m at ador and char ged at t he drunk. The cr owd suddenly gr ew quiet. The dr unk, however , seemed quit e sur e of himself . When the bul l got close to hi m, he clumsil y stepped aside t o l et i t pass. The cr owd broke i nt o cheer s and the drunk bowed. By thi s ti me, however, t hr ee men had e i nt o t he ri ng and t hey qui ckl y dr agged the dr unk to safet y. Even the bul l seemed to feel sor ry f or him, f or it looked on sym pat het ical y until t he drunk was out of t he way befor e once mor e t ur ning i ts at tenti on to t he matador. Leson71 A famous clock 一個(gè)著名的大鐘 When you visit London, one of the f ir st things you wi l se i s Bi g Ben, t he famous clock whi ch can be heard al l over the wor ld on the B. . I f the Houses of Par liament had hot been burned down in 1834, the gr eat clock would never have been erected. Big Ben takes i ts name f rom Sir Benj amin Hal l who was responsibl e for t he making of the cl ock when t he new Houses of Parl ia ment were being bui lt . I t is not only of i mmense si ze, but is ext r emel y accur at e as wel . Of ici al s fr om Gr eenwich Observator y have t he clock checked twi ce a day. On the B. . you can hear the cl ock when i t is actual y str iking because microphones ar e connect ed to the clock t ower . Big Ben has r arely gone wr ong. Once, however, i t fail ed to gi ve the corr ect t ime. A pai nter who had been wor king on t he tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed it down ! Lesson72 A car called Bluebird “藍(lán)鳥”汽車 The great racing dr iver, Si r Malcolm Campbel, was t he fi rst man t o dri ve at over 300 mil es per hour. He set up a new wor ld r ecor d i n Sept ember 1935 at Bonnevil le Sal t Fl ats, Utah. Bluebir d, t he car he was dr iving, had been speci al ly bui lt f or hi m. It was over 30 feet in l engt h and had a 2500 hor se power engine. Al t hough Campbel r eached a speed of over 304 mi les per hour , he had gr eat dif f iculty in contr oll ing t he car because a tyr e burst dur ing t he fi rst r un. Af ter his at tempt, Campbel was disappoi nted to learn t hat hi s aver age speed had been 299 mi les per hour. However, a f ew days l ater, he was t ol d t hat a m istake had been m ade. His average speed had been 301 mil es per hour. Since t hat ti me, racing dr ivers have r eached speeds of over 400 mil es an hour . Fol lowi ng hi s fat her 39。s f oot st eps many year s later , Si r Malcolm 39。s son, Donald, also set up a worl d record. Like hi s fat her , he was dr ivi ng a car cal ed Bluebir d. Lesson73 The record hol der 紀(jì)錄保持者 Lit tl e boys who play t ruant f r om school are unim agi nat ive. A quiet day39。s fi shi ng, or eight hour s in a cinema sei ng the same f ilm over and over agai n, i s usual y as far as they get. They have al l been put to sham e by a boy who, whil e playing t ruant, tr avel led 1600 mi les. He hit ch hiked t o Dover and, towar ds evening, went i nto a boat to f ind somewhere t o sleep. When he woke up next mor ning, he discovered t hat t he boat had, i n the meanti me, tr avel led to Calais. No one noti ced t he boy as he cr ept of f. Fr om t her e, he hit chhiked t o Pari s in a lorr y. The dr iver gave hi m a few bi scui ts and a cup of cof fee and l ef t him just out si de the cit y. The next car t he boy st opped di d not take him int o the centr e of Par is as he hoped it would, but to Perpi gnan on the FrenchSpani sh border. There he was pi cked up by a pol iceman and sent back t o England by t he local authori ti es. He has surely set up a r ecord for t he thousands of boys who dr eam of evading school . Lesson74 O ut of t he li meli ght 舞臺(tái)之外 An ancient bus st opped by a dr y r iver bed and a par ty of f am ous actor s and act reses got of f. Dr esed i n dar k glasses and old cl othes, t hey had t ake n speci al pr ecauti ons so t hat no one shoul d r ecognize them. But as they soon di scovered, di sgui ses can som et im es be t oo perf ect . 39。This i s a wonderf ul pl ace f or a piic,39。 sai d Gl ori a Gl eam. 39。 It couldn39。t be bet ter , Gl or ia,39。 Br inksl ey Meers agreed. 39。No newspaper men, no fi lm fans! Why don39。t we e m or e of ten ?39。 Meanwhi le, two ot her actor s, Rockwal Sli nger and Mer li n Gr eves, had car ied t wo lar ge food basket s to a shady spot under some t rees. When t hey had al l made themsel ves f ort abl e, a st ranger appear ed. He looked ver y angr y. 39。Now you gut out of here, al of you! 39。 he shouted: 39。 I 39。m sher if f her e. Do you se t hat noti ce ? I t says No Campingi n case you can39。t read !39。 39。 Look, sher if f, 39。said Rockwal l,39。 don39。t be too hard on us. I 39。m Rockwal l Sl inger and this i s Mer li n Gr eves. 39。 39。 Oh, is i t ?39。 said t he sheri f wi t h a sneer . 39。Wel , I39。m Br inksley Mer s, and my ot her name i s Gl or ia Gleam. Now you get out of here fast ! 39。 l eson75 SOS 呼救信號(hào) When a l ight passenger plane 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 pa ssenger s, a young wom an and her two baby daughters, were unhurt . It was t he m