1、have shown interest in this new and unusual sport. But though air cyclists may learn how to fly over short distances, and may, eventually, even get across the English Channel, it is doubtful whether they will ever cycle across the Atlantic. Lesson67 Volcanoes 火 山 Haroun Tazieff the Polish scientist,
2、 has spent his life-time studying active volcanoes and deep caves in all parts of the world. In 1948, he went to lake Kivu in the Congo to observe a new volcano which he later named Kituro. Tazieff was able to set up his camp very close to the volcano while it was erupting violently. Though he manag
3、ed to take a number of brilliant photographs, he could not stay near the volcano for very long. He noticed that a river of liquid rock was coming towards him. It threatened to surround him completely, but Tazieff managed to escape just in time. He waited until the volcano became quiet and he was abl
4、e to return two days later. This time, he managed to climb into the mouth of Kituro so that he could take photographs and measure temperatures. Tazieff has often risked his life in this way. He has been able to tell us more about active volcanoes than any man alive. Lesson68 Persistent 纠 缠 不 休 I cro
5、ssed the street to avoid meeting him, but he saw me and came running towards me. It was no use pretending that I had not seen him, so I waved to him. I never enjoy meeting Bert Dykes. He never has anything to do. No matter how busy you are, he always insists on coming with you. I had to think of a w
6、ay of preventing him from following me around all morning. Hullo, Bert, I said. Fancy meeting you here ! Hullo, Elizabeth, Bert answered. I was just wondering how to spend the morning-until I saw you. Youre not busy doing anything, are you ? No, not at all, I answered. Im going to. . Would you mind
7、my coming with you ? he asked, before I had finished speaking. Not at all, I lied, but Im going to the dentist. Then Ill come with you, he answered. Theres always plenty to read in the waiting room ! lesson69 But not murder! 并 非 谋 杀 ！ I was being tested for a driving licence for the third time. I ha
8、d been asked to drive in heavy traffic and had done so successfully. After having been instructed to drive out of town, I began to acquire confidence. Sure that I had passed, I was almost beginning to enjoy my test. The examiner must have been pleased with my performance, for he smiled and said, Jus
9、t one more thing, Mr Eames. Let us suppose that a child suddenly crosses the road in front of you. As soon as I tap on the window, I want the car to be stopped immediately. I continued driving and after some time, the examiner tapped loudly. Though the sound could be heard clearly, it took me a long
10、 time to react. I suddenly pressed the brake pedal hard and we were both thrown forward. The examiner looked at me sadly. Mr Eames, he said, in a mournful voice, you have just killed that child ! lesson70 Red for danger 危 险 的 红 色 During a bullfight, a drunk suddenly wandered into the middle of the r
11、ing. The crowd began to shout, but the drunk was unaware of the danger. The bull was busy with the matador at the time, but it suddenly caught sight of the drunk who was shouting rude remarks and waving a red cap. Apparently sensitive to criticism, the bull forgot all about the matador and charged a
12、t the drunk. The crowd suddenly grew quiet. The drunk, however, seemed quite sure of himself. When the bull got close to him, he clumsily stepped aside to let it pass. The crowd broke into cheers and the drunk bowed. By this time, however, three men had come into the ring and they quickly dragged th
13、e drunk to safety. Even the bull seemed to feel sorry for him, for it looked on sympathetically until the drunk was out of the way before once more turning its attention to the matador. Lesson71 A famous clock 一 个 著 名 的 大 钟 When you visit London, one of the first things you will see is Big Ben, the
14、famous clock which can be heard all over the world on the B.B.C. If the Houses of Parliament had hot been burned down in 1834, the great clock would never have been erected. Big Ben takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of Parliamen
15、t were being built. It is not only of immense size, but is extremely accurate as well. Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day. On the B.B.C. you can hear the clock when it is actually striking because microphones are connected to the clock tower. Big Ben has rarely g
16、one wrong. Once, however, it failed to give the correct time. A painter who had been working on the tower hung a pot of paint on one of the hands and slowed it down ! Lesson72 A car called Bluebird “蓝 鸟 ”汽 车 The great racing driver, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was the first man to drive at over 300 miles
17、per hour. He set up a new world record in September 1935 at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Bluebird, the car he was driving, had been specially built for him. It was over 30 feet in length and had a 2500 horse-power engine. Although Campbell reached a speed of over 304 miles per hour, he had great dif
18、ficulty in controlling the car because a tyre burst during the first run. After his attempt, Campbell was disappointed to learn that his average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However, a few days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour. Sinc
19、e that time, racing drivers have reached speeds of over 400 miles an hour. Following his fathers footsteps many years later, Sir Malcolms son, Donald, also set up a world record. Like his father, he was driving a car called Bluebird. Lesson73 The record-holder 纪 录 保 持 者 Little boys who play truant f
20、rom school are unimaginative. A quiet days fishing, or eight hours in a cinema seeing the same film over and over again, is usually as far as they get. They have all been put to shame by a boy who, while playing truant, travelled 1600 miles. He hitch- hiked to Dover and, towards evening, went into a
21、 boat to find somewhere to sleep. When he woke up next morning, he discovered that the boat had, in the meantime, travelled to Calais. No one noticed the boy as he crept off. From there, he hitch-hiked to Paris in a lorry. The driver gave him a few biscuits and a cup of coffee and left him just outs
22、ide the city. The next car the boy stopped did not take him into the centre of Paris as he hoped it would, but to Perpignan on the French-Spanish border. There he was picked up by a policeman and sent back to England by the local authorities. He has surely set up a record for the thousands of boys w
23、ho dream of evading school. Lesson74 Out of the limelight 舞 台 之 外 An ancient bus stopped by a dry river bed and a party of famous actors and actresses got off. Dressed in dark glasses and old clothes, they had taken special precautions so that no one should recognize them. But as they soon discovere
24、d, disguises can sometimes be too perfect. This is a wonderful place for a picnic, said Gloria Gleam. It couldnt be better, Gloria, Brinksley Meers agreed. No newspaper men, no film fans! Why dont we come more often ? Meanwhile, two other actors, Rockwall Slinger and Merlin Greeves, had carried two
25、large food baskets to a shady spot under some trees. When they had all made themselves comfortable, a stranger appeared. He looked very angry. Now you gut out of here, all of you! he shouted: Im sheriff here. Do you see that notice ? It says“ No Camping“-in case you cant read ! Look, sheriff, said R
26、ockwall, dont be too hard on us. Im Rockwall Slinger and this is Merlin Greeves. Oh, is it ? said the sheriff with a sneer. Well, Im Brinksley Meers, and my other name is Gloria Gleam. Now you get out of here fast ! lesson75 SOS 呼 救 信 号 When a light passenger plane flew off course some time ago, it
27、crashed in the mountains and its pilot was killed. The only passengers, a young woman and her two baby daughters, were unhurt. It was the middle of winter. Snow lay thick on the ground. The woman knew that the nearest village was miles away. When it grew dark. she turned a suitcase into a bed and pu
28、t the children inside it, covering them with all the clothes she could find. During the night, it got terribly cold. The woman kept as near as she could to the children and even tried to get into the case herself, but it was too small. Early ,next morning she heard planes passing overhead and wonder
29、ed how she could send a signal. Then she had an idea. She stamped out the letters SOS in the snow. Fortunately, a pilot saw the signal and sent a message by radio to the nearest town. It was not long before a helicopter arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors of the plane crash. Lesson76 April
30、Fools Day 愚 人 节 To end our special news bulletin, said the voice of the television announcer, we are taking you to the macaroni fields of Calabria. Macaroni has been grown in this area for over six hundred years. Two of the leading growers, Giuseppe Moldova and Ricardo Brabante, tell me that they ha
31、ve been expecting a splendid crop this year and harvesting has begun earlier than usual. Here you can see two workers who, between them, have just finished cutting three cart-loads of golden brown macaroni stalks. The whole village has been working day and night gathering and threshing this years cr
32、op before the September rains. On the right, you can see Mrs Brabante herself. She has been helping her husband for thirty years now. Mrs Brabante is talking to the manager of the local factory where the crop is processed. This last scene shows you what will happen at the end of the harvest : the fa
33、mous Calabrian macaroni-eating competition ! Signor Fratelli, the present champion, has won it every year since 1961. And that ends our special bulletin for today, Thursday, April 1st. We are now returning you to the studio. Lesson77 A successful operation 一 例 成 功 的 手 术 The mummy of an Egyptian woma
34、n who died in 800 B.C. has just had an operation. The mummy is that of Shepenmut who was once a singer in the Temple of Thebes. As there were strange marks on the X-ray plates taken of the mummy, doctors have been trying to find out whether the woman died of a rare disease. The only way to do this w
35、as to operate. The operation, which lasted for over four hours, proved to be very difficult because of the hard resin which covered the skin. The doctors removed a section of the mummy and sent it to a laboratory. They also found something which the X-ray of the god Duamutef. This god which has the
36、head of a cow was normally placed inside a mummy. The doctors have not yet decided how the woman died. They feared that the mummy would fall to pieces when they cut it open, but fortunately this has not happened. The mummy successfully survived the operation. Lesson78 The last one? 最 后 一 枝 吗 ？ After
37、 reading an article entitled Cigarette Smoking and Your Health I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves. I smoked with concentration and pleasure as I was sure that this would be my last cigarette. For a whole week I did not smoke at all and during this time, my wife suffered terribly. I had all the usua
38、l symptoms of someone giving up smoking: a bad temperhave shown interest in this new and unusual sport. But though air cyclists may learn how to fly over short distances, and may, eventually, even get across the English Channel, it is doubtful whether they will ever cycle across the Atlantic. Lesson
39、67 Volcanoes 火 山 Haroun Tazieff the Polish scientist, has spent his life-time studying active volcanoes and deep caves in all parts of the world. In 1948, he went to lake Kivu in the Congo to observe a new volcano which he later named Kituro. Tazieff was able to set up his camp very close to the vol
40、cano while it was erupting violently. Though he managed to take a number of brilliant photographs, he could not stay near the volcano for very long. He noticed that a river of liquid rock was coming towards him. It threatened to surround him completely, but Tazieff managed to escape just in time. He
41、 waited until the volcano became quiet and he was able to return two days later. This time, he managed to climb into the mouth of Kituro so that he could take photographs and measure temperatures. Tazieff has often risked his life in this way. He has been able to tell us more about active volcanoes
42、than any man alive. Lesson68 Persistent 纠 缠 不 休 I crossed the street to avoid meeting him, but he saw me and came running towards me. It was no use pretending that I had not seen him, so I waved to him. I never enjoy meeting Bert Dykes. He never has anything to do. No matter how busy you are, he alw
43、ays insists on coming with you. I had to think of a way of preventing him from following me around all morning. Hullo, Bert, I said. Fancy meeting you here ! Hullo, Elizabeth, Bert answered. I was just wondering how to spend the morning-until I saw you. Youre not busy doing anything, are you ? No, n
44、ot at all, I answered. Im going to. . Would you mind my coming with you ? he asked, before I had finished speaking. Not at all, I lied, but Im going to the dentist. Then Ill come with you, he answered. Theres always plenty to read in the waiting room ! lesson69 But not murder! 并 非 谋 杀 ！ I was being
45、tested for a driving licence for the third time. I had been asked to drive in heavy traffic and had done so successfully. After having been instructed to drive out of town, I began to acquire confidence. Sure that I had passed, I was almost beginning to enjoy my test. The examiner must have been ple
46、ased with my performance, for he smiled and said, Just one more thing, Mr Eames. Let us suppose that a child suddenly crosses the road in front of you. As soon as I tap on the window, I want the car to be stopped immediately. I continued driving and after some time, the examiner tapped loudly. Thoug
47、h the sound could be heard clearly, it took me a long time to react. I suddenly pressed the brake pedal hard and we were both thrown forward. The examiner looked at me sadly. Mr Eames, he said, in a mournful voice, you have just killed that child ! lesson70 Red for danger 危 险 的 红 色 During a bullfigh
48、t, a drunk suddenly wandered into the middle of the ring. The crowd began to shout, but the drunk was unaware of the danger. The bull was busy with the matador at the time, but it suddenly caught sight of the drunk who was shouting rude remarks and waving a red cap. Apparently sensitive to criticism
49、, the bull forgot all about the matador and charged at the drunk. The crowd suddenly grew quiet. The drunk, however, seemed quite sure of himself. When the bull got close to him, he clumsily stepped aside to let it pass. The crowd broke into cheers and the drunk bowed. By this time, however, three men had come into the ring and they quickly dragged the drunk to safety. Even the bull seemed to feel sorry for
