1、erected. Big Ben takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of Parliament 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 th
2、e 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 gone 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
3、! 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 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
4、 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 difficulty 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 mile
5、s 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. Since 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 wor
6、ld 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 from 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 p
7、ut to shame by a boy who, while playing truant, travelled 1600 miles. He hitch- hiked to Dover and, towards evening, went into a 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 of
8、f. 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 outside 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 picke
9、d 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 who 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
10、 glasses and old clothes, they had taken special precautions so that no one should recognize them. But as they soon discovered, 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, n
11、o film fans! Why dont we come more often ? Meanwhile, two other actors, Rockwall Slinger and Merlin Greeves, had carried two 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
12、you! he shouted: Im sheriff here. Do you see that notice ? It says“ No Camping“-in case you cant read ! Look, sheriff, said Rockwall, 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 Glor
13、ia 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 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
14、ground. The woman knew that the nearest village was miles away. When it grew dark. she turned a suitcase into a bed and put 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
15、tried to get into the case herself, but it was too small. Early ,next morning she heard planes passing overhead and wondered 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
16、town. It was not long before a helicopter arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors of the plane crash. Lesson76 April 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
17、area for over six hundred years. Two of the leading growers, Giuseppe Moldova and Ricardo Brabante, tell me that they have 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
18、 of golden brown macaroni stalks. The whole village has been working day and night gathering and threshing this years crop 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
19、local factory where the crop is processed. This last scene shows you what will happen at the end of the harvest : the famous 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
20、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 woman 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 t
21、he mummy, doctors have been trying to find out whether the woman died of a rare disease. The only way to do this was 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 a
22、nd sent it to a laboratory. They also found something which the X-ray of the god Duamutef. This god which has the 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 fortunat
23、ely this has not happened. The mummy successfully survived the operation. Lesson78 The last one? 最后一枝吗？ After 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
24、. For a whole week I did not smoke at all and during this time, my wife suffered terribly. I had all the usual symptoms of someone giving up smoking: a bad temper and an enormous appetite. My friends kept on offering me cigarettes and cigars. They made no effort to hide their amusement whenever I pr
25、oduced a packet of sweets from my pocket. After seven days of this I went to a party. Everybody around me was smoking and I felt extremely uncomfortable. When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear. I took one guiltily, lit it and smoked with satisfaction.
26、My wife was delighted that things had returned to normal once more. Anyway, as Brian pointed out, it is the easiest thing in the world to give up smoking. He himself has done it lots of times! Lesson79 By air 乘飞机 I used to travel by air a great deal when I was a boy. My parents, used to live in Sout
27、h America and I used to fly there from Europe in the holidays. An airhostess would take charge of me and I never had an unpleasant experience. I am used to travelling by air and only on one occasion have I ever felt frightened. After taking off, we were flying low over the city and slowly gaining he
28、ight, when the plane suddenly turned round and flew back to the airport. While we were waiting to land, an air-hostess told us to keep calm and to get off the plane quietly as soon as it had touched down. Everybody on board was worried and we were curious to find out what had happened. Later we lear
29、nt that there was a very important person on board. The police had been told that a bomb had been planted on the plane. After we had landed, the plane was searched thoroughly. Fortunately, nothing was found and five hours later we were able to take off again. Lesson80 The Crystal Palace 水晶宫 Perhaps
30、the most extraordinary building of the nineteenth century was the Crystal Palace, which was built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Crystal Palace was different from all other buildings in the world, for it was made of iron and glass. It was one of the biggest buildings of all time
31、and a lot of people from many countries came to see it. A great many goods were sent to the exhibition from various parts of the world. There was also a great deal of machinery on display. The most wonderful piece of machinery on show was Nasmyths steam hammer. Though in those days, travelling was n
32、ot as easy as it is today, steam boats carried thousands of visitors across the Channel from Europe. On arriving in England, they were taken to the Crystal Palace by train. There were six million visitors in all, and the profits from the exhibition were used to build museums and colleges. Later, the
33、 Crystal Palace was moved to South London. It remained one of the most famous buildings in the world until it was burnt down in 1936. Lesson81 Escape 脱逃 When he had killed the guard, the prisoner of war quickly dragged him into the bushes. Working rapidly in the darkness, he soon changed into the de
34、ad mans clothes. Now, dressed in a blue uniform and with a rifle over his shoulder, the prisoner marched boldly up and down in front of the camp. He could hear shouting in the camp itself. Lights were blazing and men were running here and there: they had just discovered that a prisoner had escaped.
35、At that moment, a large black car with four officers inside it, stopped at the camp gates. The officers got out and the prisoner stood to attention and saluted as they passed. When they had gone, the driver of the car came towards him. The man obviously wanted to talk. He was rather elderly with gre
36、y hair and clear blue eyes. The prisoner felt sorry for him, but there was nothing else he could do. As the man came near, the prisoner knocked him to the ground with a sharp blow. Then, jumping into the car, he drove off as quickly as he could. Lesson82 Monster or fish? 是妖还是鱼？ Fishermen and sailors
37、 sometimes claim to have seen monsters in the sea. Though people have often laughed at stories told by seamen, it is now known that many of these monsters which have at times been sighted are simply strange fish. Occasionally, unusual creatures are washed to the shore, but they are rarely caught out
38、 at sea. Some time ago, however, a peculiar fish was caught near Madagascar. A small fishing-boat was carried miles out to sea by the powerful fish as it pulled on the line. Realizing that this was no ordinary fish, the fisherman made every effort not to damage it in any way. When it was eventually
39、brought to shore, it was found to be over thirteen feet long. It had a head like a horse, big blue eyes, shining silver skin, and a bright red tail, The fish, which has since been sent to a museum where it is being examined by a scientist, is called an oarfish. Such creatures have rarely been seen a
40、live by man as they live at a depth of six hundred feet. Lesson83 After the elections 大选之后 The former Prime Minister, Mr Wentworth Lane, was defeated in the recent elections. He is now retiring from political life and has gone abroad. My friend, Crawley, has always been a fanatical opponent of Mr La
41、nes Radical Progressive Party. After the elections, Crawley went to the former Prime Ministers house. When he asked if Mr Lane lived there, the policeman on duty told him thaterected. Big Ben takes its name from Sir Benjamin Hall who was responsible for the making of the clock when the new Houses of
42、 Parliament 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 ha
43、s rarely gone 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
44、 miles 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 gr
45、eat difficulty 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 hou
46、r. Since 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 truan
47、t from 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 int
48、o a 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 o
49、utside 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 who 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 c
