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Lesson 1 A private conversation
私人谈话
Last week I
went to the theatre. I had a very good seat. The
play was very
interesting.
I
did
not
enjoy
it.
A
young
man
and
a
young
woman
were
sitting
behind me. They were
talking loudly. I got very angry. I could not hear
the actors.
I turned round. I looked at
the man and the woman angrily. They did not pay
any
attention. In the end, I could not
bear it. I turned round again. ‘I can't hear a
word!’
I said angrily.
‘It's
none
of
your
business,
’
the
young
man
said
rudely.
‘This
is
a
private
conversation!’
Lesson 2
Breakfast or
lunch?
早餐还是午餐？
It was Sunday. I never get up early on
Sundays. I sometimes stay in bed until
lunchtime. Last Sunday I got up very
late. I looked out of the window. It was dark
outside. ‘What a day!’ I thought. ‘It's
raining again. ’ Just then, the telephone
rang.
It
was
my
aunt
Lucy.
‘I've
just
arrived
by
train,
’
she
said.
‘I'm
coming
to
see
you. ’
‘But I'm still having breakfast, ’ I
said.
‘What are you doing?’
she asked.
‘I'm having
breakfast, ’ I repeated.
‘Dear me, ’ she said. ‘Do you always
get up so late? It's one o'clock!’
Lesson 3
Please send me a
card
寄张明信片
Postcards always spoil my holidays.
Last summer, I
went to
Italy. I
visited
museums and
sat in public gardens. A friendly waiter taught me
a few words of
Italian. Then he lent me
a book. I read a few lines, but I did not
understand a word.
Every
day
I
thought
about
postcards. My
holidays
passed
quickly,
but I
did
not
send cards to my friends. On the last
day I made a big decision. I got up early and
bought thirty-seven cards. I spent the
whole day in my room, but I did not write a
1
single card!
Lesson 4
An exciting trip
激动人心的旅行
I have
just received a letter from my brother, Tim. He is
in Australia. He has
been there for six
months. Tim is an engineer. He is working for a
big firm and he
has
already
visited
a
great
number
of
different
places
in
Australia.
He
has
just
bought
an Australian car and has gone to Alice Springs, a
small town in the centre
of
Australia.
He
will
soon
visit
Darwin
From
there,
he
will
fly
to
Perth.
My
brother has never been
abroad before, so he is finding this trip very
exciting.
Lesson 5
No wrong
numbers
无错号之虞
Mr. James Scott has a garage in Silbury
and now he has just bought another
garage in Pinhurst. Pinhurst is only
five miles from Silbury, but Mr. Scott cannot
get
a
telephone
for
his
new
garage,
so
he
has
just
bought
twelve
pigeons.
Yesterday,
a
pigeon
carried
the
first
message
from
Pinburst
to
Silbury.
The
bird
covered the distance the first three
minutes. Up to now, Mr. Scott has sent a great
many requests for spare parts and other
urgent messages from one garage to the
other. In this way, he has
beg
un his own
private‘telephone’service.
Lesson 6
Percy Buttons
珀西
·
巴顿斯
I have just moved to a house in Bridge
Street. Yesterday a beggar knocked at
my door. He asked me for a meal and a
glass of beer. In return for this, the beggar
stood on his head and sang songs. I
gave him a meal. He ate the food and drank
the
beer.
Then
he
put
a
piece
of
cheese
in
his
pocket
and
went
away.
Later
a
neighbour
told me about him. Everybody knows him. His name
is Percy Buttons.
He calls at every
house in the street once a month and always asks
for a meal and
a glass of
beer.
Lesson 7
Too late
为时太晚
The
plane
was
late
and
detectives
were
waiting
at
the
airport
all
morning.
2
They
were
expecting
a
valuable
parcel
of
diamonds
from
South
Africa.
A
few
hours
earlier,
someone
had
told
the
police
that
thieves
would
try
to
steal
the
diamonds. When the plane arrived, some
of the detectives were waiting inside the
main building while others were waiting
on the airfield. Two men took the parcel
off
the
plane
and
carried
it
into
the
Customs
House.
While
two
detectives
were
keeping
guard
at
the
door,
two
others
opened
the
parcel.
To
their
surprise,
the
precious parcel was full of stones and
sand!
Lesson 8
The best and
the worst
最好的和最差的
Joe
Sanders
has
the
most
beautiful
garden
in
our
town.
Nearly
everybody
enters for‘The Nicest Garden
Competition’each year, but Joe wins every time.
Bill
Frith's
garden
is
larger
than
Joe's.
Bill
works
harder
than
Joe
and
grows
more
flowers
and
vegetables,
but
Joe's
garden
is
more
interesting.
He
has
made
neat
paths and has built a
wooden bridge over a pool. I like gardens too, but
I do not
like hard work. Every year
I enter for
the garden
competition too, and I
always
win a little prize for the worst garden
in the town!
Lesson 9
A cold welcome
冷遇
On Wednesday
evening, we went to the Town Hall. It was the last
day of the
year
and
a
large
crowd
of
people
had
gathered
under
the
Town
Hall
clock.
It
would
strike twelve in twenty minutes' time. Fifteen
minutes passed and then, at
five to
twelve, the clock stopped. The big minute hand did
not move. We waited
and waited, but
nothing happened. Suddenly someone shouted, ‘It's
two minutes
past twelve! The clock has
stopped!’ I looked at my watch. It was true. The
big
clock
refused
to
welcome
the
New
Year.
At
that
moment,
everybody
began
to
laugh and sing.
Lesson 10
Not for jazz
不适于演奏爵士乐
We have
an old musical instrument. It is called a
clavichord. It was made in
Germany in
1681. Our clavichord is kept in the living room.
It has belonged to our
3
family for a long time . The instrument
was bought by my grandfather many years
ago . Recently it was damaged by a
visitor . She tried to play jazz on it! She struck
the
keys
too
hard
and
two
of
the
strings
were
broken.
My
father
was
shocked.
Now we are not
allowed to touch it . It is being repaired by a
friend of my father's.
Lesson 11
One good turn deserves another
礼尚往来
I was having
dinner at a restaurant when Tony Steele came in.
Tony worked
in a lawyer's office years
ago, but he is now working at a bank. He gets a
good
salary,
but
he
always
borrows
money
from
his
friends
and
never
pays
it
back.
Tony saw me and came and sat at the
same table. He has never borrowed money
from
me.
While
he
was
eating,
I
asked
him
to
lend
me
twenty
pounds.
To
my
surprise, he gave me the
money immediately. ‘I have never borrowed any
money
from you, ’ Tony said, ‘so now
you can pay for my
dinner!’
Lesson
12
Goodbye and good luck
再见，一路顺风
Our
neighbour, Captain Charles Alison, will sail from
Portsmouth tomorrow.
We'll meet him at
the harbour early in the morning. He will be in
his small boat,
Topsail. Topsail is a
famous little boat. It has sailed across the
Atlantic many times.
Captain Alison
will set out at eight o'clock, so we'll have
plenty of time. We'll see
his boat and
then we'll say goodbye to him. He will be away for
two months. We
are very proud of him.
He will take part in an important race across the
Atlantic.
Lesson 13
The
Greenwood Boys
绿林少年
The Greenwood Boys are a group of pop
singers. At present, they are visiting
all parts of the country. They will be
arriving here tomorrow. They will be coming
by
train
and
most
of
the
young
people
in
the
town
will
be
meeting
them
at
the
station.
Tomorrow
evening
they
will
be
singing
at
the
Workers'
Club.
The
Greenwood
Boys
will
be
staying
for
five
days.
During
this
time,
they
will
give
five
performances.
As
usual,
the
police
will
have
a
difficult
time.
They
will
be
trying to keep order. It is always the
same on these occasions.
4
Lesson 14
Do you speak
English?
你会讲英语吗？
I had an amusing experience last year.
After I had left a small village in the
south of France, I drove on to the next
town. On the way, a young man waved to
me. I stopped and he asked me for a
lift. As soon as he had got into the car, I said
good morning to him
in French and he replied in the same
language. Apart from
a
few
words,
I
do
not
know
any
French
at
all.
Neither
of
us
spoke
during
the
journey. I had nearly reached the town,
when the young man suddenly said, very
slowly, ‘Do you speak English?’As I
soon learnt, he was English himself!
Lesson 15
Good news
佳音
The secretary
told me that Mr. Harmsworth would see me. I felt
very nervous
when
I
went
into
his
office.
He
did
not
look
up
from
his
desk
when
I
entered.
After I had sat down, he said that
business was very bad. He told me that the firm
could not afford to pay such large
salaries. Twenty people had already left. I knew
that my turn had come.
‘Mr.
Harmsworth, ’I said in a weak voice.
‘Don't interrupt, ’he said.
Then he smiled and told me I would
receive an extra thousand pounds a year!
Lesson 16
A polite request
彬彬有礼的要求
If you
park your car in the wrong place, a traffic
policeman will soon find it.
You will
be very lucky if he lets you go without a ticket.
However, this does not
always
happen.
Traffic
police
are
sometimes
very
polite.
During
a
holiday
in
Sweden,
I
found
this
note
on
my
car:‘Sir,
we
welcome
you
to
our
city.
This
is
a“No Parking”area. You
will enjoy your stay here if you pay attention to
our street
signs. This note is only a
reminder. ’If you receive a request like this, you
cannot
fail to obey it!
Lesson 17
Always young
青春常驻
5
My aunt Jennifer is an
actress. She must be at least thirty-five years
old. In
spite of this, she often
appears on the stage as a young girl. Jennifer
will have to
take part in a new play
soon. This time, she will be a girl of seventeen.
In the play,
she
must
appear
in
a
bright
red
dress
and
long
black
stockings.
Last
year
in
another
play, she had to wear short socks and a bright,
orange-coloured dress. If
anyone
ever
asks
her
how
old
she
is,
she
always
answers,
‘Darling,
it
must
be
terrible to be grow
n
up!’
Lesson 18
He often does this!
他经常干这种事！
After I
had had lunch at a village pub, I looked for my
bag. I had left it on a
chair beside
the door and now it wasn't there! As I was looking
for it, the landlord
came in.
‘Did you have a good meal?’he
asked.
‘Yes, thank you, ’I
answered, ‘but I
can't pay
the bill . I haven't got my bag. ’
The landlord smiled and immediately
went out. In a few minutes he returned
with my bag and gave it back to me.
‘I'm very sorry, ’he said. ‘My dog had
taken it into the garden. He often does
this!’
Lesson 19
Sold out
票已售完
The play may begin at any moment, ’ I
said.
‘It may have begun
already, ’ Susan answered.
I
hurried to the ticket office. ‘May I have two
tickets please?’I asked.
‘I'm sorry, we've sold out, ’ the girl
said.
‘What a pity!’Susan
exclaimed.
Just then, a man
hurried to the ticket office.
‘Can I
return these two tickets?’ he asked.
6
‘Certainly, ’
the girl said.
I went back
to the ticket office at once.
‘Could I
have those two tickets please?’ I
asked.
‘Certainly, ’ the
girl said, ‘but they're for next
Wedne
sday's performance. Do
you still want them?’
‘I might as well have them, ’ I said
sadly.
Lesson 20
One man in a boat
独坐孤舟
Fishing is
my favourite sport. I often fish for hours without
catching anything.
But this does not
worry me. Some fishermen are unlucky. Instead of
catching fish,
they catch old boots and
rubbish. I am even less lucky. I never catch
anything ----
not even old boots. After
having spent whole mornings on the river, I always
go
home with an empty bag. ‘You must
give up fishing!’ my friends say. ‘It's a waste
of time. ’ But they don't realize one
important thing. I'm not really interested in
fishing. I am only interested in
sitting in a boat and doing nothing at all!
Lesson 21
Mad or not?
是不是疯了？
Aeroplanes
are
slowly
driving
me
mad.
I
live
near
an
airport
and
passing
planes can be heard
night and day. The airport was built years ago,
but for some
reason
it
could
not
be
used
then.
Last
year,
however,
it
came
into
use.
Over
a
hundred
people must have been driven away from their homes
by the noise. I am
one of the few
people left. Sometimes I think this house will be
knocked down by
a passing plane. I have
been offered a large sum of money to go away, but
I am
determined
to
stay
here.
Everybody
says
I
must
be
mad
and
they
are
probably
right.
Lesson 22
A glass envelope
玻璃信封
My daughter,
Jane, never dreamed of receiving a letter from a
girl of her own
age in Holland. Last
year, we were travelling across the Channel and
Jane put a
7
piece of paper with her name and
address on it into a bottle. She threw the bottle
into
the
sea.
She
never
thought
of
it
again,
but
ten
months
later,
she
received a
letter from a
girl in Holland. Both girls write to each other
regularly now. However,
they have
decided to use the post office. Letters will cost
a little more, but they
will certainly
travel faster.
Lesson 23
A
new house
新居
I
had a letter from my sister yesterday. She lives
in Nigeria. In her letter, she
said
that
she
would
come
to
England
next
year.
If
she
comes,
she
will
get
a
surprise. We are now living in a
beautiful new house in the country. Work on it
had begun before my sister left. The
house was completed five months ago. In my
letter, I told her that she could stay
with us. The house has many large rooms and
there
is
a
lovely
garden.
It
is
a
very
modern
house,
so
it
looks
strange
to
some
people.
It must be the only modern house in the district.
Lesson 24
It could be worse
不幸中之万幸
I entered
the hotel manager's office and sat down. I had
just lost
￡
50
and I
felt very upset. ‘I
left the money in my room, ’ I said, ‘and it's not
there now. ’ The
manager
was
sympathetic,
but
he
could
do
nothing.
‘Everyone's
losing
money
these
da
ys,
’
he
said.
He
started
to
complain
about
this
wicked
world
but
was
interrupted by a knock at the door. A
girl came in and put an envelope on his desk.
It contained
￡
50.
‘I found this outside this gentleman's room, ’ she
said. ‘Well, ’ I
said to the
mana
ger, ‘there is still some honesty
in this world!’
Lesson 25
Do the English speak English?
讲的是英语吗？
I arrived
in London at last. The railway station was big,
black and dark. I did
not know the way
to my hotel, so I asked a porter. I not only spoke
English very
carefully, but very
clearly as well. The porter, however, could not
understand me. I
repeated
my
question
several
times
and
at
last
he
understood.
He
answered me,
but he spoke
neither slowly nor clearly. ‘I am a foreigner, ’ I
said. Then he spoke
8
slowly, but I could not understand him.
My teacher never spoke English like that!
The porter and I looked at each other
and smiled. Then he said something and I
understood
it.
‘You'll
soon
learn
English!’
he
said.
I
wonder.
In
England,
each
person speaks a different language. The
English understand each other, but I don't
understand them! Do they speak English?
Lesson 26
The best art
critics
最佳艺术评论家
I
am
an
art
student
and
I
paint
a
lot
of
pictures.
Many
people
pretend
that
they
understand
modern
art.
They
alw
ays
tell
you
what
a
picture
is
‘about’.
Of
course, many pictures are not ‘about’
anything. They are just pretty patterns. We
like them in the same way that we like
pretty curtain material. I think that young
children
often
appreciate
modern
pictures
better
than
anyone
else.
They
notice
more.
My sister is
only seven, but she always
tells
me whether
my pictures
are
good or not. She came
into my room yesterday. ‘What are you doing?’ she
asked.
‘I'm hanging this picture on the
wall, ’ I answered. ‘It's a new on
e. Do
you like
it?’She looked at it
critically for a moment. ‘It's all right, ’ she
said, ‘but isn't it
upside down?’ I
looked at it again. She was right! It
was!
Lesson 27
A
wet night
雨夜
Late in the afternoon, the boys put up
their tent in the middle of a field. As
soon as this was done, they cooked a
meal over an open fire. They were all hungry
and
the
food
smelled
good.
After
a
wonderful
meal,
they
told
stories
and
sang
songs by the campfire. But some time
later it began to rain. The boys felt tired so
they put out the fire and crept into
their tent. Their sleeping bags were warm and
comfortable, so they all slept soundly.
In the middle of the night, two boys woke
up
and
began
shouting.
The
tent
was
full
of
water!
They
all
leapt
out
of
their
sleeping
bags
and
hurried
outside.
It
was
raining
heavily
and
they
found
that
a
stream had
formed in the field. The stream wound its way
across the field and then
flowed right
under their tent!
Lesson 28
No parking
禁止停车
9
Jasper White
is one of those rare people who believes in
ancient myths. He
has just bought a new
house in the city, but ever since he moved in, he
has had
trouble
with
cars
and
their
owners.
When
he
returns
home
at
night,
he
always
finds that someone has parked a car
outside his gate. Because of this, he has not
been
able
to
get
his
own
car
into
his
garage
even
once.
Jasper
has
put
up
‘No
Parking’signs outside his gate, but
these have not had any effect. Now he has put
an ugly stone head over the gate. It is
one of the ugliest faces I have ever seen. I
asked
him
what
it
was
and
he
told
me
that
it
was
Medusa,
the
Gorgon.
Jasper
hopes that she will turn cars and their
owners to stone. But none of them has been
turned to stone yet!
Lesson
29
Taxi!
出租汽车！
Captain Ben Fawcett has bought an
unusual taxi and has begun a new service.
The
‘taxi’
is
a
small
Swiss
aeroplane
called
a
‘Pilatus
Porter’.
This
wonderful
plane can carry
seven passengers. The most surprising thing about
it, however, is
that it can land
anywhere: or snow, water, or even on a ploughed
field. Captain
Fawcett's
first
passenger
was
a
doctor
who
flew
from
Birmingham
to
a
lonely
village in the Welsh
mountains. Since then, Captain Fawcett has flown
passengers
to
many
unusual
places.
Once
he
landed
on
the
roof
of
a
block
of
flats
and
on
another
occasion,
he
landed
in
a
deserted
car
park.
Captain
Fawcett
has
just
refused a strange request from a
businessman. The man wanted to fly to Rockall, a
lonely island in the Atlantic Ocean,
but Captain Fawcett did not take him because
the trip was too dangerous.
Lesson 30
Football or
polo
？
足球还是水球？
The
Wayle
is
a
small
river
that
cuts
across
the
park
near
my
home.
I
like
sitting by the Wayle on fine
afternoons. It was warm last Sunday, so I went and
sat
on
the
river
bank
as
usual.
Some
children
were
playing
games
on
the
bank
and
there
were some people rowing on the river. Suddenly,
one of the children kicked
a
ball
very
hard
and
it
went
towards
a
passing
boat.
Some
people
on
the
bank
10
called out to
the man in the boat, but he did not hear them. The
ball struck him so
hard that he nearly
fell into the water. I turned to look at the
children, but there
weren't any in
sight: they had all run away!
The
man laughed when he realized
what had happened. He called out to the
children and threw the ball back to the
bank.
Lesson 31
Success story
成功者的故事
Yesterday
afternoon Frank Hawkins was telling me about his
experiences as a
young
man.
Before
he
retired,
Frank
was
the
head
of
a
very
large
business
company, but as a boy he used to work
in a small shop. It was his job to repair
bicycles and at that time he used to
work fourteen hours a day. He saved money
for years and in 1958
he
bought a small workshop of his own. In his
twenties,
Frank used to make spare
parts for aeroplanes. At that time he had two
helpers. In
a few years the small
workshop had become a large factory which employed
seven
hundred
and
twenty-eight
people.
Frank
smiled
when
he
remembered
his
hard
early
years
and
the
long
road
to
success.
He
was
still
smiling
when
the
door
opened and his wife
came in. She wanted him to repair their grandson's
bicycle!
Lesson 32
Shopping
made easy
购物变得很方便
People are not so honest as they once
were. The temptation to steal is greater
than
ever
before
----especially
in
large
shops.
A
detective
recently
watched
a
well-
dressed
woman
who
always
went
into
a
large
store
on
Monday
mornings.
One
Monday,
there
were
fewer
people
in
the
shop
than
usual
when
the
woman
came
in, So it was easier for the detective to watch
her. The woman first bought a
few small
articles. After a little time, she chose one of
the most expensive dresses
in the shop
and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up
for her as quickly as
possible.
Then
the
woman
simply
took
the
parcel
and
walked
out
of
the
shop
without
paying.
When
she
was
arrested,
the
detective
found
out
that
the
shop
as
sistant
was her girl ‘gave’ her mother a tree dress once
a week!
Lesson 33
Out of the darkness
冲出黑暗
11
Nearly a week passed before
the girl was able to explain what had happened
to her. One afternoon she set out from
the coast in a small boat and was caught in
a storm. Towards evening, the boat
struck a rock and the girl jumped into the sea.
Then she swam to the shore after
spending the whole night in the water. During
that
time
she
covered
a
distance
of
eight
miles.
Early
next
morning,
she
saw
a
light ahead. She knew she
was near the shore because the light was high up
on the
cliffs. On arriving at the
shore, the girl struggled up the cliff towards the
light she
had seen. That was all she
remembered. When she woke up a day later, she
found
herself in hospital.
Lesson 34
Quick work
破案
“
神速
”
Dan Robinson has been worried
all week. Last Tuesday he received a letter
from
the
local
police.
In
the
letter
he
was
asked
to
call
at
the
station.
Dan
wondered why he was
wanted by the police, but he went to the station
yesterday
and
now
he
is
not
worried
the
station,
he
was
told
by
a
smiling
policeman that his
bicycle had been found Five days ago, the
policeman told him,
the bicycle was
picked up in a small village four hundred miles
away. It is now
being sent to his home
by train. Dan was most surprised when he heard the
news.
He
was
amused
too,
because
he
never
expected
the
bicycle
to
be
found,
It
was
stolen twenty years ago when Dan was a
boy of fifteen!
Lesson 35
Stop thief!
捉贼
Roy Trenton used to drive a taxi. A
short while ago, however, he became a
bus driver and he has not regretted it.
He is finding his new work far more exciting.
When he was driving along Catford
Street recently, he saw two thieves rush out of
a
shop
and
run
towards
a
waiting
car.
One
of
them
was
carrying
a
bag
full
of
money.
Roy acted quickly and drove the bus straight at
the thieves. The one with
the money got
such a fright that he dropped the bag. As the
thieves were trying to
get away in
their car, Roy drove his bus into the back of it.
While the battered car
was moving away,
Roy stopped his bus and telephoned the police. The
thieves' car
12
was badly damaged and easy to
recognize. Shortly afterwards, the police stopped
the car and both men were arrested.
Lesson 36
Across the
Channel
横渡海峡
Debbie Hart is going to swim across the
English Channel tomorrow. She is
going
to
set
out
from
the
French
coast
at
five
o'clock
in
themorning.
Debbie
is
only eleven years old and
she hopes to set up a new world record. She is a
strong
swimmer and many people feel
that she is sure to succeed Debbie's father will
set
out with her in a small boat. Mr.
Hart has trained his daughter for years. Tomorrow
he
will
be
watching
her
anxiously
as
she
swims
the
long
distance
to
England.
Debbie
intends
to
take
short
rests
every
two
hours.
She
will
have
something
to
drink but she will not eat any solid
food. Most of Debbie's school friends will be
waiting for her on the English coast.
Among them will be Debbie's mother, who
swam the Channel herself when she was a
girl.
Lesson 37
The Olympic
Games
奥林匹克运动会
The
Olympic
Games
will
be
held
in
our
country
in
four
years'
time.
As
a
great
many people
will be visiting the country, the
government will be building
new
hotels,
an
immense
stadium,
and
a
new
Olympic-standard
swimming
pool.
They will also be
building new roads and a special rail way line.
The Games will
be held just outside the
capital and the whole area will be called ‘Olympic
City’.
Workers will have completed the
new roads by the end of this year. By the end of
next year, they will have finished work
on the new stadium. The fantastic modern
buildings
have
been
designed
by
Kurt
Gunter.
Everybody
will
be
watching
anxiously
as
the
new
buildings
go
up.
We
are
all
very
excited
and
are
looking
forward to the Olympic Games because
they have never been held before in this
country.
Lesson 38
Everything except the weather
唯没考虑天气
My
old
friend,
Harrison,
had
lived
in
the
Mediterranean
for
many
years
13
before he returned to
England. He had often dreamed of retiring in
England and
had
planned
to
settle
down
in
the
country.
He
had
no
sooner
returned
than
he
bought a
house and went to live there. Almost immediately
he began to complain
about the weather,
for even though it was still summer, it rained
continually and it
was often bitterly
cold. After so many years of sunshine, Harrison
got a shock. He
acted as if he had
never lived in England before. In the end, it was
more than he
could bear. He had hardly
had time to settle down when he sold the house and
left
the country. The dream he had had
for so many years ended there. Harrison had
thought of everything except the
weather.
Lesson 39
Am I all
right?
我是否痊愈
?
While John Gilbert was in hospital, he
asked his doctor to tell him whether
his operation had been successful, but
the doctor refused to do so. The following
day, the patient asked for a bedside
telephone. When he was alone, he telephoned
the hospital exchange and asked for
Doctor Millington. When the doctor answered
the phone, Mr. Gilbert said
he was inquiring about a certain
patient, a Mr. John
Gilbert.
He
asked
if
Mr.
Gilbert's
operation
had
been
successful
and
the
doctor
told him that it had been. He then
asked when t would be allowed to go
home and the doctor told him that he
would have to stay in hosptial for another
two
weeks.
Then
Dr.
Millington
asked
the
caller
if
he
was
a
relative
of
the
patient.‘No,’the patient
answered, ‘I am Mr. John Gilbert.’
Lesson 40
Food and talk
进餐与交谈
Last week
at a dinner party, the hostess asked me to sit
next to d.
Mrs. Rumbold was a large,
unsmiling lady in a tight black dress. She did not
even
look up when I took my seat beside
her. Her eyes were fixed on her plate and in a
short time, she was busy eating. I
tried to make conversation.
‘A
new play is
coming to“The Globe”soon,’I said. ‘Will you be
seeing it?’
‘No,’she
answered.
14
‘Will you be spending your holidays
abroad this year?’I asked.
‘NO,’she answered.
‘Will you be staying in England?’I
asked.
“No,’she
answered.
In despair, I
asked her whether she was enjoying her dinner.
‘Young man, ’she
answered,‘if you ate more and talked less, we
would both
enjoy our
dinner!’
Lesson 41
Do you call that a hat?
你把那个叫帽子吗？
‘Do you
call that a hat?’I said to my wife.
‘You needn't be so rude about it,’my
wife answered as she looked at herself
in the mirror.
I sat down on
one of those modern chairs with holes in it and
waited. We had
been in the hat shop for
half an hour and my wife was still in front of the
mirror.
‘We
mustn't
buy
things
we
don't
need,’I
remarked
suddenly.
I
regretted
saying it almost
at once.
‘You needn't have
said that,’my wife answered. ‘I needn't remind you
of that
terrible tie you bought
yesterday.’
‘I find it
beautiful, ’I said. ‘A man can never have too many
ties.’
‘And a
woma
n can't have too many
hats
，
’she answered.
Ten minutes later we walked
out of the shop together. My wife was wearing a
hat that looked like a lighthouse!
Lesson 42
Not
very musical
并非很懂音乐
As
we
had
had
a
long
walk
through
one
of
the
markets
of
Old
Delhi,
we
stopped at a square to
have a rest. After a time, we noticed a snake
charmer with
15
two large baskets at the other side of
the square, so we went to have a look at him.
As soon as he saw us, he picked up a
long pipe which was covered with coins and
opened one of the baskets. When he
began to play a tune, we had our first glimpse
of the snake. It rose out of the basket
and began to follow the movements of the
pipe.
We
were
very
much
surprised
when
the
snake
charmer
suddenly
began
to
play jazz and modern p
op
songs. The snake, however, continued to
‘dance’slowly.
It
obviously could not tell the difference
between Indian music and jazz!
Lesson
43
Over the South Pole
飞越南极
In
1929,
three
years
after
his
flight
over
the
North
Pole,
the
American
explorer,
R.E.
Byrd,
successfully
flew
over
the
South
Pole
for
the
first
time.
Though, at first, Byrd and his men were
able to take a great many photographs of
the mountains that lay below, they soon
ran into serious trouble. At one point, it
seemed certain that their plane would
crash. It could only get over the mountains
if it rose to 10,000
feet.
Byrd at once ordered his men to throw out two
heavy
food
sacks.
The
plane
was
then
able
to
rise
and
it
cleared
the
mountains
by
400
feet. Byrd now knew that he would be
able to reach the South Pole which
was
300
miles away, for there were no more
mountains in sight. The aircraft was
able to fly over the endless white
plains without difficulty.
Lesson 44
Through the forest
穿过森林
Mrs.
Anne
Sterling
did
not
think
of
the
risk
she
was
taking
when
she
ran
through a
forest after two men. They had rushed up to her
while she was having a
picnic at the
edge of a forest with her children and tried to
steal her handbag. In
the struggle, the
strap broke and, with the bag in their possession,
both men started
running through the
trees. Mrs. Sterling got so angry that she ran
after them. She
was soon out of breath,
but she continued to run. When she caught up with
them,
she saw that they had sat down
and were going through the contents of the bag, so
she ran straight at them. The men got
such a fright that they dropped the bag and
ran
away. ‘The strap needs
mending,’ said Mrs. Sterling later, ‘but they did
not
16
steal
anything.’
Lesson 45
A clear conscience
问心无愧
The whole
village soon learnt that a large sum of money had
been lost. Sam
Benton, the local
butcher, had lost his wallet while taking his
savings to the post
office. Sam was
sure that the wallet must have been found by one
of the villagers,
but it was not
returned to him. Three months passed, and then one
morning, Sam
found his wallet outside
his front door. It had been wrapped up in
newspaper and it
contained half the
money he had lost, together with a note which
said:‘A thief, yes,
but
only
50
per
cent
a
thief!’Two
months
later,
some
more
money
was
sent
to
Sam with another note:‘Only
25
per cent a thief now!’In
time, all Sam's
money
was paid back in this way. The last
note said:‘I am 100
per
cent honest now!’
Lesson 46
Expensive and uncomfortable
既昂贵又受罪
When
a
plane
from
London
arrived
at
Sydney
airport,
workers
began
to
unload
a
number
of
wooden
boxes
which
contained
clothing.
No
one
could
account
for
the
fact
that
one
of
the
boxes
was
extremely
heavy.
It
suddenly
occurred to one of the workers to open
up the box. He was astonished at what he
found. A man was lying in the box on
top of a pile of woollen goods. He was so
surprised at being discovered that he
did not even try to run away. After he was
arrested,the man admitted hiding in the
box before the plane left London. He had
had a long and uncomfortable trip, for
he had been confined to the wooden box for
over eighteen hours. The man was
ordered to pay
￡
3,500
for the cost of the trip.
The normal price of a ticket is
￡
2,000!
Lesson 47
A thirsty ghost
嗜酒的鬼魂
A
public
house
which
was
recently
bought
by
Mr. Ian
Thompson is up for
sale.
Mr.
Thompson
is
going
to
sell
it
because
it
is
told
me
that
he
could not go to sleep one night because
he heard a strange noise coming from the
17
bar. The next
morning, he found that the doors had been blocked
by chairs and the
furniture had been
moved. Though Mr. Thompson had turned the lights
off before
he went to bed, they were on
in the morning. He also said that he had found
five
empty whisky bottles which the
ghost must have drunk the night before. When I
suggested that some villagers must have
come in for a free drink, Mr. Thompson
shook his head. The villagers have told
him that they will not accept the pub even
if he gives it away.
Lesson
48
Did you want to tell me something?
你想对我说什么吗？
Dentists always ask questions when it
is impossible for
you to answer. My
dentist had just pulled out one of my
teeth and had told me to rest for a while. I
tried to say something, but my mouth
was full of cotton wool. He knew I collected
match boxes and asked me whether
my collection was growing. He then
asked
me how my brother was and whether
I liked my new job in London. In answer to
these
questions
I
either
nodded
or
made
strange
noises.
Meanwhile,
my
tongue
was
busy
searching
out
the
hole
where
the
tooth
had
been.
I
suddenly
felt
very
worried, but could not
say anything. When the dentist at last removed the
cotton
wool
from
my
mouth,
I
was
able
to
tell
him
that
he
had
pulled
out
the
wrong
tooth.
Lesson 49
The end of a dream
美梦告终
Tired of
sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran
saved up for years to
buy a real bed.
For the first time in his life, he became the
proud owner of a bed
which had springs
and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot,
he carried
the bed on to the roof of
his house. He slept very well for the first two
nights, but
on the third night, a storm
blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof
and
sent it crashing into the courtyard
below. The young man did not wake up until the
bed had struck the ground. Although the
bed was smashed to pieces, the man was
miraculously unhurt. When he woke up,
he was still on the mattress. Glancing at
18
the
bits
of
wood
and
metal
that
lay
around
him,
the
man
sadly
picked
up
the
mattress and carried it into his house.
After he had put it on the floor, he promptly
went to sleep again.
Lesson
50
Taken for a ride
乘车兜风
I love
travelling in the country, but I don't like losing
my way.
I
went
on
an
excursion
recently,
but
my
trip
took
me
longer
than
I
expected.‘I'm
going
to
Woodford
Green,’I
said
to
the
conductor
as
I
got
on
the
bus,‘but I don't know where it
is.’
‘I'll tell you where to
get off,’answered the conductor.
I sat in the front of the bus to get a
good view of the some
time, the bus
stopped. Looking round, I realized with a shock
that I was the only
passenger left on
the bus.‘You'll have to get off here.’the
conductor said.‘This is as
far as we
go.’
‘Is this Woodford
Green?’asked.
‘Oh dear,’said
the conductor suddenly.‘I forgot to put you
off.’
‘It doesn't matter,’I
said.‘I'll get off here.’
‘We're going back now,’ said the
conductor.
‘Well, in that
case, I prefer to stay on the bus,’I
answered.
Lesson 51
Reward for Virtue
对美德的奖赏
My friend,
Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad
recently that he
decided to go on a
diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all,
he wrote out a
long list of all the
foods which were list included most of the things
Hugh
loves:
butter,
potatoes,rice,
beer,
milk,
chocolate,
and
sweets.
Yesterday
I
paid him a visit. I rang
the bell and was not surprised to see that Hugh
was still as
fat as ever. He led me
into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel
under his desk.
It
was
obvious
that
he
was
very
embarrassed.
When
I
asked
him
what
he
was
19
doing, he
smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the
desk. He explained that his
diet was so
strict that he had to reward himself occasionally.
Then he showed me
the contents of the
parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate
and three bags
of sweets!
Lesson 52
A pretty carpet
漂亮的地毯
We
have
just
moved
into
a
new
house
and
I
have
been
working
hard
all
morning.
I have been trying to get my new room in order.
This has not been easy
because I own
over a thousand books. To make matters worse, the
room is rather
small, so I have
temporarily put my books on the floor. At the
moment, they cover
every inch of floor
space and I actually have to walk on them to get
in or out of
the room. A short while
ago, my sister helped me to carry one of my old
bookcases
up the stairs. She went into
my room and got a big surprise when she saw all
those
books
on
the
floor.‘This
is
the
prettiest
carpet
I
have
ever
seen,’she
said.
She
gazed
at it for some time then added,‘You don't need
bookcases at all. You can sit
here in
your spare time and read the
carp
et!’
Lesson
53
Hot snake
触电的蛇
At last
firemen have put out a big forest fire in
California. Since then, they
have been
trying to find out how the fire began. Forest
fires are often caused by
broken glass
or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw
away. Yesterday
the firemen examined
the ground carefully, but were not able to find
any broken
glass.
They
were
also
quite
sure
that
a
cigarette
end
did
not
start
the
fire.
This
morning,
however,
a
firemen
accidentally
discovered
the
cause.
He
noticed
the
remains of a snake which was wound
round the electric wires of a
16
，
000-volt
power
line.
In
this
way,
he
was
able
to
solve
the
mystery.
The
explanation
was
simple but very unusual. A bird had
snatched up the snake from the ground and
then
dropped
it
on
to
the
wires.
The
snake
then
wound
itself
round
the
wires.
When it did so, it sent sparks down to
the ground and these immediately started a
fire.
20
Lesson 54
sticky fingers
粘糊的手指
After
breakfast, I sent the children to school and then
I went to the shops. It
was still early
when I
returned home.
The children were
at school,
my husband
was at work and the house
was quiet. So I decided to make some meat pies. In
a
short time I was busy mixing butter
and flour and my hands were soon covered
with
sticky
pastry.
At
exactly
that
moment,
the
telephone
rang.
Nothing
could
have been more annoying. I picked up
the receiver between two sticky fingers and
was dismayed when I recognized the
voice of Helen Bates. It took me ten minutes
to
persuade
her
to ring
back
later.
At
last
I
hung
up
the
receiver.
What
a
mess!
There was pastry on my fingers, on the
telephone, and on the doorknobs. I had no
sooner
got
back
to
the
kitchen
than
the
doorbell
rang
loud
enough
to
wake
the
dead.
This
time
it
was
the
postman
and
he
wanted
me
to
sign
for
a
registered
letter!
Lesson 55
Not a
gold mine
并非金矿
Dreams
of
finding
lost
treasure
almost
came
true
recently.
A
new
machine
called‘The
Revealer’has been invented and it has been used to
detect gold which
has been buried in
the ground. The machine was used in a cave near
the seashore
where--it is said-pirates
used to hide gold. The pirates would often bury
gold in
the cave and then fail to
collect it. Armed with the new machine, a search
party
went
into
the
cave
hoping
to
find
buried
treasure.
The
leader
of
the
party
was
examining the soil near the entrance to
the cave when the
machine showed that
there was gold under the ground. Very
excited, the party dug a hole two feet deep.
They finally found a small gold coin
which was almost worthless. The party then
searched the whole cave thoroughly but
did not find anything except an empty tin
trunk. In spite of this, many people
are confident that ‘The Revealer’may reveal
something of value fairly soon.
Lesson 56
Faster than
sound!
比声音还快！
Once a year, a race is held for old
cars. A lot of cars entered for this race last
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