Lesson10 The loss of Titanic from abroad recently, a particularly officious young
The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler. Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 'Have you anything to declare?' he asked, looking me in 1316 passengers and a crew of 89l. Even by modern the eye.
standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. 'No,' I answered confidently.
At that time, however, she was not only the largest 'Would you mind unlocking this suitcase please ?' ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as 'Not at all,' I answered.
unsinkable, for she had sixteen water- tight The Officer went through the case with great care. All compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she the things I had packed so carefully were soon in a would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this dreadful mess. I felt sure I would never be able to close great liner will always be remembered, for she went the case again. Suddenly, I saw the Officer's face light down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life.
up. He had spotted a tiny bottle at the bottom of my
Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was case and he pounced on it with delight.
sailing across the icy waters of the North Atlantic, a 'Perfume, eh?' he asked sarcastically. 'You should have huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a look-out. declared that.' Perfume is not exempt from import duty.' After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned 'But it isn't perfume,' I said.' It's hair-oil.' Then I added sharply to avoid a direct collision. The Titanic turned with a smile,' It's a strange mixture I make myself.' As I just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall of ice expected, he did not believe me. which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. 'Try it!' I said encouragingly.
Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from The Officer unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to his below, and the captain went down to see what had nostrils. He was greeted by an unpleasant smell which happened. The noise had been so faint that no one convinced him that I was telling the truth. A few minutes thought that the ship had been damaged. Below, the later, I was able to hurry away with precious captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was chalk-marks on my baggage. sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen water-
现在的海关官员往往相当宽容。但是，当你通过绿色通道，没有
tight compartments had already been flooded ! The 任何东西需要申报时，他们仍可以拦住你。甚至是最诚实的人也order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of 常弄得觉得有罪似的，而老练的职业走私犯却使手提箱里藏着people plunged into the icy water. As there were not 500只金表，却也处之泰然。最近一次，我也出国归来，碰上一enough life-boats for everybody, 1500 lives were lost. 位特别好管闲事的年轻海关官员，他显然把我当成走私犯。 巨轮“泰坦尼克”号1912年4月10日从南安普敦起锚驶向纽约。船上载有1,316名乘客与891名船员。却使用现代标准来衡量，45,000 吨的“泰坦尼克”号与算得上一艘巨轮了。当时，这艘轮船不仅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被认为是不会沉没的。因为船由16个密封舱组成，即使有两个舱进水，仍可漂浮的水面上。然而，这艘巨轮首航就下沉，造成大批人员死亡。人们将永远记着这艘巨轮的沉没惨剧。 “泰坦尼克”起航后的第4天，它正行驶在北大西洋冰冷的海面上。突然，了望员发现一座冰山。警报响过不久，巨轮急转弯，以避免与冰山正面相撞。“泰坦尼克”这个弯拐得及时，紧贴着高出海面100英尺的巨大的冰墙擦过去。突然，从船舱下部传来一声微颤音，船长走下船舱去查看究竟。由于这个声音非常轻，没人会想到船身已遭损坏。在下面，船长惊恐的地于是，他发出弃船的命令，几百人跳进了冰冷刺骨的海水里。
Lesson11 Not guilty
“您有什么需要申报的吗？”他直盯着我的眼睛问。 “没有。”我自信地回答说。 “请打开这只手提箱好吗？” “好的。”我回答说。
那位官员十分仔细地把箱子检查了一遍。所有细心包装好的东西一会儿工夫就乱成一团。我相信那箱子再也关不上了。突然，我看到官员脸上露出了得意的神色。他在我的箱底发现了一只小瓶，高兴地一把抓了起来。
“香水，嗯？”他讥讽地说道，“你刚才应该申报，香水要上进口税的。”
“不，这不是香水，”我说，“是发胶。”接着我脸带微笑补充说：“这是一种我自己配制的奇特的混合物。” “你就闻一闻吧！”我催促说。
使他相信了我说的真话。几分钟后，我终于被放行，手提划着宝
Lesson12 Life on a desert island
发现“泰坦尼克”号正在急速下沉，16个密封舱已有5个进水。 海关官员拧开瓶盖，把瓶子放到鼻子底下。一股怪味袭来，由于没有足够的救生艇运载所有乘客，结果，1,500 人丧生。 贵的粉笔记号的行李，匆匆离去。
Going through the Customs is a tiresome business. Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a The strangest thing about it is that really honest desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to people are often made to feel guilty. The hardened be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines. Life professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never there is simple and good.
troubled by such feelings, even if he has five hundred Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to gold watches hidden in his suitcase. When I returned work. The other side of the picture is quite the opposite.
Life on a desert island is wretched. You either starve to in if ever she failed to open the door and to leave the death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to frighten the which never comes. Perhaps there is an element of poor man, Mrs Richards quickly hid in the small truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the store-room under the stairs. She heard the front door opportunity to find out.
open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door
Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island of the store-room was opened and a man entered. Mrs wished they had stayed there longer. They were Richards realized that it must be the man from the taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands Electricity Board who had come to read the meter. She to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their tried to explain the situation, saying' It's only me', but it boat began to sink. They quickly loaded a small rubber was too late. The man let out a cry and jumped back dinghy with food, matches, and tins of beer and rowed several paces. When Mrs Richards walked towards him, for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived he fled, slamming the door behind him.
at a tiny coral island. There were hardly any trees on 理查兹夫人等丈夫上班走后，把孩子送去上学，然后来到楼上自the island and there was no water, but this did not 己的卧室。那天上午，她兴奋得什么家务活都不想做，因为晚上prove to be a problem. The men collected rain-water in 她要同丈夫一起参加一个化装舞会。她打算装扮成鬼的模样。头the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun 天晚上她已把化装服做好，这时她急于想试试。尽管化装服仅由with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster 一个被单制成，却十分逼真。理查兹夫人穿上化装服后下了楼，and fish every day, and, as one of them put it 'ate like 想看穿起来是否舒服。
kings'. When a passing tanker rescued them five days 理查兹夫人刚刚走进餐厅，前门就传来敲门声。她知道来了later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to 一定面包师。她曾告诉过面包师，如果她不去开门，他可直接进leave.
我们许多人对于荒岛生活有一种不切实际的想法。我们有时想象荒岛是阳光终日普照的天堂。在那里，生活简单又美好。成熟的水果从树上掉下来，人们根本无需劳动。另一种想法恰恰相反，认为荒岛生活很可怕，要么饿死，要么像鲁滨孙那样，但很少有人能有机会去弄个究竟。
最近有两个人在一座珊瑚岛上呆了5天，他们真希望在那儿再多呆一些日子。他们驾着一条严重损坏的小船从维尔京群岛阿密修理。途中，船开始下沉，他们迅速把食物、火柴、罐装啤酒往一只救生筏上装。然后在加勒比海上划行了几英里，到了一座珊瑚岛上。岛上几乎没有一颗树，也没有淡水，但这不算什么问题。他们用像皮艇蓄积雨水。由于他们随身带了一支捕鱼枪，因此，吃饭不愁。他们天天捕捉龙虾和鱼，正如其中一位所说，吃得“像国王一样好”。5天后，一条油轮从那儿路过，搭救了他们。这二位不得不离开那个荒岛时，还真的感到遗憾呢！
Lesson13 It’s only me
After her husband had gone to work, Mrs Richards
门，把面包放在厨房的桌上。理查兹夫人不想吓唬这个可怜人，便赶紧躲到了楼梯下的小储藏室里。她听见前门被打开，走廊里响起重重的脚步声。突然贮藏门开了，一个男人走了进来。理查兹夫人这才想到一定是供电局来人查电表了。她说了声“是我，别怕！”然后想进行一番解释，但已来不及了。那人大叫了一声，走了。
Lesson14 A noble gangster
There was a time when the owners of shop and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums of money to gangsters in return for' protection' If the money was not paid promptly, the gangsters would quickly put a man out of business by destroying his shop. Obtaining 'protechon money' is not a modern crime. As long ago as the fourteenth century, an Englishman, Sir John Hawkwood, made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.
Six hundred years ago, Sir John Hawkwood arrived
天天盼船来，却总没见船影。也许，这两种都像都有可信之处。惊退了几步。理查兹夫人朝他走去，只见他“砰”的一声关上门逃
sent her children to school and went upstairs to her in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence. bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework He soon made a name for himself and came to be known that morning, for in the evening she would be going to to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Whenever the Italian a fancy dress party with her husband. She intended to city-states were at war with each other, Hawkwood used dress up as a ghost and as she had made her costume to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the the night before, she was impatient to try it on. high price he demanded. In times of peace, when Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march very effective. After putting it on, Mrs Richards went into a city-state and, after burning down a few farms, downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would would offer to go away if protection money was paid to be comfortable to wear.
them. Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way.
Just as Mrs Richards was entering the dining-room, In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of there was a knock on the front door. She knew that it hero. When he died at the age of eighty, the Florentines must be the baker. She had told him to come straight gave him a state funeral and had a picture painted which
was dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant 我的外甥乔治有一个储蓄罐，但总是空空的。我给了不少50soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni 便士的硬币，但没有几个存到储蓄罐里。昨天，我给了他50便Haukodue'.
曾经有一个时期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老板们不得不拿出大笔的钱给歹徒以换取\保护\。如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产.榨取\保护金\并不是一种现代的罪恶人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手. 600年前,约翰.霍克伍德爵士带着一队士兵来到意大利,阿库托.每次意大利各城邦之间打伏,霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。和平时期,当生意萧条时,霍克伍德便带领士兵进入某个城邦,纵火烧毁一两个农场,然后提出,如向他们缴纳保护金,他们便主动撤离。霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.尽管如此,意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。他80岁那年骁勇无比的战士、杰出的领袖乔凡尼.阿库托先生.\
Lesson15 Fifty pence worth of trouble
士让存起来，却拿这钱给自己买了50便士的麻烦。在他去糖果店的路上，50便士掉在地上，在人行道上跳了几下，掉进了阴沟里。乔治脱掉外套，卷起袖子，将右胳膊伸进了阴沟盖。但他摸了半天也没找到那50便士硬币，他的胳膊反倒退不出来了。油，但乔治的胳膊仍然卡得紧紧的。有人打电话叫来消防队，两位消防队员使用了一种特殊的润滑剂才使乔治得以解脱。不过，烦后，赏给他一大盒巧克力。
Lesson16 Mary had a little lamb
Mary and her husband Dimitri lived in the tiny village of Perachora in southern Greece. One of Mary's husband had given her. She kept it tied to a tree in a field during the day and went to fetch it every evening. One evening, however, the lamb was missing. The rope
行径.早在14世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:\这时在他周围上了许多人，一位女士在乔治胳膊上抹了肥皂，黄
在佛罗伦萨附近驻扎下来,很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.此事并没使乔治过于伤心，因为糖果店老板娘听说了他遇到的麻
死去时,佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬,并为他画像以纪念这位\prize possessions was a little white lamb which her
Children always appreciate small gifts of money. had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been Father, of course, provides a regular supply of stolen. When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife pocket-money, but uncles and aunts are always a told him what had happened. Dimitri at once set out to source of extra income. With some children, small find the thief. sums go a long way. If sixpences are not exchanged
He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small
for sweets, they rattle for months inside money-boxes. village. After telling several of his friends about the theft, Only very thrifty children manage to fill up a Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had money-box. For most of them, sixpence is a small suddenly acquired a new lamb. Dimitri immediately price to pay for a satisfying bar of chocolate.
went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him of
My nephew, George, has a money-box but it is stealing the lamb. He told him he had better return it or always empty. Very few of the sixpences I have given he would call the police. Aleko denied taking it and led him have found their way there. I gave him sixpence Dimitri into his back-yard. It was true that he had just yesterday and advised him to save it. Instead, he bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black. bought himself sixpence worth of trouble. On his way Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to the sweet shop, he dropped his sixpence and it to Aleko for having accused him. While they were talking rolled along the pavement and then disappeared down it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko's house until a drain. George took off
the rain stopped. When he went outside half an hour
his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and pushed his right later, he was astonished to find that the little black lamb arm through the drain cover. He could not find his was almost white. Its wool, which had been dyed black, sixpence anywhere, and what is more, he could not had been washed clean by the rain !
get his arm out. A crowd of people gathered round him 玛丽与丈夫迪米特里住在希腊南部一个叫波拉考拉的小村庄里。and a lady rubbed his arm with soap and butter, but 玛丽最珍贵的财产之一就是丈夫送给她的一只白色小羔羊。白George was firmly stuck. The fire-brigade was called 天，玛丽把羔羊拴在地里的一颗树上，每天晚上把它牵回家。可and two firemen freed George using a special type of 是，一天晚上，那只小羔羊失踪了。绳子被人割断，很明显小羔grease. George was not too upset by his experience 羊是被人偷走了。
because the lady who owns the sweet shop heard 迪米特里从地里回来，妻子把情况跟他一说，他马上出去找about his troubles and rewarded him with a large box 偷羔羊的人。他知道在这样一个小村庄里抓住小偷并不困难。把of chocolates.
孩子们总是喜欢得到一些零花钱。爸爸妈妈当然经常给孩子零花钱，但是，叔舅婶姨也是孩子们额外收入来源。对于有些孩子来说，少量的钱可以花很长一段时间。如果50便士不拿来换糖吃，则可以放在储蓄罐里叮当响上好几月。但是能把储蓄罐装满的只有屈指可数的几个特别节俭的孩子。对大部分孩子
失窃的事告诉几个朋友后，迪米特里发出他的邻居阿列科家突然多了一只小羔羊。迪米特里立刻去了阿列科家，气呼呼地指责他偷了羔羊，告诉他最好把羊交还，否则就去叫警察。阿列科不承认，并把迪米特里领进院子。不错，他的确刚买了一只羔羊，阿列科解释说，但他的羔羊是黑色的。迪米特里为自己的鲁莽而感到不好意思，向阿列科道了歉，说是错怪了他。就在他俩说话的
来说，用50便士来买一大块好的巧克力，是算不了什么的。 时候，天下起了雨，迪米特里便呆在阿列科家里避雨，一直等到
雨停为止。半小时后，当他从屋里出来时，他惊奇地发现小黑 world
Modern sculpture rarely surprises us any more. The mistaken. Even people who take no interest in art sculpture on display in public places. Strange forms
羔羊全身几乎都变成白色。原来羊毛上染的黑色被雨水冲掉了！ idea that modern art can only be seen in museums is Lesson17 The longest suspension bridge in the cannot have failed to notice examples of modern
Verrazano, an Italian about whom little is known, stand in gardens, and outside buildings and shops. We sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 and named it have got quite used to them. Some so-called 'modern' Angouleme. He described it as 'a very agreeable pieces have been on display for nearly fifty years. situation located within two small hills in the midst of
In
spite
of
this,
some
people--including
which flowed a great river.' Though Verrazano is by no myself--were surprised by a recent exhibition of modern means considered to be a great explorer, his name will sculpture. The first thing I saw when I entered the art probably remain immortal, for on November 21st, gallery was a notice which said: 'Do not touch the 1964, the greatest bridge in the world was named exhibits. Some of them are dangerous!' The objects on after him.
display were pieces of moving sculpture. Oddly shaped
The Verrazano Bridge, which was designed by forms that are suspended from the ceiling and move in Othmar Ammann, joins Brooklyn to Staten Island. It response to a gust of wind are quite familiar to has a span of 4260 feet. The bridge is so long that the everybody. These objects, however, were different. shape of the earth had to be taken into account by its Lined up against the wall, there were long thin wires designer. Two great towers support four huge cables. attached to metal spheres. The spheres had been The towers are built on immense underwater magnetized and attracted or repelled each other all the platforms made of steel and concrete. The platforms time. In the centre of the hall, there were a number of extend to a depth of over 100 feet under the sea. tall structures which contained coloured lights. These These alone took sixteen months to build. Above the lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have surface of the water, the towers rise to a height of gone mad. Sparks were emitted from small black boxes nearly 700 feet. They support the cables from which and red lamps flashed on and off angrily. It was rather the bridge has been suspended. Each of the four like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment. cables contains 26,108 lengths of wire. It has been These Peculiar forms not only seemed designed to shock estimated that if the bridge were packed with cars, it people emotionally, but to give them electric shocks as would still only be carrying a third of its total capacity. well !
However, size and strength are not the only important 现代雕塑不再使我们感到惊讶了。那种认为现代艺术只能在博物things about this bridge. Despite its immensity, it is 馆里才能看到的观点是错误的。即使是对艺术不感兴趣的人也不both simple and elegant, fulfilling its designer's dream 会注意到在公共场所展示的现代艺术品。公园里、大楼和商店外to create 'an enormous object drawn as faintly as 竖立着的奇形怪状的雕塑，对这些，我们已经司空见惯了。有些possible'.
1524年，一位鲜为人知的意大利人维拉萨诺驾船驶进纽约港，并将该港名为安古拉姆。他对该港作了这样的描述：“地理虽然维拉萨诺绝对算不上一个伟大的探险家，但他的名字将流芳百世，因为1964年11月21日建成的一座世界上最长的吊桥是以他的名字命名。
维拉萨诺大桥由奥斯马.阿曼设计，连结着布鲁克林与斯塔顿岛，桥长4,260英尺。由于桥身太长，设计者不得不考虑了地表的形状。两座巨塔支撑着4根粗大的钢缆。塔身建在巨大的水下钢盘混凝土平台上。平台深入海底100英尺。仅这两座塔就花了16个月才建成。塔身高出水面将近700英尺。高塔108股钢绳组成。据估计，若桥上摆满了汽车，也只不过是桥的总承载力的1/3。然而，这座桥重要特点不仅是它的规模与强度。尽管此桥很大，但它的结构简单，造型优美，实现了设想。
Lesson18 Electric currents in modern art
所谓的“现代”艺术品在那里已经陈列了近80年了。
尽管如此，最近举办的一次现代雕塑展览还是使一些人（包括我在内）大吃了一惊。走进展厅首先看到的是一张告示，上面人们所熟悉的是悬挂在天花板上、造型奇特、随风飘荡的雕塑品。这些展品却使人大开眼界。靠墙排列着许多细长的电线，而电线又连着金属球。金属球经过磁化，互相之间不停地相互吸引或相互排斥。展厅中央是装有彩色灯泡的许多高高的构件，灯泡一刻不停地闪烁着，就像失去了控制的红绿灯。小黑盒子里迸出火花，红色灯泡发怒似地忽明忽暗。这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。好像设计这些奇形怪状的展品不仅是为了给人感情上的强烈刺激，而且还想给人以电击似的！ Lesson19 A very dear cat
Kidnappers are rarely interested in Animals, but they recently took considerable interest in Mrs Eleanor lady, has shared a flat with her cat, Rastus, for a great many years. Rastus leads an orderly life. He usually takes a short walk in the evenings and is always home
位置十分适宜，位于两座小山的中间，一条大河从中间流过”。写着“切勿触摸展品，某些展品有危险！”展品都是些活动的雕像。
支撑着钢缆，而钢缆又悬吊着大桥，4根钢缆中的每根由26，
计者企图创造一个“尽量用细线条勾画出一个庞然大物”的梦Ramsay's cat. Mrs Eleanor Ramsay, a very wealthy old
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