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1、Lesson1 A puma at large 逃循的美洲狮 Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into消息传到 London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted发现 forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously(认真地）. However, as the evidence（证据） began to accumulate（积累）, experts f
2、rom the Zoo felt obliged to迫使，使感到必须做（某事） investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily（特别地，非常地，格外） similar. The hunt for（搜寻） the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw a large cat only five yards away from her.
3、It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed（确认） that a puma will not attack（攻击） a human being人类 unless it is cornered（adj.被困得走投无路的）. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed（看到） at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening.
4、Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of(抱怨) cat-like noises at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The exp
5、erts were now fully convinced adj. 确信的, 深信的 that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from (来自)? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been凉必是 in the possession of在某人手中(为.所有) a private collector and somehow managed to想方设法成功 escape. The hunt wen
6、t on继续 for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think想起来真讨厌 that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one 十三等于一 Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money t
7、o have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since. One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one oclock, but the b
8、ell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer. Whatever are you doing up here Bill ? asked the vicar in
9、surprise. Im trying to repair the bell, answered Bill. Ive been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise. You certainly did give me a surprise! said the vicar. Youve probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, Im glad the bell is work
10、ing again. Thats the trouble, vicar, answered Bill. Its working all right, but Im afraid that at one oclock it will strike thirteen times and theres nothing I can do about it. Well get used to that Bill, said the vicar. Thirteen is not as good as one but its better than nothing. Now lets go downstai
11、rs and have a cup of tea. Lesson 3 An unknown goddess 无名女神 Some time ago，an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean（adj.爱琴海的；n.）island of KeaAn American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia IriniThe city at one time must have been pr
12、osperous，for it enjoyed a high level of civilizationHouses-often three storeys high-were built of stoneThey had large rooms with beautifully decorated wallsThe city was even equipped with a drainage system，for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets The temple which the archaeo
13、logists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of the temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remai
14、ns dating from the fifteenth century B.C. Its missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed t
15、o find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hip. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discov
16、er her identity. Lesson4 The double life of Alfred Bloggs These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than clerks who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as white collar workers for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to
17、 go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation. When he go
18、t married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls(n.工作服) and spent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at n
19、ight, he took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alfs wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she never will, for Alf has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office as a junior clerk. He
20、will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him Mr. Bloggs, not Alf. Lesson 5 The facts Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their r
21、eaders with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the presidents palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refused to publish it. The article began: Hu
22、ndreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the presidents palace. The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall. The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to s
23、end them. Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. He sent the journalist two urgent faxes, but received no reply. He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply,
24、 the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist. Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he had at last been allowed to send a cable in which he info
25、rmed the editor that he had been arrested while counting the 1084 steps leading to the 15-foot wall which surrounded the presidents palace. Lesson 6 Smash-and-grab 砸橱窗抢劫 The expensive shops in a famous arcade near Piccadilly were just opening. At this time of the morning, the arcade was almost empty
26、. Mr Taylor, the owner of a jewellery shop was admiring a new window display. Two of his assistants had been working busily since 8 oclock and had only just finished. Diamond necklaces and rings had been beautifully arranged on a background of black velvet. After gazing at the display for several mi
27、nutes, Mr Taylor went back into his shop. The silence was suddenly broken when a large car, with its headlights on and its horn blaring, roared down the arcade. It came to a stop outside the jewelers. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stockings over their faces jumped out and s
28、mashed the window of the shop with iron bars. While this was going on, Mr Taylor was upstairs. He and his staff began throwing furniture out of the window. Chairs and tables went flying into the arcade. One of the thieves was struck by a heavy statue, but he was too busy helping himself to diamonds
29、to notice any pain. The raid was all over in three minutes, for the men scrambled back into the car and it moved off at a fantastic speed. Just as it was leaving, Mr Taylor rushed out and ran after it throwing ashtrays and vases, but it was impossible to stop the thieves. They had got away with thou
30、sands of pounds worth of diamonds. BOOK 3 Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever put your trousers in the washing maching and then remembered there was a large bank note in your back pocket? When you rescued your trousers, did you find the note was whiter than white? Pe
31、ople who live in Britain neednt despair when they make mistakes like this(and a lot of people do)! Fortunately for them, the Bank of England has a team called Mutilated Ladies which deals with claims from people who fed their money to a machine or to their dog. Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money!
32、 A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fiance, John, runs a successful furniture business. John had a very good day and put his wallet containing 3000 into the microwave oven for safekeeping. Then he and Jane went horse-riding. When they got home, Jane cooked their dinner in the microwave oven an
33、d without realizing it, cooked her fiances wallet as well. Imagine their dismay when they found a beautifully-cooked wallet and notes turned to ash! John went to see his bank manager who sent the remains of wallet and the money to the special department of the Bank of England in Newcastle: the Mutil
34、ated Ladies! They examined the remains and John got all his money back. So long as theres something to identify, we will give people their money back, said a spokeswoman for the Bank. Last year, we paid 1.5m on 21000 claims. Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies Children often have far more sense than their eld
35、ers. This simple truth was demonstrated rather dramatically during a civil defence exercise in a small town in Canada. Most of the inhabitants were asked to take part in the exercise during which they had to pretend that their city had been bombed. Air-raid warnings were sounded and thousands of peo
36、ple went into special air-raid shelters. Doctors and nurses remained above ground while Police patrolled the streets in case anyone tried to leave the shelters too soon. The police did not have much to do because the citizens took the exercise seriously. They stayed underground for twenty minutes an
37、d waited for the siren to sound again. On leaving the air-raid shelters, they saw that doctors and nurses were busy. A great many people had volunteered to act as casualties. Theatrical make-up and artificial blood had been used to make the injuries look realistic. A lot of People were lying dead in
38、 the streets. The living helped to carry the dead and wounded to special stations. A Child of six was brought in by two adults. The child was supposed to be dead. With theatrical make-up on his face, he looked as if he had died of shock. Some people were so moved by the sight that they began to cry.
39、 However, the child suddenly sat up and a doctor asked him to comment on his death. The child looked around for a moment and said, I think theyre all crazy! Lesson8 A famous monastery The Great St Bernard Pass connects Switzerland to Italy. At 2470 metres, it is the highest mountain pass in Europe.
40、The famous monastery of St Bernard, which was founded in the eleventh century, lies about a mile away. For hundreds of years, St Bernard dogs have saved the lives of travellers crossing the dangerous Pass. These friendly dogs, which were first brought from Asia, were used as watch-dogs even in Roman
41、 times. Now that a tunnel has been built through the mountains, the Pass is less dangerous, but each year, the dogs are still sent out into the snow whenever a traveller is in difficulty. Despite the new tunnel, there are still a few people who rashly attempt to cross the Pass on foot. During the su
42、mmer months, the monastery is very busy, for it is visited by thousands of people who cross the Pass in cars, As there are so many people about, the dogs have to be kept in a special enclosure. In winter, however, life at the monastery is quite different. The temperature drops to -30 and very few pe
43、ople attempt to cross the Pass. The monks Prefer winter to summer for they have more privacy. The dogs have greater freedom, too, for they are allowed to wander outside their enclosure. The only regular visitors to the monastery in winter are parties of skiers who go there at Christmas and Easter. T
44、hese young people, who love the peace of the mountains, always receive a warm.Welcome at St Bernards monastery. BOOK3 Lesson 9 Flying cats Cats never fail to fascinate human beings. They can be friendly and affectionate towards humans, but they lead mysterious lives of their own as well. They never
45、become submissive like dogs and horses. As a result, humans have learned to respect feline independence. Most cats remain suspicious of humans all their lives. One of the things that fascinates us most about cats is the popular belief that they have nine lives. Apparently, there is a good deal of tr
46、uth in this idea. A cats ability to survive falls is based on fact. Recently the New York Animal Medical Centre made a study of 132 cats over a period of five months. All these cats had one experience in common: they had fallen off high buildings, yet only eight of them died from shock of injuries.
47、Of course, New York is the ideal place for such an interesting study, because there is no shortage of tall buildings. There are plenty of high-rise windowsills to fall from! One cat, Sabrina, fell 32 storeys, yet only suffered from a broken tooth. Cats behave like well-trained paratroopers, a doctor
48、 said. It seems that the further cats fall, the less they are likely to injure themselves. In a long drop, they reach speeds of 60 miles an hour and more. At high speeds, falling cats have time to relax. They stretch out their legs like flying squirrels. This increases their air-resistance and reduc
49、es the shock of impact when they hit the ground. Lesson9 By now, a rocket will have set off on its 35 million mile trip to Mars and scientists must be waiting anxiously for the results. The rocket will be travelling for six months before it reaches the planet. It contains a number of scientific instruments, including a television camera. Any pictures that are taken will have to travel for three minutes before they reach the earth. If the pictures are successful, they may solve a number of p
