學英語

新概念英語第三冊

Lesson1 A puma at large

Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.

The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw ‘a large cat’ only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered（adj.被困得走投無路的）. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. 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 ‘cat-like noises’ at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from ? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.

美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動物，產於美洲。當倫敦動物園接到報告說，在倫敦以南45英里處發現一隻美洲獅時，這些報告並沒有受到重視。可是，隨着證據越來越多，動物園的專家們感到有必要進行一番調查，因爲凡是聲稱見到過美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相似。
搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開始的。那裏的一位婦女在採摘黑莓時的看見“一隻大貓”，離她僅5碼遠，她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。專家證實，美洲獅非被逼得走投無路，是決不會傷人的。事實上搜尋工作很困難，因爲常常是早晨在甲地發現那隻美洲獅，晚上卻在20英里外的乙地發現它的蹤跡。無論它走哪兒，一路上總會留下一串死鹿及死兔子之類的小動物，在許多地方看見爪印，灌木叢中發現了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。有人抱怨說夜裏聽見“像貓一樣的叫聲”；一位商人去釣魚，看見那隻美洲獅在樹上。專家們如今已經完全肯定那隻動物就是美洲獅，但它是從哪兒來的呢？由於全國動物園沒有一家報告丟了美洲獅，因此那隻美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養的，不知怎麼設法逃出來了。搜尋工作進行了好幾個星期，但始終未能逮住那隻美洲獅。想到在寧靜的鄉村裏有一頭危險的野獸繼續逍遙流竄，真令人擔心。

Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one

Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to 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 o’clock, but the bell 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 surprise.

’ I’m trying to repair the bell,’ answered Bill.’ I’ve 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. ‘You’ve probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I’m glad the bell is working again.’

‘That’s the trouble, vicar,’ answered Bill. ‘It’s working all right, but I’m afraid that at one o’clock it will strike thirteen times and there’s nothing I can do about it.’

‘We’ll get used to that Bill,’ said the vicar. ‘Thirteen is not as good as one but it’s better than nothing. Now let’s go downstairs and have a cup of tea.’

我們教區的牧師總是爲各種各樣的事籌集資金。但始終未能籌足資金把教堂的鐘修好。教堂的鐘很大，以前不分晝夜打點報時，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無聲無息了。
一天夜裏，我們的牧師突然被驚醒了，大鐘又在“打點”報時了！他一看錶，才1點鐘，可是那鍾一邊敲了13下才停。牧師拿着一支電筒走上鐘樓想去看看究竟發生了什麼事情。藉着電筒光。他看見一個人，馬上認出那是本地雜貨店主經比爾.威爾金斯。
“你究竟在這上面幹什麼，比爾？”牧師驚訝地問。
“我想把這口鐘修好，”比爾回答說。“好幾個星期了，我天天夜裏到鐘樓上來。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚。”
“你確實使我大吃了一驚！”牧師說，“也許同時你把村裏所有的人都吵醒了。不過，鍾又能報時了，我還是很高興的。”
“問題就在這裏，牧師，”比爾回答說。“不錯，鍾能報時了，但是，恐怕每到1點鐘，它總要敲13下，對此我已無能爲力了。”
“大家慢慢就習慣了，比爾，”牧師說。“13下是不如1下好，但總比1下也不敲強。來，咱們下樓去喝杯茶吧。”

Lesson 3 An unknown goddess

Some time ago，an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean（adj.愛琴海的；n.）island of Kea．An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini．The city at one time must have been prosperous，for it enjoyed a high level of civilization．Houses–often three storeys high–were built of stone．They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls．The city was even equipped with a drainage system，for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets．

The temple which the archaeologists 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 remains 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 to 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 discover her identity.

不久之前，在愛琴海的基亞島上，考古工作者有一項有趣的發現。一個美國考古隊在阿伊亞.依里尼海角的一座古城裏考察了一座廟宇。這座古城肯定一度很繁榮，因爲它曾享有高度的文明，房子一般有3層樓高，用石塊修建。裏面房間很大，牆壁裝飾華麗。城裏甚至還敷設了排水系統，因爲在狹窄的街道底下發現了許許多多陶土製作的排水管道。
考古工作者考察的這座廟宇從公元前15世紀直到羅馬時代一直是祭祀祈禱的場所。在廟中最神聖的一間殿堂裏發現了15尊陶雕像的碎片。每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上過色。其中有一尊雕像，她的軀體是在公元前15世紀的歷史文物中發現的，而她那身異處的腦袋卻碰巧是在公元前5世紀的文物中找到的。她的腦袋一定是在古希臘羅馬時代就爲人所發現，並受到精心的保護。卻使在當時，它也屬歷史悠久的珍奇之物。考古工作者把這些碎片重新拼裝起來後，驚奇地發現那位女神原來是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。她身高3英尺，雙手叉腰。身穿一條拖地長裙，儘管上了年紀，但體態確實優美。不過，考古工作者至今未能確定這位女神的身份。

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 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 got 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 night, he took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alf’s 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 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’.

如今，從事體力勞動的人的收入一般要比坐辦公室的人高出許多。坐辦公室的之所以常常被稱作“白領工人”，就是因爲他們通常是穿着硬領白襯衫，繫着領帶去上班。許多人常常情願放棄較高的薪水以換取做白領工人的殊榮，此乃人之常情。而這常常會引起種種奇怪的現象，在埃爾斯米爾公司當清潔工的艾爾弗雷德.布洛斯就是一個例子。
艾爾弗結婚時，感到非常難爲情，而沒有將自己的職業告訴妻子。他只說在埃爾斯米爾公司上班。每天早晨，他穿上一身漂亮的黑色西裝離家上班，然後換上工作服，當8個小時清潔工。晚上回家前，他洗個淋浴，重新換上那身黑色西服。兩年多以來，艾爾弗一直這樣，他的同事也爲他保守祕密。艾爾弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁給了一個清潔工，而且她永遠也不會知道了，因爲艾爾弗已找到薪職，不久就要坐辦公室裏工作了。他將來掙的錢只有他現在的一半。不過他覺得，地位升高了，損失點兒錢也值得。從此，艾爾弗可以一天到晚穿西服了。別人將稱呼他爲“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾爾弗”了。

Lesson 5 The facts

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president’s 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: ‘Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president’s 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 send them. Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. He sent the journalist two urgent telegrams, but received no reply. He sent yet another telegram informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a telegram 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 informed the editor that he had been arrested while counting the 1084 steps leading to the 15-foot wall which surrounded the president’s palace.

報刊雜誌的編輯常常爲了向讀者提供成立一些關緊要的事實和統計數字而走向極端。去年，一位記者受一家有名的雜誌的委託寫一篇關於非洲某個新成立共和國總統府的文章。稿子寄來後，編輯看第一句話就拒絕予以發表。文章的開頭是這樣的：“幾百級臺階通向環繞總統的高牆。”編輯立即給那位記者發去傳真，要求他覈實一下臺階的確切數字和圍牆的高度。
記者立即出發去核實這些重要的事實，但過了好長時間不見他把數字寄來，在此期間，編輯等得不耐煩了，因爲雜誌馬上要付印。他給記者先後發去兩份傳真，但對方毫無反應。於是他又發了一份傳真，通知那位記者說，若再不迅速答覆，將被解僱。但記者還是沒有回覆。編輯無奈，勉強按原樣發稿了。一週之後，編輯終於接到記者的傳真。那個可憐的記者不僅被捕了，而且還被送進了監獄。不過，他終於獲准發回了一份傳真。在傳真中他告訴編輯，就在他數通向15英尺高的總統府圍牆的1，084級臺階時，被抓了起來。

Lesson 6 Smash-and-grab

The expensive shops in a famous arcade near Piccadilly were just opening. At this time of the morning, the arcade was almost empty. Mr Taylor, the owner of a jewellery shop was admiring a new window display. Two of his assistants had been working busily since 8 o’clock 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 minutes, 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 jeweler’s. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stockings over their faces jumped out and smashed 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 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 thousands of pounds worth of diamonds.

皮卡迪利大街附近的一條著名拱廊街道上，幾家高檔商店剛剛開始營業。在早晨的這個時候，拱廊街上幾乎空無一人。珠寶店主泰勒先生正在欣賞新佈置的櫥窗。他手下兩名店員從早上8點就開始忙碌，這時剛剛佈置完畢。鑽石項鍊、戒指漂亮地陳列在黑色絲絨上面。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了幾分鐘就回到了店裏。
寧靜突然被打破，一輛大轎車亮着前燈，響着喇叭，呼嘯着衝進了拱廊街，在珠寶店門口停了下來。一人留在駕駛座上，另外兩個用黑色長筒絲襪蒙面的人跳下車來。他們用鐵棒把商店櫥窗的玻璃砸碎。這開始發生時，泰勒先生正在樓上。他與店員動手向窗外投擲傢俱，椅子，桌子飛落花流水在拱廊街上。一個竊賊被一尊很重的雕像擊中，但由於他忙着搶鑽石首飾，竟連疼痛都顧不上了。這場搶劫只持續了3分鐘，因爲竊賊爭先恐後地爬上轎車，以驚人的速度開跑了。就在轎車離開的時候，泰勒先生從店裏衝了出來，跟在車後追趕，一邊還往車上扔菸灰缸、花瓶。但他已無法抓住那些竊賊了。他們已帶着價值數千鎊的首飾逃之夭夭了。

Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies

Children often have far more sense than their elders. 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 people 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 and 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 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. 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 they’re all crazy!’

這種事情在你身上出現過嗎？你有沒有把褲子塞洗衣機，然後又想在褲子的後兜有一張大面值的紙幣？當你把褲子搶救出來時，你有沒有發現那張紙幣已經變得比白紙還白？當英國人犯這種錯誤時，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。對英國人來說，值得慶幸的是英國銀行有一個殘鈔鑑別組，負責理那些把錢塞進機器或塞給狗的人提出的索賠要求。看起來，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢幣。
最近的一個案例與簡.巴特林有關，她的未婚夫約翰擁有一家生意興隆傢俱店。有一天約翰的生意很好，他把一隻裝有3,000 英鎊的錢包放進微波爐內保存。然後，他和簡一起去騎馬。回家後，簡用微波爐煮了晚飯，無意中之中把她未婚夫的錢包也一起煮了。可以想像他們發現一隻煮得很好看的錢包，鈔票已化成灰時的沮喪心情。約翰去找銀行經理，經理把約翰的錢包和紙幣的殘留物送到英國銀行在紐卡斯爾的一個專門部門——殘鈔鑑別組。他們鑑定了這些殘留物。約翰拿回了他損失的全部數額。“只要有東西可供識別，我們會把錢還給人家的，”銀行的一位女發言人說。“去年，我們對21，000 起索賠要求支付了150萬英鎊。”

Lesson8 A famous monastery

The Great St Bernard Pass connects Switzerland to Italy. At 2470 metres, it is the highest mountain pass in Europe. 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 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 summer 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 people 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. These young people, who love the peace of the mountains, always receive a warm.

Welcome at St Bernard’s monastery.

聖伯納德大山口連接着瑞士與意大利，海拔2,473O米，是歐洲最高的山口。11世紀建造的著名的聖伯納德修道院位於離山口1英里遠的地方。幾百年來，聖伯納德修道院馴養狗拯救了許多翻越這道山口的旅遊者的生命。那些最先從亞洲引進的狗，待人友好，早在羅馬時代就給人當看門狗了。如今由於山裏開挖了隧道，翻越山口已不那麼危險了。但每年還要派狗到雪山地裏去幫助那些遇到困難的旅遊者，儘管修通了隧道，但仍有一些人想冒險徒步跨越聖伯納德山口。
夏天的幾個月裏，修道院十分忙碌，因爲有成千上萬的人駕車通過山口，順道來修道院參觀。由於來人太多，狗被關在專門的圍欄裏。然而到了冬天，修道院裏的生活則是另一番景象。氣溫下降到零下30度，試圖跨越山口的人寥寥無幾。修道士們喜歡冬天，而不太喜歡夏天。因爲在冬天，他們可以更多地過無人打擾的生活。狗也比較自由，被放出圍欄，四處遛達。冬天常來修道院參觀的只有一批批滑雪者。他們在聖誕節或復活節到那兒去。這些熱愛高山清靜環境的年輕人每年都受到聖伯納德道院的熱烈歡迎。

Lesson9 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 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 truth in this idea. A cat’s ability to survive falls is based on fact.
Recently the New York Animal Medical Center 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 or injuries. 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 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 reduces the shock of impact when they hit the ground.

貓總能引起人們的極大興趣。它們可以對人友好，充滿柔情。但是，它們又有自己神祕的生活方式。它們從不像狗和馬一樣變得那麼順從。結果是人們已經學會尊重貓的獨立性。在它們的一生中，大多數貓都對人存有戒心。最使我們感興趣的一件事情就是一種通俗的信念——貓有九條命。顯然，這種說法裏面包含着許多真實性。貓在跌落時能夠大難不死是有事實作爲依據的。
最近，紐約動物醫療中心對132只貓進行了爲期5個月的綜合研究。所有這些貓有一個共同的經歷：它們都曾從高層建築上摔下來過，但只有其中的8只貓死於震盪或跌傷。當然，紐約是進行這種有趣的試驗的一個理想的地方，因爲那裏根本不缺乏高樓大廈，有的是高層的窗檻從上往下墜落。有一隻叫薩伯瑞的貓從32層樓上掉下來，但只摔斷一顆牙。“貓就像訓練有素的跳傘隊員，” 一位醫生說。看起來，貓跌落的距離越長，它們就越不會傷害自己。在一個長長的跌落過程中，它們可以達到每小時60裏甚至更快的速度。在高速下落中，貓有時間放鬆自己。它們伸展四肢，就像飛行中的松鼠一樣。這樣就加大了空氣阻力，並減少了它們着地時衝擊力帶來的震動。

Lesson10 The loss of Titanic

The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 89l. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen water- tight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life.

Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy waters of the North Atlantic, a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a look-out. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct collision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen water-

tight compartments had already been flooded ! The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icy water. As there were not enough life-boats for everybody, 1500 lives were lost.

巨輪“泰坦尼克”號1912年4月10日從南安普敦起錨駛向紐約。船上載有1,316名乘客與891名船員。卻使用現代標準來衡量，45,000 噸的“泰坦尼克”號與算得上一艘巨輪了。當時，這艘輪船不僅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被認爲是不會沉沒的。因爲船由16個密封艙組成，即使有兩個艙進水，仍可漂浮的水面上。然而，這艘巨輪首航就下沉，造成大批人員死亡。人們將永遠記着這艘巨輪的沉沒慘劇。
“泰坦尼克”起航後的第4天，它正行駛在北大西洋冰冷的海面上。突然，瞭望員發現一座冰山。警報響過不久，巨輪急轉彎，以避免與冰山正面相撞。“泰坦尼克”這個彎拐得及時，緊貼着高出海面100英尺的巨大的冰牆擦過去。突然，從船艙下部傳來一聲微顫音，船長走下船艙去查看究竟。由於這個聲音非常輕，沒人會想到船身已遭損壞。在下面，船長驚恐的地發現“泰坦尼克”號正在急速下沉，16個密封艙已有5個進水。於是，他發出棄船的命令，幾百人跳進了冰冷刺骨的海水裏。由於沒有足夠的救生艇運載所有乘客，結果，1,500 人喪生。

Lesson11 Not guilty

Going through the Customs is a tiresome business. The strangest thing about it is that really honest people are often made to feel guilty. The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never troubled by such feelings, even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase. When I returned from abroad recently, a particularly officious young Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler.

‘Have you anything to declare?’ he asked, looking me in the eye.

‘No,’ I answered confidently.

‘Would you mind unlocking this suitcase please ?’

‘Not at all,’ I answered.

The Officer went through the case with great care. All the things I had packed so carefully were soon in a dreadful mess. I felt sure I would never be able to close the case again. Suddenly, I saw the Officer’s face light up. He had spotted a tiny bottle at the bottom of my case and he pounced on it with delight.

‘Perfume, eh?’ he asked sarcastically. ‘You should have declared that.’ Perfume is not exempt from import duty.’

‘But it isn’t perfume,’ I said.’ It’s hair-oil.’ Then I added with a smile,’ It’s a strange mixture I make myself.’ As I expected, he did not believe me.

‘Try it!’ I said encouragingly.

The Officer unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to his nostrils. He was greeted by an unpleasant smell which convinced him that I was telling the truth. A few minutes later, I was able to hurry away with precious chalk-marks on my baggage.

現在的海關官員往往相當寬容。但是，當你通過綠色通道，沒有任何東西需要申報時，他們仍可以攔住你。甚至是最誠實的人也常弄得覺得有罪似的，而老練的職業走私犯卻使手提箱裏藏着500只金錶，卻也處之泰然。最近一次，我也出國歸來，碰上一位特別好管閒事的年輕海關官員，他顯然把我當成走私犯。
“您有什麼需要申報的嗎？”他直盯着我的眼睛問。
“沒有。”我自信地回答說。
“請打開這隻手提箱好嗎？”
“好的。”我回答說。
那位官員十分仔細地把箱子檢查了一遍。所有細心包裝好的東西一會兒工夫就亂成一團。我相信那箱子再也關不上了。突然，我看到官員臉上露出了得意的神色。他在我的箱底發現了一隻小瓶，高興地一把抓了起來。
“香水，嗯？”他譏諷地說道，“你剛纔應該申報，香水要上進口稅的。”
“不，這不是香水，”我說，“是髮膠。”接着我臉帶微笑補充說：“這是一種我自己配製的奇特的混合物。”
“你就聞一聞吧！”我催促說。
海關官員擰開瓶蓋，把瓶子放到鼻子底下。一股怪味襲來，使他相信了我說的真話。幾分鐘後，我終於被放行，手提划着寶貴的粉筆記號的行李，匆匆離去。

Lesson12 Life on a desert island

Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines. Life there is simple and good.

Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work. The other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes. Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunity to find out.

Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink. They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and tins of beer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island. There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem. The men collected rain-water in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of them put it ‘ate like kings’. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.

我們許多人對於荒島生活有一種不切實際的想法。我們有時想象荒島是陽光終日普照的天堂。在那裏，生活簡單又美好。成熟的水果從樹上掉下來，人們根本無需勞動。另一種想法恰恰相反，認爲荒島生活很可怕，要麼餓死，要麼像魯濱孫那樣，天天盼船來，卻總沒見船影。也許，這兩種都像都有可信之處。但很少有人能有機會去弄個究竟。
最近有兩個人在一座珊瑚島上呆了5天，他們真希望在那兒再多呆一些日子。他們駕着一條嚴重損壞的小船從維爾京羣島阿密修理。途中，船開始下沉，他們迅速把食物、火柴、罐裝啤酒往一隻救生筏上裝。然後在加勒比海上划行了幾英里，到了一座珊瑚島上。島上幾乎沒有一顆樹，也沒有淡水，但這不算什麼問題。他們用像皮艇蓄積雨水。由於他們隨身帶了一支捕魚槍，因此，吃飯不愁。他們天天捕捉龍蝦和魚，正如其中一位所說，吃得“像國王一樣好”。5天后，一條油輪從那兒路過，搭救了他們。這二位不得不離開那個荒島時，還真的感到遺憾呢！

Lesson13 It’s only me

After her husband had gone to work, Mrs Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework that morning, for in the evening she would be going to a fancy dress party with her husband. She intended to dress up as a ghost and as she had made her costume the night before, she was impatient to try it on. Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective. After putting it on, Mrs Richards went downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would be comfortable to wear.

Just as Mrs Richards was entering the dining-room, there was a knock on the front door. She knew that it must be the baker. She had told him to come straight in if ever she failed to open the door and to leave the bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to frighten the poor man, Mrs Richards quickly hid in the small store-room under the stairs. She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door of the store-room was opened and a man entered. Mrs Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the meter. She tried to explain the situation, saying’ It’s only me’, but it was too late. The man let out a cry and jumped back several paces. When Mrs Richards walked towards him, he fled, slamming the door behind him.

理查茲夫人等丈夫上班走後，把孩子送去上學，然後來到樓上自己的臥室。那天上午，她興奮得什麼家務活都不想做，因爲晚上她要同丈夫一起參加一個化裝舞會。她打算裝扮成鬼的模樣。頭天晚上她已把化裝服做好，這時她急於想試試。儘管化裝服僅由一個被單製成，卻十分逼真。理查茲夫人穿上化裝服後下了樓，想看穿起來是否舒服。
理查茲夫人剛剛走進餐廳，前門就傳來敲門聲。她知道來了一定麪包師。她曾告訴過麪包師，如果她不去開門，他可直接進門，把麪包放在廚房的桌上。理查茲夫人不想嚇唬這個可憐人，便趕緊躲到了樓梯下的小儲藏室裏。她聽見前門被打開，走廊裏響起重重的腳步聲。突然貯藏門開了，一個男人走了進來。理查茲夫人這纔想到一定是供電局來人查電錶了。她說了聲“是我，別怕！”然後想進行一番解釋，但已來不及了。那人大叫了一聲，驚退了幾步。理查茲夫人朝他走去，只見他“砰”的一聲關上門逃走了。

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 in Italy with a band of soldiers and settled near Florence. He soon made a name for himself and came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Whenever the Italian city-states were at war with each other, Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded. In times of peace, when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men would march into a city-state and, after burning down a few farms, would offer to go away if protection money was paid to them. Hawkwood made large sums of money in this way. In spite of this, the Italians regarded him as a sort of hero. When he died at the age of eighty, the Florentines gave him a state funeral and had a picture painted which was dedicated to the memory of ‘the most valiant soldier and most notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue’.

曾經有一個時期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老闆們不得不拿出大筆的錢給歹徒以換取”保護”。如果交款不及時,歹徒們就會很快搗毀他的商店,讓他破產.榨取”保護金”並不是一種現代的罪惡行徑.早在14世紀,英國人約翰.霍克伍德就有過非凡的發現:”人們情願拿出大筆的錢,也不願畢生的心血毀於歹徒之手.
600年前,約翰.霍克伍德爵士帶着一隊士兵來到意大利,在佛羅倫薩附近駐紮下來,很快就出了名.意大利人叫他喬凡尼.阿庫託.每次意大利各城邦之間打伏,霍克伍德把他的士兵僱傭給願給他出高價的君主。和平時期,當生意蕭條時,霍克伍德便帶領士兵進入某個城邦,縱火燒燬一兩個農場,然後提出,如向他們繳納保護金,他們便主動撤離。霍克伍德用這種方法掙了大筆錢.儘管如此,意大利人還是把他視作某種英雄。他80歲那年死去時,佛羅倫薩人爲他舉行了國葬,併爲他畫像以紀念這位”驍勇無比的戰士、傑出的領袖喬凡尼.阿庫託先生.”

Lesson15 Fifty pence worth of trouble

Children always appreciate small gifts of money. Father, of course, provides a regular supply of pocket-money, but uncles and aunts are always a source of extra income. With some children, small sums go a long way. If sixpences are not exchanged for sweets, they rattle for months inside money-boxes. Only very thrifty children manage to fill up a money-box. For most of them, sixpence is a small price to pay for a satisfying bar of chocolate.

My nephew, George, has a money-box but it is always empty. Very few of the sixpences I have given him have found their way there. I gave him sixpence yesterday and advised him to save it. Instead, he bought himself sixpence worth of trouble. On his way to the sweet shop, he dropped his sixpence and it rolled along the pavement and then disappeared down a drain. George took off

his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and pushed his right arm through the drain cover. He could not find his sixpence anywhere, and what is more, he could not get his arm out. A crowd of people gathered round him and a lady rubbed his arm with soap and butter, but George was firmly stuck. The fire-brigade was called and two firemen freed George using a special type of grease. George was not too upset by his experience because the lady who owns the sweet shop heard about his troubles and rewarded him with a large box of chocolates.

孩子們總是喜歡得到一些零花錢。爸爸媽媽當然經常給孩子零花錢，但是，叔舅嬸姨也是孩子們額外收入來源。對於有些孩子來說，少量的錢可以花很長一段時間。如果50便士不拿來換糖吃，則可以放在儲蓄罐裏叮噹響上好幾月。但是能把儲蓄罐裝滿的只有屈指可數的幾個特別節儉的孩子。對大部分孩子來說，用50便士來買一大塊好的巧克力，是算不了什麼的。
我的外甥喬治有一個儲蓄罐，但總是空空的。我給了不少50便士的硬幣，但沒有幾個存到儲蓄罐裏。昨天，我給了他50便士讓存起來，卻拿這錢給自己買了50便士的麻煩。在他去糖果店的路上，50便士掉在地上，在人行道上跳了幾下，掉進了陰溝裏。喬治脫掉外套，捲起袖子，將右胳膊伸進了陰溝蓋。但他摸了半天也沒找到那50便士硬幣，他的胳膊反倒退不出來了。這時在他周圍上了許多人，一位女士在喬治胳膊上抹了肥皂，黃油，但喬治的胳膊仍然卡得緊緊的。有人打電話叫來消防隊，兩位消防隊員使用了一種特殊的潤滑劑才使喬治得以解脫。不過，此事並沒使喬治過於傷心，因爲糖果店老闆娘聽說了他遇到的麻煩後，賞給他一大盒巧克力。

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 prize possessions was a little white lamb which her 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 had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen. When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him what had happened. Dimitri at once set out to find the thief.

He knew it would not prove difficult in such a small village. After telling several of his friends about the theft, Dimitri found out that his neighbour, Aleko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb. Dimitri immediately went to Aleko’s house and angrily accused him of stealing the lamb. He told him he had better return it or he would call the police. Aleko denied taking it and led Dimitri into his back-yard. It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black. Ashamed of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to Aleko for having accused him. While they were talking it began to rain and Dimitri stayed in Aleko’s house until the rain stopped. When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find that the little black lamb was almost white. Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain !

瑪麗與丈夫迪米特里住在希臘南部一個叫波拉考拉的小村莊裏。瑪麗最珍貴的財產之一就是丈夫送給她的一隻白色小羔羊。白天，瑪麗把羔羊拴在地裏的一顆樹上，每天晚上把它牽回家。可是，一天晚上，那隻小羔羊失蹤了。繩子被人割斷，很明顯小羔羊是被人偷走了。
迪米特里從地裏回來，妻子把情況跟他一說，他馬上出去找偷羔羊的人。他知道在這樣一個小村莊裏抓住小偷並不困難。把失竊的事告訴幾個朋友後，迪米特里發出他的鄰居阿列科家突然多了一隻小羔羊。迪米特里立刻去了阿列科家，氣呼呼地指責他偷了羔羊，告訴他最好把羊交還，否則就去叫警察。阿列科不承認，並把迪米特里領進院子。不錯，他的確剛買了一隻羔羊，阿列科解釋說，但他的羔羊是黑色的。迪米特里爲自己的魯莽而感到不好意思，向阿列科道了歉，說是錯怪了他。就在他倆說話的時候，天下起了雨，迪米特里便呆在阿列科家裏避雨，一直等到雨停爲止。半小時後，當他從屋裏出來時，他驚奇地發現小黑羔羊全身幾乎都變成白色。原來羊毛上染的黑色被雨水沖掉了！

Lesson17 The longest suspension bridge in the world

Verrazano, an Italian about whom little is known, sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 and named it Angouleme. He described it as ‘a very agreeable situation located within two small hills in the midst of which flowed a great river.’ Though Verrazano is by no means considered to be a great explorer, his name will probably remain immortal, for on November 21st, 1964, the greatest bridge in the world was named after him.

The Verrazano Bridge, which was designed by Othmar Ammann, joins Brooklyn to Staten Island. It has a span of 4260 feet. The bridge is so long that the shape of the earth had to be taken into account by its designer. Two great towers support four huge cables. The towers are built on immense underwater platforms made of steel and concrete. The platforms extend to a depth of over 100 feet under the sea. These alone took sixteen months to build. Above the surface of the water, the towers rise to a height of nearly 700 feet. They support the cables from which the bridge has been suspended. Each of the four cables contains 26,108 lengths of wire. It has been estimated that if the bridge were packed with cars, it would still only be carrying a third of its total capacity. However, size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge. Despite its immensity, it is both simple and elegant, fulfilling its designer’s dream to create ‘an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible’.

1524年，一位鮮爲人知的意大利人維拉薩諾駕船駛進紐約港，並將該港名爲安古拉姆。他對該港作了這樣的描述：“地理位置十分適宜，位於兩座小山的中間，一條大河從中間流過”。雖然維拉薩諾絕對算不上一個偉大的探險家，但他的名字將流芳百世，因爲1964年11月21日建成的一座世界上最長的吊橋是以他的名字命名。
維拉薩諾大橋由奧斯馬.阿曼設計，連結着布魯克林與斯塔頓島，橋長4,260英尺。由於橋身太長，設計者不得不考慮了地表的形狀。兩座巨塔支撐着4根粗大的鋼纜。塔身建在巨大的水下鋼盤混凝土平臺上。平臺深入海底100英尺。僅這兩座塔就花了16個月才建成。塔身高出水面將近700英尺。高塔支撐着鋼纜，而鋼纜又懸吊着大橋，4根鋼纜中的每根由26，108股鋼繩組成。據估計，若橋上擺滿了汽車，也只不過是橋的總承載力的1/3。然而，這座橋重要特點不僅是它的規模與強度。儘管此橋很大，但它的結構簡單，造型優美，實現了設計者企圖創造一個“儘量用細線條勾畫出一個龐然大物”的夢想。

Lesson18 Electric currents in modern art

Modern sculpture rarely surprises us any more. The idea that modern art can only be seen in museums is mistaken. Even people who take no interest in art cannot have failed to notice examples of modern sculpture on display in public places. Strange forms stand in gardens, and outside buildings and shops. We have got quite used to them. Some so-called ‘modern’ pieces have been on display for nearly fifty years.

In spite of this, some people–including myself–were surprised by a recent exhibition of modern sculpture. The first thing I saw when I entered the art gallery was a notice which said: ‘Do not touch the exhibits. Some of them are dangerous!’ The objects on display were pieces of moving sculpture. Oddly shaped forms that are suspended from the ceiling and move in response to a gust of wind are quite familiar to everybody. These objects, however, were different. Lined up against the wall, there were long thin wires attached to metal spheres. The spheres had been magnetized and attracted or repelled each other all the time. In the centre of the hall, there were a number of tall structures which contained coloured lights. These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. Sparks were emitted from small black boxes and red lamps flashed on and off angrily. It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment. These Peculiar forms not only seemed designed to shock people emotionally, but to give them electric shocks as well !

現代雕塑不再使我們感到驚訝了。那種認爲現代藝術只能在博物館裏才能看到的觀點是錯誤的。即使是對藝術不感興趣的人也不會注意到在公共場所展示的現代藝術品。公園裏、大樓和商店外豎立着的奇形怪狀的雕塑，對這些，我們已經司空見慣了。有些所謂的“現代”藝術品在那裏已經陳列了近80年了。
儘管如此，最近舉辦的一次現代雕塑展覽還是使一些人（包括我在內）大吃了一驚。走進展廳首先看到的是一張告示，上面寫着“切勿觸摸展品，某些展品有危險！”展品都是些活動的雕像。人們所熟悉的是懸掛在天花板上、造型奇特、隨風飄蕩的雕塑品。這些展品卻使人大開眼界。靠牆排列着許多細長的電線，而電線又連着金屬球。金屬球經過磁化，互相之間不停地相互吸引或相互排斥。展廳中央是裝有彩色燈泡的許多高高的構件，燈泡一刻不停地閃爍着，就像失去了控制的紅綠燈。小黑盒子裏迸出火花，紅色燈泡發怒似地忽明忽暗。這兒倒像是在展覽古老的電子設備。好像設計這些奇形怪狀的展品不僅是爲了給人感情上的強烈刺激，而且還想給人以電擊似的！

Lesson19 A very dear cat

Kidnappers are rarely interested in Animals, but they recently took considerable interest in Mrs Eleanor Ramsay’s cat. Mrs Eleanor Ramsay, a very wealthy old 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 by seven o’clock. One evening, however, he failed to arrive. Mrs Ramsay got very worried. She looked everywhere for him but could not find him.

Three day after Rastus’ disappearance, Mrs Ramsay received an anonymous letter. The writer stated that Rastus was in safe hands and would be returned immediately if Mrs Ramsay paid a ransom of &1000. Mrs Ramsay was instructed to place the money in a cardboard box and to leave it outside her door. At first, she decided to go to the police, but fearing that she would never see Rastus again –the letter had made that quite clear–she changed her mind. She drew &1000 from her bank and followed the kidnapper’s instructions. The next morning, the box had disappeared but Mrs Ramsay was sure that the kidnapper would keep his word. Sure enough, Rastus arrived punctually at seven o’clock that evening. He looked very well, though he was rather thirsty, for he drank half a bottle of milk. The police were astounded when Mrs Ramsay told them what she had

done. She explained that Rastus was very dear to her. Considering the amount she paid, he was dear in more ways than one!

綁架者很少對動物感興趣。最近，綁架者卻盯上了埃莉諾.拉姆齊太太的貓。埃莉諾.拉姆齊太太是一個非常富有的老婦人，多年來，一直同她養的貓拉斯一起住在一所公寓裏。拉斯特斯生活很有規律，傍晚常常出去溜達一會兒，並且總是在7點鐘以前回來。可是，有一天晚上，它出去後再也沒回來。拉姆齊太太急壞了，四處尋找，但沒有找着。
拉斯特斯失蹤3天后，拉姆齊太太收到一封匿名信。寫信人聲稱拉斯特斯安然無恙，只要拉姆齊太太願意支付1,000 英鎊贖金，可以立即將貓送還。他讓拉姆齊太太把錢放在一個紙盒裏，然後將紙盒放在門口。一開始拉姆齊太太打算報告警察，但又害怕再也見不到拉斯特斯——這點，信上說得十分明白——於是便改變了主意。她從銀行取出1,000 英鎊，並照綁架者的要求做了。第二天早晨，放錢的盒子不見了。但拉姆齊太太確信綁架者是會履行諾言的。果然，當天晚上7點正，拉斯特斯準時回來了。它看上去一切正常，只是口渴得很，喝了半瓶牛奶。拉姆齊太太把她所做的事告訴了警察，警察聽後大爲吃驚。拉姆齊太太解釋說她心疼她的貓拉斯特斯。想到她所花的那筆錢，她的心疼就具有雙重意義了。

Lesson20 Pioneer pilots

In 1908 Lord Northcliffe offered a prize of &1000 to the first man who would fly across the English Channel. Over a year passed before the first attempt was made. On July 19th, 1909, in the early morning, Hubert Latham took off from the French coast in his plane the ‘Antoinette IV’. He

had travelled only seven miles across the Channel when his engine failed and he was forced to land on the sea. The ‘Antoinette’ floated on the water until Latham was picked up by a ship.

Two days later, Louis Bleriot arrived near Calais with a plane called ‘No. XI’. Bleriot had been making planes since 1905 and this was his latest model. A week before, he had completed a successful overland flight during which he covered twenty-six miles. Latham, however did not give up easily. He, too, arrived near Calais on the same day with a new ‘Antonette’. It looks as if there would be an exciting race across the Channel. Both planes were going to take off on July 25th, but Latham failed to get up early enough. After making a short test flight at 4.15 a.m., Bleriot set off half an hour later. His great flight lasted thirty seven minutes. When he landed near Dover, the first person to greet him was a local policeman. Latham made another attempt a week later and got within half a mile of Dover, but he was unlucky again. His engine failed and he landed on the sea for the second time.

1908年，諾斯克利夫勳爵拿出1,000英鎊，作爲對第一個飛越英吉利海峽的人的獎勵。然而一年多過去了纔有人出來嘗試。1909年7月19日凌晨，休伯特.萊瑟姆駕駛“安特瓦特4號”飛機從法國海岸起飛，但他只在海峽上空飛行7英里，引擎就發生了故障，他只好降落在海面上。“安特瓦特”號飛機在海上漂浮，後來有船經過，萊瑟姆方纔獲救。
兩天之後，路易斯.布萊里奧駕駛一名爲“11號”的飛機來到加來附近。布萊里奧從1905年起便開始研製飛機，“11號”飛機是他製作的最新型號。一週以前，他曾成功地進行了一次26英里的陸上飛行。但是萊瑟姆不肯輕易罷休。同一天，他駕駛一架新的“安特瓦特”號飛機來到了加來附近。看來會有一場激烈的飛越英吉利海峽的競爭。兩天飛機都打算在7月25日起飛，但萊瑟姆那天起牀晚了。布萊里奧凌晨4點15分作了一次短距離試飛，半小時後便正式出發了。他這次偉大的飛行持續37分鐘。當他在多佛着陸後，第一個迎接他的是當地一名警察。萊瑟姆一週以後也作了一次嘗試，飛到離多佛不到半英里的地方。這次他又遭厄運，因引擎故障第二次降落在海面上。

Lesson21 Daniel Mendoza

Boxing matches were very popular in England two hundred years ago. In those days, boxers fought with bare fists for Prize money. Because of this, they were known as ‘prize-fighters’. However, boxing was very crude, for there were no rules and a prize-fighter could be seriously injured or even killed during a match.

One of the most colourful figures in boxing history was Daniel Mendoza who was born in 1764. The use of gloves was not introduced until 1860 when the Marquis of Queensberry drew up the first set Of rules. Though he was technically a prize-fighter, Mendoza did much to change crude prize-fighting into a sport, for he brought science to the game. In his day, Mendoza enjoyed tremendous popularity. He was adored by rich and poor alike. Mendoza rose to fame swiftly after a boxing-match when he was only fourteen years old. This attracted the attention of Richard Humphries who was then the most eminent boxer in England. He offered to train Mendoza and his young pupil was quick to learn. In fact, Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphries turned against him. The two men quarrelled bitterly and it was clear that the argument could only be settled by a fight. A match was held at Stilton where both men fought for an hour. The public bet a great deal of money on Mendoza, but he was defeated. Mendoza met Humphries in the ring on a later occasion and he lost for a second time. It was not until his third match in 1790 that he finally beat Humphries and became Champion of England. Meanwhile, he founded a highly successful Academy and even Lord Byron became one of his pupils. He earned enormous sums of money and was paid as much as &100 for a single appearance. Despite this, he was so extravagant that he was always in debt. After he was defeated by a boxer called Gentleman Jackson, he was quickly forgotten. He was sent to prison for failing to pay his debts and died in poverty in 1836.

兩百年前，拳擊比賽在英國非常盛行。當時，拳擊手們不戴手套，爲爭奪獎金而搏鬥。因此，他們被稱作“職業拳擊手”。不過，拳擊是十分野蠻的，因爲當時沒有任何比賽規則，職業拳擊手有可能在比賽中受重傷，甚至喪命。
拳擊史上最引人注目的人物之一是丹尼爾.門多薩，他生於1764年。1860年昆斯伯裏侯爵第一次爲拳擊比賽制定了規則，拳擊比賽這才用上了手套。雖然門多薩嚴格來講不過是個職業拳擊手，但在把這種粗野的拳擊變成一種體育運動方面，他作出了重大貢獻。是他把科學引進了這項運動。門多薩在的全盛時期深受大家歡迎，無論是富人還是窮人都對他祟拜備至。
門多薩在14歲時參加一場拳擊賽後一舉成名。這引起當時英國拳壇名將理查德.漢弗萊斯的注意。他主動提出教授門多薩，而年少的門多薩一學就會。事實上，門多薩不久便名聲大振，致使漢弗萊斯與他反目爲敵。兩個人爭吵不休，顯而易見，只有較量一番才能解決問題。於是兩人在斯蒂爾頓設下賽場，廝打了一個小時。公衆把大筆賭注下到了門多薩身上，但他卻輸了。後來，門多薩與漢弗萊斯再次在拳擊場上較量，門多薩又輸了一場。直到1790年他們第3次對壘，門多薩才終於擊敗漢弗萊斯，成了全英拳擊冠軍。同時，他建立了一所拳擊學校，辦得很成功，連拜倫勳爵也成了他的學生。門多薩掙來大筆大筆的錢，一次出場費就多可達100英鎊。儘管收入不少，但他揮霍無度，經常債臺高築。他在被一個叫傑克遜紳士的拳擊手擊敗後很快被遺忘。他因無力還債而被捕入獄，最後於1836年在貧困中死去。

Lesson22 By heart

Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night. One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter. Yet this is not always the case.

A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years. In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to

the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner. Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that it should be written out in full. One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart. The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his hands. He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat. But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual. It was simply a blank sheet of paper. The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow-actor had at last learnt his lines. The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. Then, squinting his eyes, he said: ‘The light is dim. Read the letter to me.’ And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler. Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied: ‘The light is indeed dim, sire. I must get my glasses.’ With this, he hurried off the stage. Much to the aristocrat’s amusement, the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner.

有些劇目十分成功，以致連續上演好幾年。這樣一來，可憐的演員們可倒黴了。因爲他們需要一夜連着一夜地重複同樣的臺詞。人們以爲，這些演員一定會把臺詞背得爛熟，絕不會臨場結巴的，但情況卻並不總是這樣。
有一位名演員曾在一出極爲成功的劇目中扮演一個貴族角色，這個貴族已在巴士底獄被關押了20年。在最後一幕中，獄卒手持一封信上場，然後將信交給獄中那位貴族。儘管那個貴族每場戲都得念一遍那封信。但他還是堅持要求將信的全文寫在信紙上。
一天晚上，獄卒決定與他的同事開一個玩笑，看看他反覆演出這麼多場之後，是否已將信的內容記熟了。大幕拉開，最後一幕戲開演，貴族獨自一人坐在鐵窗後陰暗的牢房裏。這時獄卒上場，手裏拿着那封珍貴的信。獄卒走進牢房，將信交給貴族。但這回獄卒給貴族的信沒有像往常那樣把全文寫全，而是一張白紙。獄卒熱切地觀察着，急於想了解他的同事是否記熟了臺詞。貴族盯着紙看了幾秒鐘，然後，眼珠一轉，說道：“光線太暗，請給我讀一下這封信。”說完，他一下子把信遞給獄卒。獄卒發現自己連一個字也記不住，於是便說：“陛下，這兒光線的確太暗了，我得去眼鏡拿來。”他一邊說着，一邊匆匆下臺。貴族感到非常好笑的是：一會兒工夫，獄卒重新登臺，拿來一副眼鏡以及平時使用的那封信，然後爲那囚犯唸了起來。

Lesson23 One man’s meat is another man’s poison

People become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot be eaten. If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus a great delicacy. You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive. On the other hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat– the normally accepted practice in many northern countries. The sad truth is that most of us have been brought up to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives.

No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail. Cooked in wine, snails are a great luxury in various parts of the world. There are countless people who, ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food. My friend, Robert, lives in a country where snails are despised. As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of his own. For years he has been asking me to collect snails from my garden and take them to him. The idea never appealed to me very much, but one day, after a heavy shower, I happened to be walking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a stroll on some of my prize plants. Acting on a sudden impulse, I collected several dozen, put them in a paper bag, and took them to Robert. Robert was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my little gift. I left the bag in the

hall and Robert and I went into the living-room where we talked for a couple of hours. I had forgotten all about the snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stay to dinner. Snails would, of course, be the main dish. I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantly followed Robert out of the room. To our dismay, we saw that there were snails everywhere: they had escaped from the paper bag and had taken complete possession of the hall! I have never been able to look at a snail since then.

在決定什麼能吃而什麼不能吃的時候，人們往往變得不合情理。比如，如果你住在地中海地區，你會把章魚視作是美味佳餚，同時不能理解爲什麼有人一見章魚就噁心。另一方面，你一想到動物油炸土豆就會反胃，但這在北方許多國家卻是一種普通的烹任方法。不無遺憾的是，我們中的大部分人，生來就只吃某幾種食品，而且一輩子都這樣。
沒有一種生物所受到的讚美和厭惡會超過花園裏常見的蝸牛了。蝸牛加酒燒煮後，便成了世界上許多地方的一道珍奇的名菜。有不計其數的人們從小就知道蝸牛可做菜。但我的朋友羅伯特卻住在一個厭惡蝸牛的國家中。他住在大城市裏的一所公寓裏，沒有自己的花園。多年來，他一直讓我把我園子裏的蝸牛收集起來給他捎去。一開始，他的這一想法沒有引起我多大興趣。後來有一天，一場大雨後，我在花園裏漫無目的散步，突然注意到許許多多蝸牛在我的一些心愛的花木上慢悠悠的蠕動着。我一時衝動，逮了幾十只，裝進一隻紙袋裏，帶着去找羅伯特。羅伯特見到我很高興，對我的薄禮也感到滿意。我把紙袋放在門廳裏，與羅伯特一起進了起居室，在那裏聊了好幾個鐘頭。我把蝸牛的事已忘得一乾二淨，羅伯特突然提出一定要我留下來吃晚飯，這才提醒了我。蝸牛當然是道主菜。我並不喜歡這個主意，所以我勉強跟着羅伯特走進了起居室。使我們驚愕的是門廳裏到處爬滿了蝸牛：它們從紙袋裏逃了出來，爬得滿廳都是！從那以後，我再也不能看一眼蝸牛了。

Lesson24 A skeleton in the cupboard

We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers for years. The English language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation. The terrible secret is called ‘a skeleton in the cup board ‘. At some dramatic moment in the story the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation is ruined. The reader’s hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine, a dear old lady who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.

It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction. To varying degrees, we all have secrets which we do not want even our closest friends to learn, but few of us have skeletons in the cupboard. The only person I know who has a skeleton in the cupboard is George Carlton, and he is very proud of the fact. George studied medicine in his youth. Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer of detective stories. I once spent an uncomfortable week-end which I shall never forget at his house. George showed me to the guestroom which, he said, was rarely used. He told me to unpack my things and then come down to dinner. After I had stacked my shirts and underclothes in two empty drawers, I decided to hang in the cupboard one of the two suits I had brought with me. I opened the cupboard door and then stood in front of it petrified. A skeleton was dangling before my eyes. The sudden movement of the door made it sway slightly and it gave me the impression that it was about to leap out at me. Dropping my suit, I dashed downstairs to tell George. This was worse than ‘a terrible secret’; this was a real skeleton ! But George was unsympathetic. ‘Oh, that,’ he said with a smile as if he were talking about an old friend. ‘That’s Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.’

在小說中，我們經常讀到一個表面上受人尊重的人物或家庭，卻有着某種多年不爲人所知的駭人聽聞的祕密。英語中有一個生動的說法來形容這種情況。驚人的祕密稱作“櫃中骷髏”。在小說的某個戲劇性時刻，可怕的祕密泄漏出來，接着便是某人的聲譽掃地。當讀者到小說最後幾頁瞭解到書中女主人公，那位一向待大家很好的可愛的老婦人年輕時一連毒死了她的5個丈夫時，不禁會毛骨悚然。
這種事發生在小說中是無可非議的。儘管我們人人都有各種大小祕密。連最親密的朋友都不願讓他們知道，但我們當中極少有人有櫃中骷髏。我所認識的唯一的在櫃中藏骷嶁的人便是喬治.卡爾頓，他甚至引以爲自豪。喬治年輕時學過醫，然而，他後來沒當上醫生，卻成了一位成功的偵探小說作家。有一次，我在他家裏度週末，過得很不愉快。這事我永遠不會忘記。喬治把我領進客房，說這間很少使用。他讓我打開行裝後下樓吃飯。我將襯衫、內衣放進兩個空抽屜裏，然後我想把隨身帶來的兩套西服中的一套掛到大衣櫃裏去。我打開櫃門，站在櫃門前一下驚呆了。一具骷髏懸掛在眼前，由於櫃門突然打開，它也隨之輕微搖晃起來，讓我覺得它好像馬上要跳出櫃門朝我撲過來似的。我扔下西服衝下樓去告訴喬治。這是比“駭人聽聞的祕密”更加驚人的東西，這是一具真正的骷髏啊！但喬治卻無動於衷。“噢，是它呀！他笑着說道，儼然在談論一位老朋友。“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是學醫的了。”

Lesson25 The Cutty Sark

One of the most famous sailing ships of the nineteenth century, the Cutty Sark, can still be seen at Greenwich. She stands on dry land and is visited by thousands of people each year. She serves as an impressive reminder of the great ships of the past. Before they were replaced by steam-ships, sailing vessels like the Cutty Sark were used to carry tea from China and wool from Australia. The Cutty Sark was one of the fastest sailing ships that has ever been built. The only other ship to match her was the Thermopylae. Both these ships set out from Shanghai on June 18th, 1872 on an exciting race to England. This race, which went on for exactly four months, was the last of its kind. It marked the end of the great tradition of ships with sails and the beginning of a new era. The first of the two ships to reach Java after the race had begun was the Thermopylae, but on the Indian Ocean, the Cutty Sark took the lead. It seemed certain that she would be the first ship home, but during the race she had a lot of bad luck. In August, she was struck by a very heavy storm during which her rudder was torn away. The Cutty Sark rolled from side to side and it became impossible to steer her. A temporary rudder was made on board from spare planks and it was fitted with great difficulty. This greatly reduced the speed of the ship, for there was danger that if she travelled too quickly, this rudder would be torn away as well. Because of this, the Cutty Sark lost her lead. After crossing the equator , the captain called in at a port to have a new rudder fitted, but by now the Thermopylae was over five hundred miles ahead. Though the new rudder was fitted at tremendous speed, it was impossible for the Cutty Sark to win. She arrived in England a week after the Thermopylae. Even this was remarkable, considering that she had had so many delays. There is no doubt that if she had not lost her rudder she would have won the race easily.

人們在格林威治仍可看到19世紀最有名的帆船之一“卡蒂薩克”號。它停在陸地上，每年接待成千上萬的參觀者。它給人們留下深刻的印象，使人們回憶起歷史上的巨型帆船，在蒸汽船取代帆船之前。“卡蒂薩克”號之類的帆船被用來從中國運回茶葉，從澳大利亞運回羊毛。“卡蒂薩克”號是帆船製造史上建造的最快的一艘帆船。唯一可以與之一比高低的是“塞姆皮雷”號帆船。兩船於1872年6月18日同時從上海啓航駛往英國，途中展開了一場激烈的比賽。這場比賽持續了整整4個月，是這類比賽中的最後一次，它標誌着帆船偉大傳統的結束與一個新紀元的開始。
比賽開始後，“賽姆皮雷”號率先抵達爪哇島。但在印度洋上，“卡薩薩克”號駛到了前面。看來，它首先返抵英國是確信無疑的了，但它卻在比賽中連遭厄運。8月份“卡蒂薩克”號遭到一場特大風暴的襲擊，失去了一隻舵。船身左右搖晃，無法操縱。船員用備用的木板在船上趕製了一隻應急用的舵，並克服重重困難將舵安裝就位，這樣一來，大大降低了船的航速。因爲船不能開得太快，否則就有危險，應急舵也會被颳走。因爲這個緣故，“卡蒂薩克”號落到了後面。跨越赤道後，船長將船停靠在一個港口，在那兒換了一隻舵。但此時，“賽姆皮雷”號早已在500多英里之遙了。儘管換裝新舵時分秒必爭，但“卡蒂薩克”號已經不可能取勝了，它抵達英國時比“塞姆皮雷”號晚了1個星期。但考慮到路上的多次耽擱，這個成績也已很不容易了。毫無疑問，如果中途沒有失去舵， “卡帝薩克”號肯定能在比賽中輕易奪冠。

Lesson26 Wanted: a large biscuit tin

No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us. In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product, advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses. Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing. An advertisement which begins with the

magic word FREE can rarely go wrong. These days, advertisers not only offer free samples but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well. They devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money. Radio and television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way. During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to bake biscuits and send them to their factory. They offered to pay 2apoundforthebiggestbiscuitbakedbyalistener.Theresponsetothiscompetitionwastremendous.Beforelong,biscuitsofallshapesandsizesbeganarrivingatthefactory.Oneladybroughtinabiscuitonawheelbarrow.Itweighednearly500pounds.Alittlelater,amancamealongwithabiscuitwhichoccupiedthewholebootofhiscar.Allthebiscuitsthatweresentwerecarefullyweighed.Thelargestwas713pounds.Itseemedcertainthatthiswouldwintheprize.Butjustbeforethecompetitionclosed,alorryarrivedatthefactorywithatrulycolossalbiscuitwhichweighed2400pounds.Ithadbeenbakedbyacollegestudentwhohadusedover1000poundsofflour,800poundsofsugar,200poundsoffat,and400poundsofvariousotheringredients.Itwassoheavythatacranehadtobeusedtoremoveitfromthelorry.Themanufacturershadtopaymoremoneythantheyhadanticipated,fortheyboughtthebiscuitfromthestudentfor 4800.

沒有人能避免受廣告的影響。儘管我們可以自誇自己的鑑賞力如何敏銳，但我們已經無法獨立自主地選購自己所需的東西了。這是因爲廣告在我們身上施加着一種潛移默化的影響。做廣告的人在力圖勸說我們買下這種產品或那種產品之前，已經仔細地研究了人的本性，並把人的弱點進行了分類。
做廣告的人們多年前就發現我們大家都喜歡免費得到東西。凡是用“免費”這個神奇的詞開頭的廣告很少會失敗的。目前，做廣告的人不僅提供免費樣品，而且還提供免費汽車，免費住房，免費周遊世界。他們設計數以百計的競賽，競賽中有人可贏得鉅額獎金。電臺、電視使做廣告的人可以用這種手段吸引成百萬人的注意力。
有一次，在電臺播放的節目裏，一個生產餅乾的公司請聽衆烘製餅乾送到他們的工廠去。他們願意以每磅10美元的價錢買下由聽衆烘製的最大的餅乾。這次競賽在聽衆中引起極其熱烈的反響。不久，形狀各異，大小不一的餅乾陸續送到工廠。一位女士用手推車運來一個餅乾，重達500磅左右。相隔不一會兒，一個男子也帶來一個大餅乾，那個餅乾把汽車的行李箱擠得滿滿的。凡送來的餅乾都仔細地稱量。最重的一個達713磅，看來這個餅乾獲獎無疑了。但就在競賽截止時間將到之際，一輛卡車駛進了工廠，運來了一個特大無比、重達2,400磅的餅乾。它是由一個大學生烘製的，用去1,000多磅的麪粉、800磅食糖、200磅動物脂肪及400磅其他各種原料。餅乾份量太重了，用了一臺起重機才把它從卡車上卸下。餅乾公司不得不付出比他們預計多得多的錢，因爲爲買下那學生烘製的餅乾他們支付了24,000美元。

Lesson27 Nothing to sell and nothing to buy

It has been said that everyone lives by selling something. In the light of this statement, teachers live by selling knowledge, philosophers by selling wisdom and priests by selling spiritual comfort.

Though it may be possible to measure the value of material goods in terms of money, it is extremely difficult to estimate the true value of the services which people perform for us. There are times when we would willingly give everything we possess to save our lives, yet we might

grudge paying a surgeon a high fee for offering us precisely this service. The conditions of society are such that skills have to be paid for in the same way that goods are paid for at a shop. Everyone has something to sell.

Tramps seem to be the only exception to this general rule. Beggars almost sell themselves as human beings to arouse the pity of passers-by. But real tramps are not beggars. They have nothing to sell and require nothing from others. In seeking independence, they do not sacrifice their human dignity. A tramp may ask you for money, but he will never ask you to feel sorry for him. He has deliberately chosen to lead the life he leads and is fully aware of the consequences He, may never be sure where the next meal is coming from, but he is free from the thousands of anxieties which afflict other people. His few material possession make it possible for him to move from place to place with ease- By having to sleep in the open, he gets far closer to the world of nature than most of us ever do. He may hunt, beg, or steal occasionally to keep himself alive; he may even in times of real need, do a little work; but he will never sacrifice his freedom. We often speak of tramps with contempt and put them in the same class as beggars, but how many of us can honestly say that we have not felt a little envious of their simple way of life and their freedom from care?

據說每個人都靠出售某種東西來維持生活。根據這種說法，教師靠賣知識爲生，哲學家靠賣智慧爲生，牧師靠賣精神安慰爲生。雖然物質產品的價值可以用金錢來衡量，但要估算別人爲我們爲所提供的服務的價值卻是極其困難的。有時，我們爲了挽救生命，願意付出我們所佔有的一切。但就在外科大夫給我們提供了這種服務後，我們卻可能爲所支付的昂貴的費用而抱怨。社會上的情況就是如此，技術是必須付錢去買的，就像在商店裏要花錢買商品一樣。人人都有東西可以出售。
在這條普遍的規律前面，好像只有流浪漢是個例外，乞丐出售的幾乎是他本人，以引起過路人的憐憫。但真正的流浪並不是乞丐。他們既不出售任何東西，也不需要從別人那兒得到任何東西，在追求獨立自由的同時，他們並不犧牲爲人的尊嚴。遊浪漢可能會向你討錢，但他從來不要你可憐他。他是故意在選擇過那種生活的，並完全清楚以這種方式生活的後果。他可能從不知道下頓飯有無着落，但他不像有人那樣被千萬樁愁事所折磨。他幾乎沒有什麼財產，這使他能夠輕鬆自如地在各地奔波。由於被迫在露天睡覺，他比我們中許多人都離大自然近得多。爲了生存，他可能會去打獵、乞討，偶爾偷上一兩回；確實需要的時候，他甚至可能幹一點兒活，但他決不會犧牲自由。說起流浪漢，我們常常帶有輕蔑並把他們與乞丐歸爲一類。但是，我們中有多少人能夠坦率地說我們對流浪漢的簡樸生活與無憂無慮的境況不感到有些羨慕呢？

Lesson28 Five pounds too dear

Small boats loaded with wares sped to the great liner as she was entering the harbour. Before she had anchored, the men from the boats had climbed on board and the decks were soon covered with colourful rugs from Persia, silks from India, copper coffee pots, and beautiful hand-made silver-ware. It was difficult not to be tempted. Many of the tourists on board had begun bargaining with the tradesmen, but I decided not to buy anything until I had disembarked. I had no sooner got off the ship than I was assailed by a man who wanted to sell me a diamond ring. I had no intention of buying one, but I could not conceal the fact that I was impressed by the size of the diamonds. Some of them were as big as marbles. The man went to great lengths to prove that the diamonds were real. As we were walking past a shop, he held a diamond firmly against the window and made a deep impression in the glass. It took me over half an hour to get rid of him.

The next man to approach me was selling expensive pens and watches. I examined one of the pens closely. It certainly looked genuine. At the base of the gold cap, the words ‘made in the U.S.A.’ had been neatly inscribed. The man said that the pen was worth &10, but as a special favour, he would let me have it for &8. I shook my head and held up a finger indicating that I was willing to

pay a pound. Gesticulating wildly, the man acted as if he found my offer outrageous, but he eventually reduced the price to &3. Shrugging my shoulders, I began to walk away when, a moment later, he ran after me and thrust the pen into my hands. Though he kept throwing up his arms in despair, he readily accepted the pound I gave him. I felt especially pleased with my wonderful bargain–until I got back to the ship. No matter how hard I tried, it was impossible to fill this beautiful pen with ink and to this day it has never written a single word !

當一艘大型班船進港的時候，許多小船載着各種雜貨快速向客輪駛來。大船還未下錨。小船上的人就紛紛爬上客輪。一會兒工夫，甲板上就擺滿了色彩斑斕的波斯地毯。印度絲綢。銅咖啡壺以及手工製作的漂亮的銀器。要想不爲這些東西所動心是很困難的。船上許多遊客開始同商販討價還價起來，但我打定主意上岸之前什麼也不買。
我剛下船，就被一個人截住，他向我兜售一枚鑽石戒指。我根本不想買，但我不能掩飾這樣一個事實：其鑽石之大給我留下了深刻的印象。有的鑽石像玻璃球那麼大。那人竭力想證明那鑽石是真貨。我們路過一家商店時，他將一顆鑽石使勁地往櫥窗上一按，在玻璃上留下一道深痕。我花了半個多小時才擺脫了他的糾纏。
向我兜售的第二個人是賣名貴鋼筆和手錶的。我仔細察看了一枝鋼筆，那看上去確實不假，金筆帽下方整齊地刻有“美國製造”字樣。那人說那支筆值50英鎊，作爲特別優惠，他願意讓我出30英鎊成交。我搖搖頭，伸出5根手指表示我只願出5鎊錢。那人激動地打着手勢，彷彿我的出價使他不能容忍。但他終於把價錢降到了10英鎊。我聳聳肩膀掉頭走開了。一會兒，他突然從後追了上來，把筆塞到我手裏。雖然他絕望地舉起雙手，但他毫不遲疑地收下了我付給他的5鎊錢。在回到船上之前，我一直爲我的絕妙的討價還價而洋洋得意。然而不管我如何擺弄，那枝漂亮的鋼筆就是吸不進墨水來。直到今天，那枝筆連一個字也沒寫過！

lesson29 Funny or not?

Whether we find a joke funny or not largely depends on where we have been brought up. The sense of humour is mysteriously bound up with national characteristics. A Frenchman, for instance, might find it hard to laugh at a Russian joke. In the same way, a Russian might fail to see anything amusing in a joke which would make an Englishman laugh to tears.

Most funny stories are based on comic situations. In spite of national differences, certain funny situations have a universal appeal. No matter where you live, you would find it difficult not to laugh at, say, Charlie Chaplin’s early films. However, a new type of humour, which stems largely from America, has recently come into fashion. It is cal1ed’ sick humour ‘. Comedians base their jokes on tragic situations like violent death or serious accidents. Many people find this sort of joke distasteful. The following example of ‘sick humour’ will enable you to judge for yourself.

A man who had broken his right leg was taken to hospital a few weeks before Christmas. From the moment he arrived there, he kept on pestering his doctor to tell him when he would be able to go home. He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. Though the doctor did his best, the patient’s recovery was slow. On Christmas day, the man still had his right leg in plaster. He spent

a miserable day in bed thinking of all the fun he was missing. The following day, however, the doctor consoled him by telling him that his chances of being able to leave hospital in time for New Year celebrations were good. The man took heart and, sure enough, on New Year’s Eve he was able to hobble along to a party. To compensate for his unpleasant experiences in hospital, the man drank a little more than was good for him. In the process, he enjoyed himself thoroughly and kept telling everybody how much he hated hospitals. He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg.

我們覺得一則笑話是否好笑，很大程度取決於我們是在哪兒長大的。幽默感與民族有着神祕莫測的聯繫。譬如，法國人聽完一則俄國笑話可能很難發笑。同樣的道理，一則可以令英國人笑出淚來的笑話，俄國人聽了可能覺得沒有什麼可笑之處。
大部分令人發笑的故事都是根據喜劇情節編寫的。儘管民族不同，有些滑稽的情節卻能產生普遍的效果。比如說，不管你生活在哪裏，你看查理.卓別林的早期電影很難不發笑。然而，近來一種新式幽默流行了起來，這種幽默主要來自美國。它被叫作“病態幽默”。喜劇演員根據悲劇情節諸如暴死，重大事故等來編造笑話。許多人認爲這種笑話是低級庸俗的。下面是個“病態幽默”的實例，你可據此自己作出判斷。
聖誕節前幾周，某人摔斷了右腿被送進醫院。從他進醫院那一刻時，他就纏住醫生，讓醫生告訴他什麼時候能回家。他十分害怕在醫院過聖誕。儘管醫生竭力醫治，但病人恢復緩慢。聖誕節那天，他的右腿還上着石膏，他在牀上鬱鬱不樂地躺了一天，想着他錯過的種種歡樂。然而，第二天，醫生安慰他說，出院歡度新年的可能性還是很大的，那人聽後振作了精神。果然，除夕時他可以一瘸一拐地去參加晚會了。爲了補償住院這一段不愉快的經歷，那人喝得稍許多了一點。在晚會上他盡情娛樂，一再告訴大家他是多麼討厭醫院。晚會結束時，他嘴裏還在嘟噥着醫院的事，突然踩到一塊冰上滑倒了，摔斷了左腿。

Lesson30 The death of a ghost

For years villagers believed that Endley farm was haunted. The farm was owned by two brothers, Joe and Bert Cox. They employed a few farm hands, but no one was willing to work there long. Every time a worker gave up his job, he told the same story. Farm labourers said that they always woke up to find the work had been done overnight. Hay had been cut and cow sheds had been cleaned. A farm worker, who stayed up all night, claimed to have seen a figure cutting corn in the

moonlight. In time, it became an accepted fact that the Cox brothers employed a conscientious ghost that did most of their work for them.

No one suspected that there might be someone else on the farm who had never been seen. This was indeed the case. A short time ago, villagers were astonished to learn that the ghost of Endley had died. Everyone went to the funeral, for the ‘ghost’ was none other than Eric Cox, a third brother who was supposed to have died as a young man. After the funeral, Joe and Bert revealed

a secret which they had kept for over forty years. Eric had been the eldest son of the family. He had been obliged to join the army during the first World War. As he hated army life he decided to desert his regiment. When he learnt that he would be sent abroad, he returned to the farm and his farther hid him until the end of the war. Fearing the authorities, Eric remained in hiding after the war as well. His father told everybody that Eric had been killed in action. The only other people who knew the secret were Joe and Bert. They did not even tell their wives. When their father died, they thought it their duty to keep Eric in hiding. All these years, Eric had lived as a recluse（隱遁者, 寂寞者）. He used to sleep during the day and work at night, quite unaware of the fact that he had become the ghost of Endley. When he died, however, his brothers found it impossible to keep the secret any longer.

多年來，村民們一直認爲恩得利農場在鬧鬼。恩得利農場屬於喬.考科斯和鮑勃.考科斯兄弟倆所有。他們僱了幾個農工，但誰也不願意在那兒長期工作下去。每次僱工辭職後都敘述着同樣的故事。僱工們說，常常一早起來發現有人在夜裏把活幹了，乾草已切好，牛棚也打掃乾淨了。有一個徹夜未眠的僱工還聲稱他看見一個人影在月光下收割莊稼。隨着時間的流逝，考科斯兄弟僱了一個盡心盡責的鬼，他們家的活大部分都讓鬼給幹了，這件事成了公認的事實。
誰也沒想到農場竟會有一個從未露面的人。但事實上確有此人。不久之前，村民們驚悉恩得利農場的鬼死了。大家都去參加了葬禮，因爲那“鬼”不是別人，正是農場主的兄弟埃裏克.考科斯。人們以爲埃裏克年輕時就死了。葬禮之後，喬和鮑勃透露了他們保守了長達50多年的祕密。
埃裏克是這家長子。年齡比他兩個弟弟大很多，第二次世界大戰期間被迫參軍。他討厭軍旅生活，決定逃離所在部隊。當他了解自己將被派遣出國時，他逃回農場，父親把他藏了起來，直到戰爭結束。由於害怕當局，埃裏克戰後繼續深藏不露。他的父親告訴大家，埃裏克在戰爭中被打死了。除此之外，只有喬與鮑知道這個祕密。但他倆連自己的妻子都沒告訴。父親死後，他們兄弟倆認爲有責任繼續把埃裏克藏起來。這些年來，埃裏克過着隱士生活，白天睡覺，夜裏出來幹活，一點不知道自己已成了恩得利家場的活鬼。他死後，他的弟弟們才覺得無法再保守這個祕密了。

Lesson31 A lovable eccentric

True eccentrics never deliberately set out to draw attention to themselves. They disregard social conventions without being conscious that they are doing anything extraordinary. This invariably wins them the love and respect of others, for they add colour to the dull routine of everyday life.

Up to the time of his death, Richard Colson was one of the most notable figures in our town. He was a shrewd and wealthy business-man, but the ordinary town-folk hardly knew anything about this side of his life. He was known to us all as Dickie and his eccentricity had become legendary long before he died. Dickie disliked snobs(勢利小人) intensely. Though he owned a large car, he hardly ever used it, preferring always to go on foot. Even when it was raining heavily, he refused to carry an umbrella. One day, he walked into an expensive shop after having been caught in a particularly heavy shower. He wanted to buy a &300 fur coat for his wife, but he was in such a bedraggled condition that an assistant refused to serve him. Dickie left the shop without a word and returned carrying a large cloth bag. As it was extremely heavy, he dumped it on the counter. The assistant asked him to leave, but Dickie paid no attention to him and requested to see the manager. Recognizing who the customer was, the manager was most apologetic and ‘reprimanded the assistant severely. When Dickie was given the fur coat, he presented the assistant with the cloth bag. It contained &300 in pennies. He insisted on the assistant’s counting the money before he left 72,000 pennies in all! On another occasion, he invited a number of important critics to see his private collection of modern paintings. This exhibition received a great deal of attention in the press, for though the pictures were supposed to be the work of famous artists, they had in fact been painted by Dickie. It took him four years to stage this elaborate joke simply to prove that critics do not always know what they are talking about.

真正古怪的人從不有意引人注意。他們不顧社會習俗，意識不到自己所作所爲有什麼特殊之處。他們總能贏得別人的喜愛與尊敬，因爲他們給平淡單一的日常生活增添了色彩。
理查德.科爾森生前是我們鎮上最有名望的人之一。他是個精明能幹、有錢的商人，但鎮上大部分人對他生活中的這一個方面幾乎一無所知。大家都管他叫迪基。早在他去世前很久，他的古怪行爲就成了傳奇故事了。
迪基痛恨勢利小人。儘管他有一輛豪華小轎車，但卻很少使用，常常喜歡以步代車。即使大雨傾盆，他也總是拒絕帶傘。一天，他遇上一場瓢潑大雨，淋得透溼。他走進一家高級商店，要爲妻子買一塊價值300英鎊的手錶。但店員見他渾身泥水的樣子，竟不肯接待他。迪基二話沒說就走了。一會兒，他帶着一個大布口袋回到店裏。布袋很沉，他重重地把布袋扔在櫃檯上。店員讓迪基走開，他置之不理，並要求見經理。經理認出了這位顧客，表示了深深的歉意，還嚴厲地訓斥了店員。店員爲迪基拿出了那塊手錶，迪基把布口袋遞給他，口袋裏面裝着300鎊的便士。他堅持要店員點清那些硬幣後他才離去。這些硬幣加在一起共有30,000枚！還有一次，他邀請一些著名評論家來參觀他私人收藏的現代畫。這次展覽引起報界廣泛注意，因爲這些畫名義上是名家的作品，事實上是迪基自己畫的。他花了4年時間策劃這出精心設計的鬧劇，只是想證明評論家們有時並不解他們所談論的事情。

Lesson32 A lost ship

The salvage operation had been a complete failure. The small ship, Elkor, which had been searching the Barents Sea for weeks, was on its way home. A radio message from the mainland had been received by the ship’s captain instructing him to give up the search. The captain knew that another attempt would be made later, for the sunken ship he was trying to find had been carrying a precious cargo of gold bullion.

Despite the message, the captain of the Elkor decided to try once more. The sea-bed was scoured with powerful nets and there was tremendous excitement on board when a chest was raised from the bottom. Though the crew were at first under the impression that the lost ship had been found, the contents of the sea-chest proved them wrong. What they had in fact found was a ship which had been sunk many years before. The chest contained the personal belongings of a seaman, Alan Fielding. There were books, clothing and photographs, together with letters which the seaman had once received from his wife. The captain of the Elkor ordered his men to salvage as much as possible from the wreck. Nothing of value was found, but the numerous items which were brought to the surface proved to be of great interest. From a heavy gun that was raised, the captain realized that the ship must have been a cruiser. In another sea-chest, which contained the belongings of a ship’s officer, there was an unfinished letter which had been written on March 14th, 1943. The captain learnt from the letter that the name of the lost ship was the Karen. The most valuable find of all was the ship’s log book, parts of which it was still possible to read. From this the captain was able to piece together all the information that had come to light. The Karen had been sailing in a convoy to Russia when she was torpedoed by an enemy submarine. This was later confirmed by a naval official at the Ministry of Defence after the Elkor had returned home. All the items that were found were sent to the War Museum.

打撈工作徹底失敗了。小船“埃爾科”號在巴倫支海搜尋了幾個星期之後，正在返航途中。返航前，該船船長收到了大陸發來的電報，指示他們放棄這次搜尋。船長知道日後還會再作嘗試，因爲他試圖尋找的沉船上載有一批珍貴的金條。
儘管船長接了電報，他還是決定再試一試。他們用結實的網把海牀搜索了一遍。當一隻箱子從海底被打撈上來時，甲板上人們激動不已。船員們開始認爲沉船找着了，但海底沉箱內的物品證明他們弄錯了。事實上，他們發現的是另一艘沉沒多年的船。
木箱內裝有水手艾倫.菲爾丁的私人財物，其中有書箱、衣服、照片以及水手收到的妻子的來信。“埃爾科”號船長命令船員們儘量從沉船中打撈物品，但沒發現什麼值錢的東西，不過打撈出來的衆多的物品還是引起了大家極大的興趣。從撈起的一門大炮來看，船長認爲那艘船一定是艘巡洋艦。另一隻海底沉箱中裝的是船上一位軍官的財物，其中有一封寫於1943年3月14日的信，但沒有寫完。從這封信中船長瞭解到沉船船名是“卡倫”號。打撈到的東西中最有價值的是船上的航海日誌，其中有一部分仍然清晰可讀。據此，船長可以將所有的那些已經搞清的材料拼湊起來。“卡倫”號當年在爲其他船隻護航駛往俄國的途中突然遭到敵方潛水艇魚雷的襲擊。這一說法在“埃爾科”號返航後得到的國防部一位海軍官員的證實。那次打撈到的所有物品均被送往軍事博物館。

Lesson33 A day to remember

We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. What invariably happens is that a great number of things choose to go wrong at precisely the same moment. It is as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this marks the prelude to an unforeseen series of

catastrophes. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the table-cloth off the table smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in the process. You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.

Things can go wrong on a big scale as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars collided and both drivers began to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry-driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind. It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the lorry- driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two stray dogs benefited from all this confusion, for they greedily devoured what was left of the cake. It was just one of those days!

我們大家都有過事事不順心的日子。一天開始時，可能還不錯，但突然間似乎一切都失去了控制。情況經常是這樣的，許許多多的事情都偏偏趕在同一時刻出問題，好像是一件無關緊要的小事引起了一連串的連鎖反應。假設你在做飯，同時又在照看孩子。這時電話鈴響了。它預示着一連串意想不到的災難的來臨。就在你接電話時，孩子把桌布從桌子上扯下來，將家中最好的陶瓷餐具半數摔碎，同時也弄傷了他自己。你急急忙忙掛上電話，趕去照看孩子和餐具。這時，飯又燒糊了。好像這一切還不足以使你急得掉淚，你的丈夫接着回來了，事先沒打招呼就帶來3個客人吃飯。
就像許多人最近在悉尼郊區帕拉馬塔發現的那樣，有時亂子會鬧得很大。一天傍晚交通最擁擠時，一輛汽車撞上前面一輛汽車，兩個司機爭吵起來。緊跟其後的一輛車上的司機碰巧是個初學者，她一驚之下突然把車停了下來。她這一停使得跟在後頭的司機也來個急剎車。司機妻子正坐在他身邊，手裏託着塊大蛋糕。她往前一衝，蛋糕從擋風玻璃飛了出去掉到馬路上。此時，一輛卡車正好從後邊開到那輛汽車邊上，司機看見一塊蛋糕從天而降，緊急剎車。卡車上裝着空啤酒瓶。成百隻瓶子順勢從卡車後面滑出車外落在馬路上。這又引起一場脣槍舌劍的爭吵。與此同時，後面的車輛排成了長龍，警察花了將近一個小時才使車輛又開起來。在這段時間裏，卡車司機不得不清掃那幾百隻破瓶子。只有兩隻野狗從這一片混亂中得到好處，它們貪婪地吃掉了剩下的蛋糕。這就是事事不順心的那麼一天！

Lesson34 A happy discovery

Antique shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people. The more expensive kind of antique shop where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass cases to keep them free from dust is usually a forbidding place. But no one has to muster up courage to enter a less pretentious antique shop. There is always hope that in its labyrinth of musty, dark, disordered rooms a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of assorted junk that litter the floors.

No one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated searcher for art treasures must have patience, and above all, the ability to recognize the worth of something when he sees it. To do this, he must be at least as knowledgeable as the dealer. Like a scientist bent on making a discovery, he must cherish the hope that one day he will be amply rewarded.

My old friend, Frank Halliday, is just such a person. He has often described to me how he picked up a masterpiece for a mere &5. One Saturday morning, Frank visited an antique shop in my neighbourhood. As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to interest him. The morning passed rapidly and Frank was about to leave when he noticed a large packing-case lying on the floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in, but that he could not be bothered to open it. Frank begged him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open. The contents were disappointing. Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger, the box was full of crockery, much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box and suddenly noticed a miniature Painting at the bottom of the packing-case. As its composition and line reminded him of an Italian painting he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it briefly, the dealer told him that it was worth &5. Frank could hardly conceal his excitement, for he knew that he had made a real discovery. The tiny painting proved to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio and was worth thousands of pounds.

古玩店對許多人來說有一種特殊的魅力。高檔一點的古玩店爲了防塵，把文物漂亮地陳列在玻璃櫃子裏，那裏往往令人望而卻步。而對不太裝腔作勢的古玩店，無論是誰都不用壯着膽子纔敢往裏進。人們還常常有希望在發黴、陰暗、雜亂無章、迷宮般的店堂裏，從雜亂地擺放在地面上的、一堆堆各式各樣的破爛貨裏找到一件稀世珍品。
無論是誰都不會一下子就發現一件珍品。一個到處找便宜的人必須具有耐心，而且最重要的是看到珍品時要有鑑別珍品的能力。要做到這一點，他至少要像古董商一樣懂行。他必須像一個專心致志進行探索的科學家那樣抱有這樣的希望，即終有一天，他的努力會取得豐碩的成果。
我的老朋友弗蘭克.哈利戴正是這樣一個人。他多次向我詳細講他如何只花50英鎊便買到一位名家的傑作。一個星期六的上午，弗蘭克去了我家附近的一家古玩店。由於他從未去過那兒，結果他發現許多有趣的東西。上午很快過去了，弗蘭克正準備離去，突然看見地板上放着一隻體積很大的貨箱。古董商告訴他那隻貨箱剛到不久，但他嫌麻煩不想把它打開。經弗蘭克懇求，古董商才勉強把貨箱撬開了。箱內東西令人失望。除了一柄式樣別緻、雕有花紋的匕首外，貨箱內裝滿陶器，而且大部分都已破碎裂。弗蘭克輕輕地把陶器拿出箱子，突然發現在箱底有一幅微型畫，畫面構圖與紙條使他想起一幅他所熟悉的意大利畫，於是他決定將畫買了下來。古董商漫不經心看了一眼那幅畫，告訴弗蘭克那畫值50英鎊。弗蘭克幾乎無法掩飾自己興奮的心情，因爲他明白自己發現了一件珍品。那幅不大的畫原來是柯勒喬的一幅未被發現的傑作，價值幾十萬英鎊。

Lesson35 Justice was done

The word justice is usually associated with courts of law. We might say that justice has been done when a man’s innocence or guilt has been proved beyond doubt. Justice is part of the complex machinery of the law. Those who seek it, undertake an arduous journey and can never be sure that they will find it. Judges, however wise or eminent, are human and can make mistakes.

There are rare instances when justice almost ceases to be an abstract conception. Reward or punishment are out quite independent of human interference. At such times, justice acts like a living force. When we use a phrase like it serves him right, we are, in part, admitting that a certain set of circumstances has enabled justice to act of its own accord.

When a thief was caught on the premises of a large fur store one morning, the shop assistants must have found it impossible to resist the temptation to say ‘it serves him right’. The shop was an old-fashioned one with many large, disused fireplaces and tall, narrow chimneys. Towards midday, a girl heard a muffled cry coming from behind one of the walls. As the cry was repeated several times, she ran to tell the manager who promptly rang up the fire-brigade. The cry had certainly come from one of the chimneys, but as there were so many of them, the firemen could not be certain which one it was. They located the right chimney by tapping at the walls and listening for the man’s cries. After chipping through a wall which was eighteen inches thick, they found that a man had been trapped in the chimney. As it was extremely narrow, the man was unable to move, but the firemen were eventually able to free him by cutting a huge hole in the wall. The sorry-looking, blackened figure that emerged, at once admitted that he had tried to break into the shop during the night but had got stuck in the chimney. He had been there for nearly ten hours. Justice had been done even before the man was handed over to the police.

“正義”這個詞常常是同法庭連在一起的。當某人被證據確鑿地證明無罪的時候，我們也許會說正義得到了伸張。正義是複雜的法律機器組成部分。那些尋求正義的人走的是一條崎嶇的道路，從來沒有把握他們最終將到正義。法官無論如何聰明與有名，畢竟也是人，也會出差錯的。
在個別情況下，正義不再是一種抽象概念。獎懲的實施是不受人意志支配的。在這種時候，正義像一種有生命的力量行使其職能。當我們說“他罪有應得”這句話的時候，我們部分承認了某種特定的環境使得正義自動地起了作用。
一天上午，當一個小偷在一家大型珠寶店裏被人抓住的時候，店員一定會忍不住說：“他罪有應得。”那是一座老式的、經過改造的房子，店裏有許多廢置不用的大壁爐和又高又窄的煙囪。快到中午的時候，一個女售貨員聽見從一堵牆裏傳出一種悶聲悶氣的叫聲。由於這種喊叫聲重複了幾次，她跑去報告經理，經理當即給消防隊掛了電話。喊叫聲肯定是從煙囪裏傳出來的，然而，因爲煙囪太多，消防隊員無法確定到底是哪一個。他們通過叫擊煙囪傾叫聲而確定傳出聲音的那個煙囪。他們鑿透了18英寸厚的牆壁，發現有個人卡在煙囪裏。由於煙囪太窄，那人無法動彈。消防隊員在牆上挖了個大洞，才終於把他解救出來。那個看來滿臉沮喪、渾身漆黑的傢伙從煙囪裏一出來，就承認頭天夜裏他企圖到店裏行竅，但讓煙囪卡住了。他已經在煙囪裏被困了將近10個小時。甚至在那人還沒被送交給警察之前，正義就已得到了伸張。

Lesson36 A chance in a million

We are less credulous than we used to be In the nineteenth century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences –most of them wildly improbable. Readers happily accepted the fact that an obscure maid-servant was really the hero’s mother. A long-lost brother, who was presumed dead, was really alive all the time and wickedly plotting to bring about the hero’s down- fall. And so on. Modern readers would find such naive solutions totally unacceptable. Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences which anyone but a nineteenth century novelist would find incredible.

A German taxi-driver, Franz Bussman, recently found a brother who was thought to have been killed twenty years before. While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman. After they had gone on, Mrs Bussman commented on the workman’s close resemblance to her husband and even suggested that he might be his brother. Franz poured scorn on the idea, pointing

out that his brother had been killed in action during the war. Though Mrs Bussman was fully acquainted with this story, she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right. A few days later, she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman, Needless to say, the man’s name was Hans Bussman and he really was Franz’s long-lost brother.

When the brothers were re-united, Hans explained how it was that he was still alive. After having been wounded towards the end of the war, he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit. The hospital had been bombed and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot. Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed. Hans returned to his

family home, but the house had been bombed and no one in the neighbourhood knew what had become of the inhabitants. Assuming that his family had been killed during an air-raid, Hans settled down in a Village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.

我們不再像以往那樣輕易相信別人了。在19世紀，小說家常在小說結尾處給讀者準備一系列的巧合——大部分是牽強附會，極不可能的。當時的讀者卻愉快地接受這樣一些事實，一個低賤的女傭實際上是主人公的母親；主人公一位長期失散的兄弟，大家都以爲死了，實際上一直活着，並且正在策劃暗算主人公；如此等等，現代讀者會覺得這種天真的結局完全無法接受。不過，在現實生活中，有時確實會出現一些巧合，這些巧合除了19世紀小說家外誰也不會相信。
當我是個孩子的時候，我祖父給我講了一位德國出租汽車司機弗朗茲。巴斯曼如何找到了據信已在20年前死去的兄弟的事。一次，他與妻子徒步旅行。途中，停下來與一個工人交談，接着他們繼續往前走去。巴斯曼夫人說那工人與她丈夫相貌很像，甚至猜測他可能就是她丈夫的兄弟。弗朗茲對此不屑一顧，指出他兄弟已經在戰爭中陣亡了。儘管巴斯曼夫人熟知這個情況，但她仍然認爲自己的想法仍有百萬分之一的可能性。幾天後，她派了一個男孩去問那人是否叫漢斯.巴斯曼。不出巴斯曼夫人所料，那人的名字真是漢斯.巴斯曼，他確實是弗朗茲失散多年的兄弟。兄弟倆團聚之時，漢斯說明了他活下來的經過，戰爭即將結束時，他負傷被送進醫院，並與部隊失去聯繫。醫院遭到轟炸，漢斯步行回到了西德。與此同時，他所在部隊被擊潰，他的所有檔案材料全部毀於戰火。漢斯重返故里，但他的家已被炸燬，左鄰右舍誰也不知原住戶的下落，漢斯以爲全家人都在空襲中遇難，於是便在距此50英里外的一座村子裏定居下來，直至當日。

Lesson37 The Westhaven Express

We have learnt to expect that trains will be punctual. After years of pre-conditioning, most of us have developed an unshakable faith in railway time-tables. Ships may be delayed by storms; air flights may be cancelled because of bad weather; but trains must be on time. Only an exceptionally heavy snow fall might temporarily dislocate railway services. It is all too easy to blame the railway authorities when something does go wrong. The truth is that when mistakes

occur, they are more likely to be ours than theirs.

After consulting my railway time-table, I noted with satisfaction that there was an express train to Westhaven. It went direct from my local station and the journey lasted a mere hour and seventeen minutes. When I boarded the train, I could not help noticing that a great many local people got on as well. At the time, this did not strike me as odd. I reflected that there must be a great many people besides myself who wished to take advantage of this excellent service. Neither was I surprised when the train stopped at Widley, a tiny station a few miles along the line. Even a mighty express train can be held up by signals. But when the train dawdled at station after station, I began to wonder. It suddenly dawned on me that this express was not roaring down the line at ninety miles an hour, but barely chugging along at thirty. One hour and seventeen minutes passed and we had not even covered half the distance. I asked a passenger if this was the Westhaven Express, but he had not even heard of it. I determined to lodge a complaint as soon as we arrived. Two hours later, I was talking angrily to the station-master at Westhaven. When he denied the train’s existence, I borrowed his copy of the time-table. There was a note of triumph in my voice when I told him that it was there in black and white. Glancing at it briefly, he told me to look again. A tiny asterisk conducted me to a footnote at the bottom of the page. It said: ‘This service has been suspended.’

我們已經習慣於相信火車總是準點的。經過多年的適應，大多數人對火車時刻表產生了一種不可動搖的信念。輪船船期可能因風暴而推延，飛機航班可能因惡劣天氣而取消，唯有火車必然是準點的。只有非同尋常的大雪纔可能暫時打亂鐵路運行。因此，一旦鐵路上真出了問題，人們便不加思索地責備鐵路當局。事實上，差錯很可能是我們自己，而不是鐵路當局的。
我查看了列車時刻表，滿意地瞭解到有一趟去威斯特海溫的快車。這是趟直達車，旅途總共才需1小時17分鐘。上車後，我不禁注意到許多當地人也上了車。一開始，我並不感到奇怪，我想除我之外，想利用快車之便的也一定大有人在。火車開出幾英里即在一個小站威德里停了下來。對此，我不覺得奇怪，因爲即便是特別快車也可能被信號攔住。但是，當火車一站接着一站往前蠕動時，我便產生了懷疑。我突然感到這趟快車並沒以時速90英里的速度呼嘯前進，而是卟哧卟哧地向前爬行，時速僅30英里。1小時17分過去了，走了還不到一半路程。我問一位乘客，這是不是開往威斯特海溫的那趟快車，他說從未聽說過有這麼一趟快車。我決定到目的地就給鐵路部門提意見。兩小時後，我氣呼呼地同威斯特海溫站站長說起此事。他說根本沒有這趟車。於是我借他本人的列車時刻表，我帶着一種勝利者的調子告訴他那趟車白紙黑字。明明白白印在時刻表上。他迅速地掃視了一眼，讓我再看一遍。一個小小的星形符號把我的目光引到了那頁底部一個說明上。上面寫着：“此趟列車暫停運行。”

Lesson38 The first calendar

Future historians will be in a unique position when they come to record the history of our own times. They will hardly know which facts to select from the great mass of evidence that steadily

accumulates. What is more they will not have to rely solely on the written word. Films, gramophone records, and magnetic tapes will provide them with a bewildering amount of information. They will be able, as it were, to see and hear us in action. But the historian attempting to reconstruct the distant past is always faced with a difficult task. He has to deduce what he can from the few scanty clues available. Even seemingly insignificant remains can shed interesting light on the history of early man.

Up to now, historians have assumed that calendars came into being with the advent of agriculture, for then man was faced with a real need to understand something about the seasons. Recent scientific evidence seems to indicate that this assumption is incorrect. Historians have long been puzzled by dots, lines and symbols which have been engraved on walls, bones, and the ivory tusk of mammoths. The nomads who made these markings lived by hunting and fishing during the last Ice Age, which began about 35,000 B.C. and ended about 10,000 B.C. By correlating markings made in various parts of the world, historians have been able to read this difficult code. They have found that it is connected with the passage of days and the phases of the moon. It is, in fact, a, primitive type of calendar. It has long been known that the hunting scenes depicted on walls were not simply a form of artistic expression. They had a definite meaning, for they were as near as early man could get to writing. It is possible that there is a definite relation between these paintings and the markings that sometimes accompany them. It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.

未來的歷史學家在寫我們這一段歷史的時候會別具一格。對於逐漸積累起來的龐大材料，他們幾乎不知道選取哪些好，而且，也不必完全依賴文字材料。電影、錄像、光盤和光盤驅動器只是能爲他們提供令人眼花繚亂的大量信息的幾種手段。他們能夠身臨其境般地觀看我們做事，傾聽我們講話。但是，歷史學家企圖重現遙遠的過去可是一項艱鉅的任務，他們必須根據現有的不充分的線索進行推理。即使看起來微不足道的遺物，也可能揭示人類早期歷史的一些有趣的內容。
歷史學家迄今認爲日曆是隨農業的問世而出現的，因爲當時人們面臨着瞭解四季的實際需要，但近期科學研究發現，好像這種假設是不正確的。
長期以來，歷史學家一直對雕刻在牆壁上、骨頭上、古代長毛象的象牙上的點、線和形形色色的符號感到困惑不解。這些痕跡是遊牧人留下的，他們生活在從公元前約35，000年到公元前10，000年的冰川期的末期，以狩獵、捕魚爲生。歷史學家通過把世界各地留下的這種痕跡放在一起研究，終於弄懂了這種費解的代碼。他們發現代碼與晝夜更迭和月亮圓缺有關，事實上是一種最原始的日曆。大家早就知道，畫在牆上的狩獵圖景並不是單純的藝術表現形式，它們有着一定的含義，因爲它們已接近古代人的文字形式。有時，這種圖畫與牆壁上的刻痕共存，它們之間可能有一定的聯繫。看來人類早就致力於探索四季變遷了，比人們想像的要早20,000年。

Lesson39 Nothing to worry about

The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from. Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes,

Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.

As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders. The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us. What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he

remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce engaged low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zig-zag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dash- board flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!

穿越平原的道路高低不平，開車走了不遠，路面愈加崎嶇。我們想勸說布魯斯把車開回我們出發的那個村莊去。儘管路面佈滿石頭，坑坑窪窪，但布魯斯卻一點兒不慌亂。他瞥了一眼地圖，告訴我們前面再走不到20英里就是一個村莊。這並不是說布魯斯總是低估困難，而是他壓根兒沒有一點兒危險感。他認爲不管路面情況如何，車必須以最高速度前進。
我們在塵士飛揚的道路上顛簸，車子東拐西彎，以躲開那些大圓石。車輪攪起的石塊錘擊車身，發出不祥的錘擊聲。我們想念遲早會飛起一個石塊把油箱砸開一個窟窿，或者把發動機砸壞。因此，我們不時地掉過頭，懷疑車後是否留下了機油和汽油的痕跡。
突然大石塊不見了，前面是一片平地，唯一的障礙只有一簇簇灌木叢。這使我們長長地鬆了口氣。但是更糟糕的事情在等着我們，離我們不遠處，出現一個大裂縫。我們再次央求布魯斯小心，他這才把車停了下來。我們紛紛下車察看那個大裂縫，他卻呆在車上。我們告訴他那個大裂縫長50碼，寬2英尺，深4英尺。這也沒有對他產生任何影響。布魯斯掛上慢檔，把兩隻前輪分別擱在裂縫的兩邊，順着彎彎曲曲的裂縫，以發瘋的速度向前開去。我們還未來得及擔心後果，車已重新開上了平地。布魯斯又看了一眼地圖，告訴我們那座村莊離我們只有15英里了。下一個障礙是一片約半英里寬的淺水塘。布魯斯向水塘衝去，但車開到水塘當中，嘎吱一聲停住了。儀表盤一盞黃燈閃着刺眼的光芒，布魯斯興致勃勃地宣佈發動機裏沒油了！

Lesson40 Who’s who

It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than anyone else. Students specialize in a particular type of practical joke: the hoax. Inviting the fire-brigade to put out a non-existent fire is a crude form of deception which no self-respecting student would ever indulge in, Students often create amusing situations which are funny to everyone except the victims. When a student recently saw two workmen using a pneumatic drill outside his university, he immediately telephoned the police and informed them that two students dressed up as workmen were tearing up the road with a pneumatic drill. As soon as he had hung up, he went over to the workmen and told them that if a policeman ordered them to go away, they were not to take him seriously. He added that a student had dressed up as a policeman and was playing all sorts of silly jokes on people. Both the police and the workmen were grateful to the student for this piece of advance information.

The student hid in an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything that went on. Sure enough, a policeman arrived on the scene and politely asked the workmen to go away. When he received a very rude reply from one of the workmen, he threatened to remove them by force. The workmen told him to do as he pleased and the policeman telephoned for help. Shortly afterwards, four more policemen arrived and remonstrated with the workmen. As the men refused to stop working, the police attempted to seize the pneumatic drill. The workmen struggled fiercely and one of them lost his temper. He threatened to call the police. At this, the police pointed out ironically that this would hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest. Pretending to speak seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might make a telephone call before being taken

to the station. Permission was granted and a policeman accompanied him to a call-box. Only when he saw that the man was actually telephoning the police did he realize that they had all been the victims of a hoax.

誰也弄不清爲什麼大學生好像比任何人都更喜歡惡作劇。大學生擅長一種特殊的惡作劇——戲弄人。請消防隊來撲滅一場根本沒有的大火是一種低級騙局，有自尊心的大學生決不會去做。大學生們常常做的是製造一種可笑的局面，使大家笑上一場，當然受害者是笑不出來的。
最近有個學生看見兩個工人在學校門外用風鑽幹活，馬上打電話報告警察，說有兩個學生裝扮成工人，正在用風鑽破壞路面。掛上電話後，他又馬上來到工人那兒，告訴他們若有個警察來讓他們走開，不要把他當回事，還對工人說，有個學生常裝扮成警察無聊地同別人開玩笑。警察與工人都對那個學生事先通報情況表示感謝。
那個學生躲在附近一拱形的門廊裏，在那兒可以看見、聽到現場發生的一切。果然，警察來了，不禮貌地請工人離開此地；但其中一個工人粗魯地回了幾句。於是警察威脅要強行使他們離開。工人說，悉聽尊便。警察去打電話叫人。一會兒工夫，又來了4個警察，規勸工人離開。由於工人拒絕停下手中的活，警察想奪風鑽。兩個工人奮力抗爭，其中一個發了火，威脅說要去叫警察。警察聽後譏諷地說，這大可不必，因爲他倆已被逮捕了。其中一個工人裝模作樣地問道，在被帶往警察局之前，是否可以打一個電話。警察同意了，陪他來到一個投幣地電話前，當他看到那個工人真的是給警察掛電話，才恍然大悟，原來他們都成一場騙局的受害者。

Lesson41 Illusions of Pastoral peace

The quiet life of the country has never appealed to me. City born and city bred, I have always regarded the country as something you look at through a train window, or something you occasionally visit during the week-end. Most of my friends live in the city, yet they always go into raptures at the mere mention of the country. Though they extol the virtues of the peaceful life, only one of them has ever gone to live in the country and he was back in town within six months. Even

he still lives under the illusion that country life is somehow superior to town life. He is forever talking about the friendly people, the clean atmosphere, the closeness to nature and the gentle pace of living. Nothing can be compared, he maintains, with the first cock crow, the twittering of birds at dawn, the sight of the rising sun glinting on the trees and pastures. This idyllic pastoral scene is

only part of the picture. My friend fails to mention the long and friendless winter evenings which are interrupted only by an occasional visit to the local cinema-virtually the only form of entertainment. He says nothing about the poor selection of goods in the shops, or about those unfortunate people who have to travel from the country to the city every day to get to work. Why people are prepared to tolerate a four hour journey each day for the dubious privilege of living in the country is beyond my ken. They could be saved so much misery and expense if they chose to live in the city where they rightly belong.

If you can do without the few pastoral pleasures of the country, you will find the city can provide you with the best that life can offer. You never have to travel miles to see your friends. They invariably live nearby and are always available for an informal chat or an evening’s entertainment. Some of my acquaintances in the country come up to town once or twice a year to visit the theatre as a special treat. For them this is a major operation which involves considerable planning. As the play draws to its close, they wonder whether they will ever catch that last train home. The city dweller never experiences anxieties of this sort. The latest exhibitions, films, or plays are only a short bus ride away. Shopping, too, is always a pleasure. There is so much variety that you never have to make do with second best. Country people run wild when they go shopping in the city and stagger home loaded with as many of the necessities of life as they can carry. Nor is the city without its moments of beauty. There is something comforting about the warm glow shed by advertisements on cold wet winter nights. Few things could be more impressive than the peace that descends on deserted city streets at week-ends when the thousands that travel to work every

day are tucked a way in their homes in the country. It has always been a mystery to me why city dwellers, who appreciate all these things, obstinately pretend that they would prefer to live in the country.

寧靜的鄉村生活從來沒有吸引過我。我生在城市，長在城市，總認爲鄉村是透過火車車窗看到的那個樣了，或偶爾週末去遊玩一下景象。我的許多朋友都住在城市，但他們只要一提起鄉村，馬上就會變得欣喜若狂。儘管他們都交口稱讚寧靜的鄉村生活的種種優點，但其中只有一個人真去農村住過，而且不足6個月就回來了。即使他也仍存有幻覺，好像鄉村生活就是比城市生活優越。他滔滔不絕地大談友好的農民，潔淨的空氣，貼近大自然的環境和悠閒的生活節奏。他堅持認爲，凌晨雄雞第一聲啼叫，黎明時分小鳥吱喳歡叫，冉冉升起的朝陽染紅樹木、牧場，此番美景無與倫比。但這種田園詩般的鄉村風光僅僅是一個側面。我的朋友沒有提到在電視機前度過的漫長寂寞的冬夜——電視是唯一的娛樂形式。他也不說商店貨物品種單調，以及那些每天不得不從鄉下趕到城裏工作的不幸的人們。人們爲什麼情願每天在路上奔波4個小時去換取值得懷疑的鄉間的優點，我是無法理解的。要是他們願意住在本來屬於他們的城市，則可以讓他們省去諸多不便與節約大量開支。
如果你願捨棄鄉下生活那一點點樂趣的話，那麼你會發出城市可以爲你提供生活最美好的東西。你去看朋友根本不用跋涉好幾英里，因爲他們都住在附近，你隨時可以同他們聊天或在晚上一起娛樂。我在鄉村有一些熟人，他們每年進城來看一回或幾回戲，並把此看作一種特殊的享受。看戲在他們是件大事，需要精心計劃。當戲快演完時，他們又爲是否能趕上末班火車回家而犯愁。這種焦慮，城裏人是從未體驗過的。坐公共汽車幾站路，就可看到最新的展覽、電影、戲劇。買東西也是一種樂趣。物品種繁多，從來不必用二等品來湊合。鄉里人進城採購欣喜若狂，每次回家時都買足了外來商品，直到拿不動方纔罷休，連走路都搖搖晃晃的。城市也並非沒有良辰美景。寒冷潮溼的冬夜裏，廣告燈箱發出的暖光，會給人某種安慰。週末，當成千上萬進城上班的人回到他們的鄉間寓所之後，空曠的街市籠罩着一種寧靜氣氛，沒有什麼能比此時的寧靜更令人難忘了。城裏人對這一切心裏很明白，卻偏要執拗地裝出他們喜歡住在鄉村的樣子，這對我來說一直是個謎。

Lesson42 Modern Cavemen

Cave exploration, or potholing, as it has come to be known, is a relatively new sport. Perhaps it is the desire for solitude or the chance of making an unexpected discovery that lures men down to the depths of the earth. It is impossible to give a satisfactory explanation for a pot-holer’s motives. For him, caves have the same peculiar fascination which high mountains have for the climber. They arouse instincts which can only be dimly understood. Exploring really deep caves is not a task for the Sunday afternoon rambler. Such undertakings require the precise planning and foresight of military operations. It can take as long as eight days to rig up rope ladders and to establish supply bases before a descent can be made into a very deep cave. Precautions of this sort are necessary, for it is impossible to foretell the exact nature of the difficulties which will confront the potholer. The deepest known cave in the world is the Gouffre Berger near Grenoble. It extends to a depth of 3723 feet. This immense chasm has been formed by an underground stream which has tunnelled a course through a flaw in the rocks. The entrance to the cave is on a plateau in the Dauphine Alps. As it is only six feet across, it is barely noticeable. The cave might never have been discovered had not the entrance been spotted by the distinguished French potholer, Berger. Since its discovery, it has become a sort of potholers’ Everest. Though a number of descents have been made, much of it still remains to be explored.

A team of potholers recently went down the Gouffre Berger. After entering the narrow gap on the plateau, they climbed down the steep sides of the cave until they came to a narrow corridor. They had to edge their way along this, sometimes wading across shallow streams, or swimming across deep pools. Suddenly they came to a waterfall which dropped into an underground lake at the bottom of the cave. They plunged into the lake, and after loading their gear on an inflatable rubber dinghy, let the current carry them to the other side. To protect themselves from the icy water, they had to wear special rubber suits. At the far end of the lake, they came to huge piles of rubble which had been washed up by the water. In this part of the cave, they could hear an insistent booming sound which they found was caused by a small water-spout shooting down into a pool from the roof of the cave. Squeezing through a cleft in the rocks, the potholers arrived at an enormous cavern, the size of a huge concert hall. After switching on powerful arc lights, they saw great stalagmites—some of them over forty feet high–rising up like tree-trunks to meet the stalactites suspended from the roof. Round about, piles of lime-stone glistened in all the colours of the rainbow. In the eerie silence of the cavern, the only sound that could be heard was made by water which dripped continuously from the high dome above them.

洞穴勘查——或洞穴勘探——是一項比較新的體育活動。尋求獨處的願望或尋求意外發現的機會的慾望吸引人們來到地下深處。要想對洞穴探險者的動機作出滿意的解釋是不可能的。對洞穴探險者來說，洞穴有一種特殊的魅力，就像高山對登山者有特殊魅力一樣。爲什麼洞空能引發人的那種探險本能，人們對此只能有一種模模糊糊的理解。
探測非常深的洞穴不是那些在星期日下午漫步的人所能勝任的。這種活動需要有軍事行動般的周密佈署和預見能力。有時需要花費整整8天時間來搭起繩梯，建立供應基地，然後才能到一個很深的洞穴裏。作出這樣的準備是必要的，因爲無法預見到洞穴探險者究竟會遇到什麼性質的困難。世界上最深的洞穴是格里諾布爾附近的高弗.伯傑洞，深達3,723英尺。這個深邃的洞穴是由一條地下暗泉沖刷岩石中的縫隙並使之慢慢變大而形成的。此洞的洞口在丹芬阿爾卑斯山的高原上，僅6英尺寬，很難被發現。若不是法國著名洞穴探險家伯傑由於偶然的機會發現了這個洞口的話，這個洞也許不會爲人所知。自從被發現以後，這個洞成了洞穴探險者的珠穆朗瑪峯，人們多次進入洞內探險，但至今尚有不少東西有待勘探。
最近，一隊洞穴探險者下到了高弗.伯傑洞裏。他們從高原上的窄縫進去，順着筆直陡峭的洞壁往下爬。來到一條狹窄的走廊上。他們不得不側着身子往前走，有時過淺溪，有時遊過深潭。突然，他們來到一道瀑布前，那瀑布奔瀉而下，注入洞底一處地下湖裏。他們跳入湖中，把各種器具裝上一隻充氣的橡皮艇，聽任水流將他們帶往對岸。湖水冰冷刺骨，他們必須穿上一種特製的橡皮服以保護自己。在湖的盡頭，他們見到一大堆一大堆由湖水沖刷上岸的碎石。在這兒，他們可以聽見一種連續不斷的轟鳴聲。後來他們發現這是由山洞頂部的一個小孔裏噴出的水柱跌落到水潭中發出的聲音。洞穴探險者從岩石縫裏擠身過去，來到一個巨大的洞裏，其大小相當於一個音樂廳。他們打開強力弧光燈，看見一株株巨大的石筍，有的高達40英尺，像樹幹似地向上長着，與洞頂懸掛下來的鐘乳石相接。周圍是一堆堆石灰石，像彩虹一樣閃閃發光。洞裏有一種可怕的寂靜，唯一的可以聽見的聲響是高高的圓頂上不間斷地滴水的嘀嗒聲。

Lesson43 Fully insured

Insurance companies are normally willing to insure anything. Insuring public or private property is a standard practice in most countries in the world. If, however, you were holding an open air garden party or a fete it would be equally possible to insure yourself in the event of bad weather. Needless to say, the bigger the risk an insurance company takes, the higher the premium you will have to pay. It is not uncommon to hear that a ship-ping company has made a claim for the cost of salvaging a sunken ship. But the claim made by a local authority to recover the cost of salvaging a sunken pie dish must surely be unique.

Admittedly it was an unusual pie dish, for it was eighteen feet long and six feet wide. It had been purchased by a local authority so that an enormous pie could be baked for an annual fair. The pie committee decided that the best way to transport the dish would be by canal, so they insured it for the trip. Shortly after it was launched, the pie committee went to a local inn to celebrate. At the same time, a number of teenagers climbed on to the dish and held a little party of their own. Modern dances proved to be more than the disk could bear, for during the party it capsized and sank in seven feet of water.

The pie committee telephoned a local garage owner who arrived in a recovery truck to salvage the pie dish. Shivering in their wet clothes, the teenagers looked on while three men dived repeatedly into the water to locate the dish. They had little difficulty in finding it, but hauling it out of the water proved to be a serious problem. The sides of the dish were so smooth that it was almost impossible to attach hawsers and chains to the rim without damaging it. Eventually chains were fixed to one end of the dish and a powerful winch was put into operation. The dish rose to the surface and was gently drawn towards the canal bank. For one agonizing moment, the dish was perched precariously on the bank of the canal, but it suddenly overbalanced and slid back into the water. The men were now obliged to try once more. This time they fixed heavy metal clamps to both sides of the dish so that they could fasten the chains. The dish now had to be lifted vertically because one edge was resting against the side of the canal. The winch was again put into operation and one of the men started up the truck. Several minutes later, the dish was successfully hauled above the surface of the water. Water streamed in torrents over its sides with such force that it set up a huge wave in the canal. There was danger that the wave would rebound off the other side of the bank and send the dish plunging into the water again. By working at tremendous speed, the men managed to get the dish on to dry land before the wave returned.

保險公司一般說來願意承保一切東西。承辦公共財產或私人財產保險是世界上大部分國家的正常業務。如果你要舉辦一次露天遊園會或盛宴，爲避免碰上不好的天氣而遭受損失也同樣可以保險，不用說，保險公司承擔風險越大，你付的保險費也就越高。航運公司爲打撈沉船而提出索賠，這是常有的事，但某地當局爲打撈一隻焙制餡餅的盤子提出索賠，倒是件新鮮的事兒。
這個餡餅盤子確實少見，有18英尺長，6英尺寬。某地方當局買下它用來焙制一個巨大的餡餅爲一年一度交易會助興。餡餅委員會確認運輸這隻盤子的最佳方案是通過運河水運。於是，他們對這隻盤子的運輸安全投了保。盤子下水後不久，餡餅委員會成員們來到當地一家小酒店慶賀。就在這個時候，許多十幾歲的孩子爬盤子舉行他們自己的集會。他們跳起了舞，盤子難以承受。舞會進行過程中，盤子傾覆，沉入了7英尺深的水中。
餡餅委員會給當地汽車修理庫老闆打電話，他聞訊後開着一輛急修車前來打撈盤子。那些孩子們穿着溼衣服哆嗦，看着3個工人輪潛入水中以確定盤子的位置。他們沒費多大事兒就找到了盤子。可是把盤子撈出卻是一個很大的難題。盤子四邊十分光滑，要在盤邊拴上繩索或鏈條而同時又不損壞它是很難辦到的。不過，他們終於將鏈條固定在盤子的一端，一臺大功率的絞車開動起來。盤子慢慢浮出水面，被輕輕地拽向運河岸邊。在令人忐忑不安的瞬間，盤子晃晃悠悠地上了岸，但它突然失去了平衡，又跌回水中。工人們只得再來一次。這次，他們用沉重的金屬夾子把盤子夾住，以便往盤子上安裝鐵鏈。這次，盤子必須垂直吊出水面，因爲盤子的一邊緊靠着運河河岸。絞盤機再次啓動，一位工人發動了急修車的引擎。幾分鐘後，盤子被成功地拽出了水面。波浪從盤子兩側急涌而出，在運河裏掀起一股大浪。但是當波浪從河對岸折回來時，就有再次把盤子拖進水裏的危險。工人們動作迅速，終於趕在那股大浪返回之前把盤子拽到了岸上。

Lesson44 Speed and comfort

People travelling long distances frequently have to decide whether they would prefer to go by land, sea, or air. Hardly anyone can positively enjoy sitting in a train for more than a few hours. Train compartments soon get cramped and stuffy. It is almost impossible to take your mind off the journey. Reading is only a partial solution, for the monotonous rhythm of the wheels clicking on the rails soon lulls you to sleep. During the day, sleep comes in snatches. At night, when you really wish to go to sleep, you rarely manage to do so. If you are lucky enough to get a couchette, you spend half the night staring at the small blue light in the ceiling, or fumbling to find your passport when you cross a frontier. Inevitably you arrive at your destination almost exhausted. Long car journeys are even less pleasant, for it is quite impossible even to read. On motor-ways you can, at least, travel fairly safely at high speeds, but more often than not, the greater part of the journey is spent on narrow, bumpy roads which are crowded with traffic. By comparison, trips by sea offer a great variety of civilized comforts. You can stretch your legs on the spacious decks, play games, swim, meet interesting people and enjoy good food–always assuming, of course, that the sea is calm. If it is not, and you are likely to get sea-sick, no form of transport could be worse. Even if you travel in ideal weather, sea journeys take a long time. Relatively few people are prepared to sacrifice up to a third of their holidays for the pleasure of travelling on a ship.

Aeroplanes have the reputation of being dangerous and even hardened travellers are intimidated by them. They also have the grave disadvantage of being the most expensive form of transport. But nothing can match them for speed and comfort. Travelling at a height of 30,000 feet, far above the clouds, and at over 500 miles an hour is an exhilarating experience. You do not have to devise

ways of taking your mind off the journey, for an aeroplane gets you to your destination rapidly. For a few hours, you settle back in a deep armchair to enjoy the flight. The real escapist can watch a free film show and sip champagne on some services. But even when such refinements are not available, there is plenty to keep you occupied. An aeroplane offers you an unusual and breathtaking view of the world. You soar effortlessly over high mountains and deep valleys. You really see the shape of the land. If the landscape is hidden from view, you can enjoy the extraordinary sight of unbroken cloud plains that stretch out for miles before you, while the sun shines brilliantly in a clear sky. The journey is so smooth that there is nothing to prevent you from reading or sleeping. However you decide to spend your time, one thing is certain: you will arrive at your destination fresh and uncrumpled. You will not have to spend the next few days recovering from a long and arduous journey.

出遠門的人常常需要決定是走旱路、水路，還是坐飛機。很少有人能夠真正喜歡坐幾個小時以上的火車。車廂很快就變得擁擠、悶熱，想擺脫開旅途的困擾是很難的。看書只能解決部分問題。車輪與鐵軌間單調的嘎喳聲很快就會送你進入夢鄉。白天是忽睡忽醒，到了夜晚，你真想睡了，卻很難入睡。即使你走運弄到一個臥鋪，夜間有一半時間你會盯着車頂那盞小藍燈而睡不着覺；要不然就爲查票摸索你的車票。一旦抵達目的地，你總是疲憊不堪。乘汽車作長途旅行則更加不舒服，因爲連看書都幾乎不可能。在公路上還好，你至少能以相當快的速度安全地向前行。但旅行的大部分時間都花在路上，而且只有很少的服務設施，交通也很擁擠。相比之下，坐船旅行或環遊可以得到文明世界的各種享受。你可以在甲板上伸展四肢、做遊戲，還能也很見到各種有趣的人，能享用各種美味佳餚——當然，這一切只有在大海風平浪靜的情況下才有可能。如果大海肆虐起來，你就可能暈船，那種難受勁兒是任何一種別的旅行的方式都不會帶來的。即使風平浪靜，坐船旅行也要佔用很長時間。沒有多少人會爲享受坐船旅行的樂趣而犧牲假期的時間。
飛機以危險而著稱，連老資格的旅行者也怕飛機。飛機另一個缺點是昂貴。但就速度與舒適而言，飛機是無與倫比的。騰雲駕霧，在30，000 英尺高空以500英里的時速旅行，這種經歷令人心曠神怡。你不必想辦法去擺脫旅途的困擾，因爲飛機會迅速地把你送到目的地。幾小時之內，你躺在扶手椅上，享受着旅途的歡樂。真正會享受的人還可以在某些航班上看一場電影和喝香檳。即使沒有這些消遣條件，也總是有事可做。飛機上，你可以觀察世界上非同尋常的奇妙的美景。你毫不費勁地飛越高山幽谷，你確能飽覽大地的風貌。如果這種景色被遮住了，你可以觀賞一下展現在你面前的、一望數英里的、連綿不斷的雲海，同時陽光燦爛，天空清澈明朗。旅途平穩，絲毫不妨礙你閱讀或睡眠。不管你打算如何消磨時間，有件事是可以肯定的，即當你抵達目的地時，你感到精神煥發，毫無倦意，用不着因爲漫長的旅途的辛苦而花幾天時間休息來恢復精神。

Lesson45 The power of press

In democratic countries any efforts to restrict the freedom of the press are rightly condemned. However, this freedom can easily be abused. Stories about people often attract far more public attention than political events. Though we may enjoy reading about the lives of others, it is extremely doubtful whether we would equally enjoy reading about ourselves. Acting on the contention that facts are sacred, reporters can cause untold suffering to individuals by publishing details about their private lives. Newspapers exert such tremendous influence that they can not only bring about major changes to the lives of ordinary people but can even overthrow a government.

The story of a poor family that acquired fame and fortune overnight, dramatically illustrates the power of the press. The family lived in Aberdeen, a small town of 23,000 inhabitants in South Dakota. As the parents had five children, life was a perpetual struggle against poverty. They were expecting their sixth child and faced with even more pressing economic problems. If they had only had one more child, the fact would have passed unnoticed. They would have continued to struggle against economic odds and would have lived in obscurity. But they suddenly became the parents of quintuplets, four girls and a boy, an event which radically changed their lives. The day after the birth of the five children, an aeroplane arrived in Aberdeen bringing sixty reporters and photographers. The news was of national importance, for the poor couple had become the parents of the only quintuplets in America.

The rise to fame was swift. Television cameras and newspapers carried the news to everyone in the country. Newspapers and magazines offered the family huge sums for the exclusive rights to publish stories and photographs. Gifts poured in not only from unknown people, but from baby food and soap manufacturers who wished to advertise their products. The old farmhouse the family lived in was to be replaced by a new $100,000 home. Reporters kept pressing for interviews so lawyers had to be employed to act as spokesmen for the family at press conferences. The event brought serious changes to the town itself. Plans were announced to build a huge new highway, as Aberdeen was now likely to attract thousands of tourists. Signposts erected on the outskirts of the town directed tourists not to Aberdeen, but to ‘Quint-City U.S.A.’ The local authorities discussed the possibility of erecting a ‘quint museum’ to satisfy the curiosity of the public and to protect the family from inquisitive tourists. While the five babies were still quietly sleeping in oxygen tents in a hospital nursery, their parents were paying the price for fame. It would never again be possible for them to lead normal lives. They had become the victims of commercialization, for their names had acquired a market value. The town itself received so much attention that almost every one of the inhabitants was affected to a greater or less degree.

在民主國家裏，任何限制新聞自由的企圖都理所當然地受到譴責。然而，這種自由很容易被濫用。常人軼事往往比政治事件更能引起公衆注意。我們都喜歡看關於別人生活的報道，但是否同樣喜歡看關於自己生活的報道，就很難說了。記者按事實至上的論點行事，發表有關別人生活的細節，有時會給當事人造成極大的痛苦。新聞具有巨大的威力。它們不僅可以給尋常人家的生活帶來重大的變化，甚至還能推翻一個政府。
下面這戶窮人一夜之間出名發財的故事戲劇性地說明了新聞報道威力。這戶人家住在南達科他州一個人口爲23，000 的小鎮上，鎮名爲阿拜丁。家裏已有5個孩子，全家人常年在貧困中掙扎。第6個孩子即將問世，他們面臨着更爲嚴峻的經濟問題。如果他們只添了1個孩子，這件事本來就不會引起任何人的注意。這家人會繼續爲克服經濟上的拮据而奮鬥，並默默無聞地活下去。但是他們出人意料生了個五胞胎，4女1男。這事使他們的生活發生了根本的變化。五胞胎降生第二天，一架飛機飛抵阿拜丁，隨機帶來60名記者與攝影師。
這一家迅速出了名。電視攝像機和報紙把消息傳送到全國。報紙、雜誌出高價向他們購買文字、圖片的獨家報道權。不但素昧平生的人寄來了大量的禮物，而且嬰兒食品、嬰兒肥皂製造廠商爲了替自己產品做廣告也寄來了大量的禮物。這家人住的舊家舍將由一座價值50萬美元的新住宅所取代。由於記者紛紛要求會見，他們不得不請了律師充當他們家的發言人舉行記者招待會。眼下，五胞胎還靜靜地躺在醫院嬰兒室的氧氣帳裏，他們的父母卻爲這名聲付出了代價，他們再也無法過正常的生活。他們成了商業化的受害者，因爲他們的名字具有了市場價值。這些孩子立即成了商品，而不是5個新的家庭成員。

Lesson46 Do it yourself

So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials, newly-weds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes. Men of all ages spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying-out their own gardens; building garages and making

furniture. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own record players and radio transmitters. Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent-up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.

Wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and versatile. Even husbands who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, wives automatically assume that their husbands will somehow put things right.

The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes husbands live under the delusion that they can do anything even when they have been repeatedly proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else. Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn-mower. It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself. One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see, it only needed a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn-mower. But I was extremely pleased with myself I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused

to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn-mower which I have promised to repair one day.

現在我們自己動手做事的熱情很高，結果對於專業工人的依賴越來越少了。由於出版了不計其數的教人自己動手做事的書報雜誌，沒有人再能說對某事一無所知。新婚夫婦找來合適的工具和材料，喜氣洋洋地開始佈置新房。特別是男人，常利用空閒時間安裝壁爐、佈置花園、建造車庫、製作傢俱。有些熱衷於自己動手的人甚至自己組裝電腦。爲了滿足自己動手熱的需要，商店不僅爲初學者提供專門的諮詢服務，而且爲顧客準備了各種零件，供他們買回家去安裝。這些東西爲人們潛在的創造力提供了一個絕妙的用武之地。但不幸的是，我們並非人人都是能工巧匠。
妻子常常認爲她們的丈夫無比聰明能幹。甚至那些連一枚釘子都釘不直的男人都被認爲是天生的電工、木匠、水管工和機械師。每當電燈保險絲燒斷、傢俱榫頭鬆動、管道堵塞、吸塵器不動時，有些妻子認爲丈夫總有辦法。自己動手的例子中最糟糕的是，有時甚至是男人儘管接連失敗卻還誤以爲自己什麼都行，原因就是要面子。
今年春天，妻子讓我請人檢查一下我家的割草機。那臺割草機去年夏天就壞了，儘管我答應修，但一直沒抽出時間，我不願聽妻子的建議，說我自己會修。一個星期六的下午，我把割草機拉到了花園裏，仔細檢查了一番。在我看來，只需稍加調整即可。這兒緊緊螺絲，那兒固定一下，再加幾滴油，就會像新的一樣了。事實上，修理工作遠不是那麼簡單。修完後割草機還是紋絲不動。於是，我決定把它拆開。一會兒工夫，割草機便被拆成一個個金屬零件，亂七八糟地堆在花園裏。但我卻非常高興，因爲我找到了毛病所在。驅動輪子的鏈條斷了一節。我買來一根新鏈條後，面臨的就是如何把這些令人眼花繚亂的拼板重新組裝起來。等我裝完後，那臺割草機仍然一動不動，對此我倒並不感到吃驚。原因很簡單，因爲還剩下幾個形狀奇特的零件似乎哪裏也裝不上去。我無可奈何，只好罷休。幾個星期過去了，草長了起來。妻子喋喋不休讓我想點辦法。我告訴她，要麼買一臺新割草機，要麼讓草長下去。不用說，我家現在已被叢林包圍。深草叢中的某個地方有一臺正在生鏽的割草機，那就是我曾答應某日要修理的割草機。

Too high a price?代價太高？
Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish: dump it, burn it, turn it into something you can use again, attempt to produce less of it. We keep trying all four methods, but he sheer volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us.
Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution. Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products: beef, pork and chicken. The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap grain and vegetables. The price we pay for cheap food may be already too high: Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle, salmonella in chicken and eggs, and wisteria in dairy products. And if you think you’ll abandon meat and become a vegetarian, you have the choice of very expensive organically-grown vegetables or a steady diet of pesticides every time you think you’re eating fresh salads and vegetables, or just having an innocent glass of water!
However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise. Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy passers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle. Car alarms constantly scream at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation. A recent survey of the effects of noise revealed (surprisingly?) that dogs barking incessantly in the night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from 1 to 7. The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike. Lawn mowers whining on a summer’s day, late-night parties in apartment blocks, noisy neighbors, vehicles of al kinds, especially large container trucks thundering through quiet village, planes and helicopters flying overhead, large radios carried round in public places and played at maximum volume. New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot of people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat. The noise pollution survey revealed a rather spurring and possibly amusing old fashioned source of noise. It turned out to be snoring! Men were found to be the worst offenders. It was revealed that 20% of men in their mid-thirties snore. This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their sixties. Against these figures, it was found that only 5% of women snore regularly, while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpeting partners. Whatever the source of noise, one thing is certain: silence, it seems, has become a golden memory.

污染就是我們爲這個人口過密，過度工業化的星球所付出的代價。當我們開始考慮垃圾問題時，我們只有4種對付垃圾的方法：傾倒、焚燒、把垃圾變成再生材料或試圖少產生一些垃圾。我們一直在試這4種方式，但是，我們在世界範圍內僅產生的垃圾的量就有把我們覆蓋的危險。
然而，垃圾只是我們這個星球的污染問題的一個方面。日益增長的對廉價食物的需求導致了另一種形式的污染。工業化的農作方式生產出廉價的肉類製品——牛肉、豬肉和雞肉。使用殺蟲劑和化肥生產出廉價的穀物和蔬菜。爲了廉價食物我們付出代價已經太高了：牛肉中的瘋牛病，雞肉和雞蛋中的沙門氏菌，奶製品中的利斯特桿菌。如果你想放棄肉類而變成一位素食者，那麼你可以兩者擇一：或是選用價格昂貴、有機培植的蔬菜，或是當你認爲在享用新鮮色拉和新鮮蔬菜或飲用一杯無害的水的時候，實際上每次都不斷吃進殺蟲劑。
但是，還有一種更加隱蔽有害的污染，它專門影響城鎮地區，侵襲我們的日常生活，那就是噪音。防盜警報器在白天和黑夜的任何時候都會響起來，它的作用只是騷擾過路行人，而實際上卻幫助竊賊入室行竊。在街上，汽車的防盜警報不斷對我們吼叫，這是人們極度煩燥的一個原因，最近一個有關噪音的作用的調查（令人吃驚地）指出，夜間連續不斷的狗叫聲，在一個從1級至7級刻度表上應列爲最嚴重的噪間污染。這個調查揭示了我們所不喜歡的大量的噪間的來源：夏天嗚嗚作響的割草機，公寓樓裏深夜聚會的喧譁聲，大聲吵鬧的鄰居，各式各樣的車輛，特別是穿越寂靜的村莊的集裝箱卡車，從頭頂飛過的飛機和直升機，被帶到公共場所、音量開到最大的大功率收音機。新技術也爲噪音作了它的貢獻。許多人都反對移動式電話，特別是在如飯店，公共交通車等公共場所使用移動電話。用移動電話大聲交談干擾我們的思路，破壞我們和朋友在一起輕聲聊天所得到的樂趣。這個有關噪音的污染調查還揭示了一種出人意外而同時可能會引人意外而同時可能會引人發笑的老式噪音源。它竟然是鼾聲。人類是這方面的罪魁禍首。調查指出，20%的35歲左右的男人打鼾；而到60歲這個年齡段，這個數字上升到令人驚愕的60%。與這些數字相比，只有5% 的女性經常打鼾；而其餘則經常被與她們同睡、像吹號似地打着呼嚕的男人吵醒或弄得睡不着。不管噪聲來自何方，有一點是肯定的：看來寂靜已變成一種珍貴的回憶。

Lesson48 The silent village

In this much-travelled world, there are still thousands of places which are inaccessible to tourists. We always assume that villagers in remote places are friendly and hospitable. But people who are cut off not only from foreign tourists, but even from their own countrymen can be hostile to travellers. Visits to really remote villages are seldom enjoyable–as my wife and I discovered during a tour through the Balkans.

We had spent several days in a small town and visited a number of old churches in the vicinity. These attracted many visitors for they were not only of great architectural interest, but contained a

large number of beautifully preserved frescoes as well. On the day before our departure, several bus loads of tourists descended on the town. This was more than we could bear, so we decided to spend our last day exploring the countryside. Taking a path which led out of the town, we crossed a few fields until we came to a dense wood. We expected the path to end abruptly, but we found that it traced its way through the trees. We tramped through the wood for over two hours until we arrived at a deep stream. We could see that the path continued on the other side, but we had no idea how we could get across the stream. Suddenly my wife spotted a boat moored to the bank. In it there was a boatman fast asleep. We gently woke him up and asked him to ferry us to the other side. Though he was reluctant to do so at first, we eventually persuaded him to take us. The path led to a tiny village perched on the steep sides of a mountain. The place consisted of a straggling unmade road which was lined on either side by small houses. Even under a clear blue sky, the village looked forbidding, as all the houses were built of grey mud bricks. The village seemed deserted, the only sign of life being an ugly-looking black goat tied to a tree on a short length of

rope in a field nearby. Sitting down on a dilapidated wooden fence near the field, we opened a couple of tins of sardines and had a picnic lunch. All at once, I noticed that my wife seemed to be filled with alarm. Looking up I saw that we were surrounded by children in rags who were looking at us silently as we ate. We offered them food and spoke to them kindly, but they remained motionless. I concluded that they were simply shy of strangers. When we later walked down the main street of the village, we were followed by a silent procession of children. The village which had seemed deserted, immediately came to life. Faces appeared at windows. Men in shirt sleeves stood outside their houses and glared at us. Old women in black shawls peered at us from door-ways. The most frightening thing of all was that not a sound could be heard. There was no doubt that we were unwelcome visitors. We needed no further warning. Turning back down the main street, we quickened our pace and made our way rapidly towards the stream where we hoped the boatman was waiting.

在這個旅遊頻繁的世界上，仍有成千上萬個遊人足跡未至的地方。人們總是以爲偏僻的地方的村民們熱情好客。但是，那些不但與外國旅遊者隔絕，而且與本國同胞隔絕的人們有可能對遊客抱有敵意。到真正偏僻的村莊去旅遊並不是一件愉快的事情。我與妻子在一次周遊巴爾幹半島時對此深有體會。
我們在一座小鎮上逗留了幾天，參觀了附近的許多古老的教堂。這些教堂吸引大量遊客，不僅是因爲建築風格奇特，而且還有大量保存完好的壁畫。我們離開小鎮的前一天，鎮上來了幾輛滿載遊客的公共汽車。人多得使我們難以忍受，於是我們決定利用最後一天去鄉間一遊。我們走上了一條出鎮的小路，穿過幾塊農田，來到一片茂密的樹林。我們原以爲小路會到此突然終止。沒想到它到樹林中繼續向前延伸。我們在樹林中跋涉了兩個多小時，到了一條深溪邊。我們可以看到小路在深溪對岸繼續向前伸展，但卻不知如何越過這道深溪。突然，妻子發現岸邊泊着一條小船，船上有一船伕在呼呼大睡。我們輕輕地把他喚醒，請他把我們擺渡過溪。一開始，他很不願意，但經勸說，終於同意了。
順着小路，我們來到一個座落在陡峭山坡上的小村莊。這兒有一條未經修築的彎彎曲曲的道路，路兩邊排列着一些矮小的農舍。農舍全用灰色的土坯建成，因此，即使在晴朗的藍天底下，村莊看上去也會令人感到難以親近。村裏似乎無人居住，唯一的生命跡象是附近田裏一隻面目可憎的黑山羊，用一截短繩拴在一棵樹上。我們在田邊一堵東倒西歪的籬笆牆上坐下來，打開幾聽沙丁魚罐頭，吃了一頓野外午餐。突然，我注意到妻子十分驚恐。我擡頭一看，發現我們被一羣衣衫襤褸的小孩團團圍住了，他們在默不作聲地看着我們吃飯。我們給他們東西吃，客客氣氣地同他們交談，但他們卻一動也不動。我認爲這不過是他們在陌生人面前表現出的害羞。後來，我們在村裏的主要街道上行走的時候，一隊默不作聲的孩子跟在我們後頭。剛纔還似乎空蕩蕩的村莊一下子活躍了起來，窗口露出了一張張面孔，只穿着襯衣的男人們站在屋子外面兇狠地盯着我們，披黑紗巾的老婦人站在門口偷偷地瞅着我們。最令人害怕的是到處沒有一點聲音。毫無疑問，我們的來訪是不受歡迎的。我們不需要進一步的警告了。便掉轉身子，沿着那條主要街道加快步伐，快速地朝深溪邊走去，希望船伕還在那兒等着我們。

Lesson49 The Ideal Servant

It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants. Aunt Harriet lived in that

leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. She had a huge, rambling country house called ‘The Gables’. She was sentimentally attached to this house, for even though it was far

too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband’s death. Before she grew old, aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. I often visited The Gables when I was a boy. No matter

how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate. The parquet floors shone like mirrors; highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; even my uncle’s huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished. She always referred to them as’ the shifting population’, for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names, Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please. While she always decried the fickleness of human nature, she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days, even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie. Bessie worked for aunt Harriet for three years. During that time she so gained my aunt’s confidence, that she was put in charge of the domestic staff.

Aunt Hariet could not find words to praise Bessie’s industry and efficiency. In addition to all her other qualifications, Bessie was an expert cook. She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before aunt Harriet discovered her ‘little weakness’. After being absent from The Gables for a week, my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner. Not only was the meal well below the usual standard, but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily. She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests. When she came in with the last course—a huge pudding-she tripped on the carpet and the pudding went flying through the air, narrowly missed my aunt, and crashed on the dining table with considerable force. Though this occasioned great mirth among the guests, aunt Harriet was horrified. She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk. The guests had, of course, realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and, long before the final catastrophe, had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement. The poor girl was dismissed instantly. After her departure, aunt Harriet discovered that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie’s wardrobe. They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine-cellar!

我的姑媽哈麗特好多年前就去世了，這倒是件好事。如果她活到今天，她將不能就她熱衷的話題“傭人”發表意見了。哈麗特生活在一個悠閒的年代，家務事都由僱來的傭人代勞。她在鄉下有一幢巨大雜亂的房子，叫作“山牆莊園”。她對這幢房子在感情上難捨難分。房子實在太大了，但在丈夫去世多年後，她仍然執意長年住在那兒。哈麗特姑媽年輕時，喜歡大擺宴席，招待賓客。我小時候常去“山牆莊園”作客。不管去多少賓客，大房子裏總是收拾得乾乾淨淨。鑲木地板潔如明鏡，擦得發亮的銀器陳列在明亮的玻璃櫃裏，連姑夫的大量藏書也保存得很好，奇蹟般地一塵不染。哈麗特姑媽統率着一支看不見的傭人大軍，他們不停地擦拭、清掃、刷洗。她稱這些傭人叫“流動人口”，因爲他們來匆匆，所以我甚至都沒有機會知道他們的姓名。姑媽待傭人在當時算是開明的，從來不讓傭人每天工作超過8小時，但他們很難使她稱心如意。她一方面總是批評人的本性朝三暮四，另一方面她又持之以恆地尋找一個理想的傭人。即使在貝西大大地傷她的心之後，她還在找，一直到她死去。
貝西在哈麗特家幹了3年。在此期間，她贏得了姑母的賞識，甚至當上了大管家。哈麗特不知該用什麼言辭來讚揚貝西的勤奮與高效。貝西除了有各種本領以外，還是一個烹飪大師。她擔任“理想僕人”角色3年之後，哈麗特終於發現她有“小小的弱點”。一次，姑媽有一個星期沒在“山牆莊園”住。一天下午，她出其不意地回來了，帶來一大批客人，吩咐貝西準備晚飯。結果，不僅飯菜遠不如平時做得好，而且貝西走起路來似乎東倒西歪。她撞到了傢俱上，嘴裏還不斷咕咕噥噥議論客人。當她端着最後一道菜——一大盤布丁——走進屋來時，在地毯上絆了一跤。布丁飛到半空，從姑母身邊擦過，然後狠狠地砸在餐桌上。這件事引起了客人們的歡笑，但哈麗特卻着實嚇了一跳。她不得不認定貝西是喝醉了。客人們自然從貝西爲他們開門那一刻起就看出來了，在好長一段時間裏，即最後這個亂子發生前，他們努力剋制纔沒笑出聲來。貝西當即被解僱了。貝西走後，哈麗特姑媽發現在貝西以前用過的衣櫃裏整整齊齊地放着一堆堆形狀各導、大小不一的酒瓶子。這些酒瓶神不知鬼不覺地從酒窖來到了這裏。

Lesson50 New Year Resolutions

The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of ’ do’s’ and’ don’ts ‘. The same old favourites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the house, be nice to people we don’t like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk every day. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment. If we remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure. Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out. We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into our bad old ways. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest ambitions: to do physical exercises every morning and to read more of an evening. An all-night party on New Year’s Eve, provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of these new resolutions on the first day of the year, but on the second, I applied myself assiduously to the task. The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living-room for two days before anyone found me out. After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable positions, I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition. It was this that betrayed me. The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance. That was really unsettling but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the family good-humouredly and soon everybody got used to the idea. However, my enthusiasm waned. The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from. I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning I would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home from work. Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to a book, one night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I still haven’t given up my resolution to do more reading. In fact, I have just bought a book entitled ‘How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute’. Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven’t had time to read it!

新年是下決心的時候，至少在大多數人的心裏會編排出一份“應做什麼”和“不應做什麼”的令人生畏的單子。相同的決心以單調的規律年復一年地出現。我們決心每天早晨起得早些；吃得少些；多花點時間與孩子們一起做遊戲；做大量的家務；對不喜歡的人友善一些；小心駕車；每天都要帶着狗散步；等等。以往的經驗告訴我們有些事是辦不到的。如果我們煙癮大，戒不掉，那是因爲屢戒屢敗，失去信心。我們大多數人想自我完善卻遭到失敗，這是因爲我們的規劃過於宏大，而又根本沒有時間去實施。我們還犯有一個根本性的錯誤，即把我們的決心向大家宣佈。這樣一旦滑回到那些老習慣上去，我們在別人的眼裏會顯得更加難堪。我深知這些問題，於是，今年我對自己的計劃要嚴加保密，只給自己定下兩項適中的任務；每天早上鍛鍊身體，每天晚上多看點書。新年除夕舉辦的一次通宵晚會，使我理直氣壯地在新年頭一天免去了這兩項任務。不過，新年第二天，我全力以赴地照着去做了。
早鍛鍊一共只有11分鐘，我打算在別人起牀之前進行。這就要求我比平時早11分鐘把自己從牀上拽起來，這種自我約束是很艱苦的。不過開頭兩天我還是成功地躡手躡腳地來到樓下起居室，被誰也沒發現。我在地毯上跳來蹦過去，扭曲身子，擺出各種姿勢，弄得渾身不舒服，然後坐到桌邊吃早飯，一副筋疲力盡的樣子。正是這副模樣泄露了我的祕密。第二天早晨全家人結隊來到起居室看我表演。這真叫人不好意思，但我心平氣和地頂住全家人的嘲笑和奚落。不久，大家對我習以爲常了，而這時我的熱情卻減退了。我花在鍛鍊上的時間逐漸減少，慢慢地從11分鐘減到了零。到了1月10日，我恢復了原來的作息時間。我辯解說，早晨少耗費精力鍛鍊，晚上下班回家看書時頭腦更清醒些。有幾天晚上，我極力擺脫了電視的誘惑，坐在自己的房間裏，兩眼盯在書上。可是，有一天夜裏，我感到又冷又孤單，便來到樓下坐在電視機前假裝看書。這下我可完了，因爲不一會兒，我就恢復了以前的壞習慣，在屏幕前打起瞌睡來。但我還沒有放棄多看些書的決心。事實上，我剛買來一本叫《一分鐘讀一千字的訣竅》的書。也許這本書能解決我的問題，但我一直還沒時間去看這本書！

Lesson51Predicting the future預測未來
Predicting the future is notoriously difficult. Who could have imagined, in the mid 1970s, for example, that by the end of the 20th century, computers would be as common in people’s homes as TV sets? In the 1970s, computers were common enough, but only in big business, government departments, and large organizations. These were the so-called mainframe machines. Mainframe computers were very large indeed, often occupying whole air-conditioned rooms, employing full-time technicians and run on specially-written software. Though these large machines still exist, many of their functions have been taken over by small powerful personal computers, commonly known as PCs.
In 1975, a primitive machine called the Altair, was launched in the USA. It can properly be described as the first ‘home computer’ and it pointed the way to the future. This was followed, at the end of the 1970s, by a machine called an Apple. In the early 1980s, the computer giant, IBM produced the world’s first Personal Computer. This ran on an ‘operating system’ called DOS, produced by a then small company named Microsoft. The IBM Personal Computer was widely copied. From those humble beginnings, we have seen the development of the user-friendly home computers and multimedia machines which are in common use today.
Considering how recent these developments are, it is even more remarkable that as long ago as the 1960s, an Englishman, Leon Bagrit, was able to predict some of the uses of computers which we know today. Bagrit dismissed the idea that computers would learn to ‘think’ for themselves and would ‘rule the world’, which people liked to believe in those days. Bagrit foresaw a time when computers would be small enough to hold in the hand, when they would be capable of providing information about traffic jams and suggesting alternative routes, when they would be used in hospitals to help doctors to diagnose illnesses, when they would relieve office workers and accountants of dull, repetitive clerical work. All these computer uses have become commonplace. Of course, Leon Bagrit could not possibly have foreseen the development of the Internet, the worldwide system that enables us to communicate instantly with anyone in any part of the world by using computers linked to telephone networks. Nor could he have foreseen how we could use the Internet to obtain information on every known subject, so we can read it on a screen in our homes and even print it as well if we want to. Computers have become smaller and smaller, more and more powerful and cheaper and cheaper. This is what makes Leon Bagrit’s predictions particularly remarkable. If he, or someone like him, were alive today, he might be able to tell us what to expect in the next fifty years.

衆所周知，預測未來是非常困難的。舉個例子吧，在20世紀70年代中葉又有誰能想得到在20世紀末的時候，家庭用的計算機會像電視機一樣普遍？在70年代，計算機已經相當普及了，但只用在大公司，政府部門和大的組織之中，它們被稱爲主機。計算機主機確實很大，常常佔據了裝有空調的多間房間，僱用專職的技師，而且得用專門編寫的軟件才能運行。雖然這種大計算機仍然存在，但它們的許多功能已被體積小但功能齊全的個人電腦——即我們常說的PC機——所代替了。
1975年，美國推出了一臺被稱爲“牛郎星”的原始機型。嚴格地說起來，它可以被稱爲第一臺“家用電腦”，而且它也指了今後的方向。70年代末，在牛郎星之後又出現了一種被稱爲“蘋果”的機型。80年代初，計算機行業的王牌公司美國國際商用機器公司（IBM）生產出了世界上第一臺個人電腦。這種電腦採用了一種被稱爲磁盤操作系統（DOS）的工作程序，而這種程序是由當時規模不大的微軟公司生產的。IBM的個人電腦被大規模地模仿。從那些簡陋的初級階段，我們看到了現在都已普及的、使用簡便的家用電腦和多媒體的微機的發展。
想一想這些發展的時間多麼短，就更覺得英國人萊昂.巴格瑞特有着非凡的能力。他在60年代就能預言我們今天知道的計算機的一些用途。巴格瑞特根本不接受計算機可以學會自己去“思考”和計算可以“統治世界”這種想法，而這種想法是當時的人們都願意相信的。巴格瑞特預示有一天計算機可以小到拿在手上，計算機可以使辦公室人員和會計免除那些枯燥、重複的勞動。計算機的所有這些功能現在都變得很平常。當然了，萊昂.巴格瑞特根本沒有可能預測到國際交互網——就是把計算機連結到電話線路上，以便和世界上任何一個地方的人立即進行聯繫的一個世界範圍的通訊系統——的發展。他也無法預測到我們可以利用國際交互網獲取有關任何已知專題的信息，以便在家裏的屏幕上閱讀，如果願意的話甚至可以將其打印出來。計算機已經變得體積越來越小，功能越來越多，價格越來越低，這就是萊昂.巴格瑞特的預測非凡的地方。如果他或是像他的什麼人今天還活着的話，他大概可以告訴我們下一個50年後會發生什麼事情。

Lesson52 Mud is mud

My cousin, Harry, keeps a large curiously shaped bottle on permanent display in his study. Despite the fact that the bottle is tinted a delicate shade of green, an observant visitor would soon notice that it is filled with what looks like a thick greyish substance. If you were to ask Harry what was in the bottle, he would tell you that it contained perfumed mud. If you expressed doubt or surprise, he would immediately invite you to smell it and then to rub some into your skin. This brief experiment would dispel any further doubts you might entertain. The bottle really does contain perfumed mud. How Harry came into the possession of this outlandish stuff makes an interesting story which he is fond of relating. Further- more, the acquisition of this bottle cured him of a bad habit he had been developing for years.

Harry used to consider it a great joke to go into expensive cosmetic shops and make outrageous requests for goods that do not exist. He would invent fanciful names on the spot. On entering a shop, he would ask for a new perfume called ‘Scented Shadow’ or for ‘insoluble bath cubes’. If a shop girl told him she had not heard of it, he would pretend to be considerably put out. He loved to be told that one of his imaginary products was temporarily out of stock and he would faithfully promise to call again at some future date, but of course he never did. How Harry managed to keep a straight face during these performances is quite beyond me.

Harry does not need to be prompted to explain how he bought his precious bottle of mud. One day, he went to an exclusive shop in London and asked for ‘Myrolite’. The shop assistant looked puzzled and Harry repeated the word, slowly stressing each syllable. When the girl shook her head in bewilderment, Harry went on to explain that ‘myrolite’ was a hard, amber-like substance which could be used to remove freckles. This explanation evidently conveyed something to the girl who searched shelf after shelf. She produced all sorts of weird concoctions, but none of them met with Harry’s requirements. When Harry put on his act of being mildly annoyed, the girl promised to order some for him. Intoxicated by his success, Harry then asked for perfumed mud. He expected the girl to look at him in blank astonishment. However, it was his turn to be surprised, for the girl’s eyes immediately lit up and she ‘fetched several botties which she placed on the counter for Harry to inspect. For once, Harry had to admit defeat. He picked up what seemed to be the smallest bottle and discreetly asked the price. He was glad to get away with a mere five guineas and he beat a hasty retreat, clutching the precious bottle under his arm. From then on, Harry decided that this little game he had invented might prove to be expensive. The curious bottle which now adorns the bookcase in his study was his first and last purchase of rare cosmetics.

我的堂兄哈里在他的書房裏一直襬着一隻形狀古怪的大瓶子。儘管那隻瓶子呈淡綠色，但細心的客人很快就會發現瓶裏裝的是一種看上去黏稠，顏色發灰的東西。要是你問哈里瓶裏裝着什麼，他會告訴你是香水泥。如果你表示懷疑或驚奇，他會立即請你聞一聞，然後取出一些抹在你的皮膚上。這一簡單的試驗會消除你可能存有的一切疑慮。瓶裏裝的的確是香水泥。哈里如何得到這種稀奇古怪的東西的，這裏有個有趣的故事，而且他挺愛把它講給別人聽。此外，得到這瓶香水泥還治好了他多年的一個壞習慣。
哈里曾認爲走進一家名貴化妝品商店，荒唐地提出要買一種根本不存在的商品是件開心的事兒。他會當場編造出一些稀奇古怪的貨名。他走進商店後，會提出要一種名叫“香影”的新型香水或什麼“不溶浴皁”。要是女售貨員告訴他從未聽說過這些東西，他會裝出十分遺憾和不安的樣子。他愛聽售貨員說他想像出來的那種東西暫時脫銷，於是他就煞有介事地許諾改天再來光顧。當然，他再也不會來了。我實在想像不出哈里在這些表演中是怎樣裝出一本正經的樣子的。
毋須暗示哈里就會向你講起他買下那瓶珍貴香水泥的經過。一天，他去倫敦一家高級商店要買一種叫“密諾萊特”的東西，店員露出詫異的神色。哈里又慢慢地，一字一頓說了一遍這個詞，那個女售貨員還是迷惑不解地搖了搖頭。哈里便進一步解釋“密諾萊特”是一種質地堅硬、狀似琥珀的東西，可以用來除去雀斑。他的解釋顯然對女售貨員有些啓示。她一個貨架接着一個貨架地尋找，拿出各種各樣稀奇古怪的化妝品，但沒有一樣能夠符合哈里的要求。哈里裝出不高興的樣子時，女售貨員答應爲他定貨。哈里爲他的騙術而感到洋洋得意，又提出要買香水泥。他原想女售貨員會驚奇地望着他，不知所措，沒料到這回該輪到他自己吃驚了。因爲那女售貨員聽完哈里的話後，馬上眼睛一亮，拿出幾瓶東西放在櫃檯上讓哈里挑選。哈里只好認輸。他挑出一個看上去最小的瓶子，謹慎地問了價。他慶幸自己只破費了20英鎊便得以脫身。他把那寶貴的瓶子放在腋下夾着，溜之大吉。從那以後，他認識到自己發明的小小惡作劇是要付出很大的代價的。在他書房的書櫃裏擺着那瓶形狀古怪的香水泥就是他第一次也是最後一次購買的稀有化妝品。

Lesson53 In the public interest

The Scandinavian countries are much admired all over the world for their enlightened social policies. Sweden has evolved an excellent system for protecting the individual citizen from high-handed or incompetent public officers. The system has worked so well, that it has been adopted in other countries like Denmark, Norway, Finland, and New Zealand. Even countries with large populations like Britain and the United States are seriously considering imitating the Swedes.

The Swedes were the first to recognize that public officials like civil servants, collectors can make mistakes or act over-zealously in the belief that they are serving the public. As long ago as 1809, the Swedish Parliament introduced a scheme to safeguard the interest of the individual. A parliamentary committee representing all political parties appoints a person who is suitably qualified to investigate private grievances against the State. The official title of the person is ‘Justiteombudsman’, but the Swedes commonly refer to him as the ‘J.O.’ or ‘Ombudsman’. The Ombudsman is not subject to political pressure. He investigates complaints large and small that come to him from all levels of society. As complaints must be made in writing, the Ombudsman receives an average of 1200 letters a year. He has eight lawyer assistants to help him and he examines every single letter in detail. There is nothing secretive about the Ombudsman’s work, for his correspondence is open to public inspection. If a citizen’s complaint is justified, the Ombudsman will act on his behalf. The action he takes varies according to the nature of the complaint. He may gently reprimand an official or even suggest to parliament that a law be altered. The following case is a typical example of the Ombudsman’s work.

A foreigner living in a Swedish village wrote to the Ombudsman complaining that he had been ill-treated by the police, simply because he was a foreigner. The Ombudsman immediately wrote to the Chief of Police in the district asking him to send a record of the case. There was nothing in the record to show that the foreigner’s complaint was justified and the Chief of Police stoutly denied the accusation. It was impossible for the Ombudsman to take action, but when he received a similar complaint from another foreigner in the same village, he immediately sent one of his lawyers to investigate the matter. The lawyer ascertained that a policeman had indeed dealt roughly with foreigners on several occasions. The fact that the policeman was prejudiced against foreigners could not be recorded in he official files. It was only possible for the Ombudsman to

find this out by sending one of his representatives to check the facts. The policeman in question was severely reprimanded and was informed that if any further complaints were lodged against him, he would be prosecuted. The Ombudsman’s prompt action at once put an end to an unpleasant practice which might have gone unnoticed.

斯堪的納維亞半島各國實行開明的社會政策，受到全世界的推崇。在瑞典，已逐漸形成了一種完善的制度以保護每個公民不受專橫的和不稱職的政府官員的欺壓。由於這種制度行之有效，已被其他國家採納。
是瑞典人首先認識到政府工作人員如文職人員、警官、衛生稽查員、稅務人員等等也會犯錯誤或者自以爲在爲公衆服務而把事情做過了頭。早在1809年，瑞典論會就建立一個保護公民利益的制度。議會內有一個代表各政黨利益的委員會，由它委派一位稱職的人選專門調查個人對國家的意見。此人官銜爲“司法特派員”，但瑞典人一般管他叫“J.O.”，即“司法特派員”。司法特派員不受任何政治壓力的制約。他聽取社會各階層的各種大小意見，並進行調查。由於意見均需用書面形式提出，司法特派員每年平均收到1,200封信。他有8位律師作他的助手協助工作，每封信都詳細批閱。司法特派員的工作沒有什麼祕密可言，他的信件是公開的，供公衆監督。如果公民的意見正確，司法特派員便爲他伸張正義。司法特員採取的行動因意見的性質不同而有所不同。他可以善意地批評某位官員，也可以甚至向議會提議修改某項法律。下述事件是司法特派員工作的一個典型例子。
一個住在瑞典鄉村的外國人寫信給司法特派員，抱怨說他受到警察的虐待，原因就是因爲他是個外國人。司法特派員立即寫信給當地警察局長，請他寄送與此事有關的材料。材料中沒有任何文字記載證明外國人所說的情況符合事實，警察局長矢口否認這一指控。司法特派員難以處理。但是，當他又收到住在同一村莊的另一個外國人寫的一封內容類似的投訴信時，他立即派出一位律師前去調查。律師證實有個警察確實多次粗魯地對待外國人。警察歧視外國人的事在官方檔案中不可能加以記載，司法特派員只有派他的代表去核對事實才能瞭解真相。當事的警察受到嚴厲的斥責，並被告知，如果再有人投訴他，他將受到起訴。司法特派員及時採取的行動，迅速制止了這一起不愉快的事件，不然這件事可能因未得到人們注意而不了了之。

Lesson54 Instinct or cleverness?

We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more harm than good. Man continually wages war on item, for they contaminate his food, carry diseases, or devour his crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our rooms on summer nights, or beat against our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. Reading about them increases our understanding with out dispelling our fears. Knowing that the industrious ant lives in a highly

organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled with revulsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are unreasonable, but they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinaing. We enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them entranced as they go about their business, unaware (we hope) of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead beetle ?

Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. I am especially proud of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it occasionally produces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of the tree were beginning to wither. Clusters of tiny insects called aphides were to be found on the underside of the leaves. They were visited by a laop colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey from them. I immediately embarked on an experiment which, even though it failed to get rid of the ants, kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape , making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphides. The tape was so sticky that they did not dare to cross it. For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction (and surprise) that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do anything about it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair. Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They were climbing up the wall of the house and then on to the leaves of

the tree. I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their ingenuity. The ants had been quick to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific methods!

我們自幼就在對昆蟲的懼怕中長大。我們把昆蟲當作害多益少的無用東西。人類不斷同昆蟲鬥爭，因爲昆蟲弄髒我們的食物，傳播疾病，吞噬莊稼。它們無緣無故地又叮又咬；夏天的晚上，它們未經邀請便飛到我們房間裏，或者對着露出亮光的窗戶亂撲亂撞。我們在日常生活中，不但憎惡如蜘蛛、黃蜂之類令人討厭的昆蟲，而且憎惡並無大害的飛蛾等。閱讀有關昆蟲的書能增加我們對它們的瞭解，卻不能消除我們的恐懼的心理。即使知道勤奮的螞蟻生活具有高度組織性的社會裏，當看到大羣螞蟻在我們精心準備的午間野餐上爬行時，我們也無法抑制對它們的反感。不管我們多麼愛吃蜂蜜，或讀過多少關於蜜蜂具有神祕的識別方向的靈感的書，我們仍然十分害怕被蜂蜇。我們的恐懼大部分是沒有道理的，但去無法消除。同時，不知爲什麼昆蟲又是迷人的。我們喜歡看有關昆蟲的書，尤其是當我們瞭解螳螂等過着一種令人生畏的生活時，就更加愛讀有關昆蟲的書了。我們喜歡入迷地看它們做事，它們不知道（但願如此）我們就在它們身邊。當看到蜘蛛撲向一隻蒼蠅時，一隊螞蟻擡着一隻巨大的死甲蟲凱旋歸時，誰能不感到敬畏呢？
去年夏天，我花了好幾天時間站在花園裏觀察成千只螞蟻爬上我那棵心愛的桃樹的樹幹。那棵樹是靠着房子有遮擋的一面暖牆生長的。我爲這棵樹感到特別自豪，不僅因爲它度過了幾個寒冬終於活了下來，而且還因爲它有時結出些甘甜的桃子來。到了夏天，我發現樹葉開始枯萎，結果在樹葉背面找到成串的叫作蚜蟲小蟲子。蚜蟲遭到一窩螞蟻的攻擊，螞蟻從它們身上可以獲得一種蜜。我當即動手作了一項試驗，這項試驗儘管沒有使我擺脫這些螞蟻，卻使我着迷了24小時。我用一條膠帶把桃樹底部包上，不讓螞蟻接近蚜蟲。膠帶極粘，螞蟻不敢從上面爬過。在很長一段時間裏，我看見螞蟻圍着大樹底部來回轉悠，不知所措。半夜，我還拿着電筒來到花園裏，滿意地（同時驚奇地）發現那些螞蟻還圍着膠帶團團轉。無能爲力。第二天早上，我起牀後希望看見螞蟻已因無望而放棄了嘗試，結果卻發現它們又找到一條新的路徑。它們正在順着房子的外牆往上爬，然後爬上樹葉。我懊喪地感到敗在了足智多謀的螞蟻的手下。螞蟻已很快找到了相應的對策，來對付我那套完全不科學的辦法！

Lesson55 From the earth: greatings

Radio astronomy has greatly increased our understanding of the universe. Radio telescopes have one big advantage over conventional telescopes in that they can operate in all weather conditions and can pick up signals coming from very distant stars. These signals are produced by colliding stars or nuclear reactions in outer space. The most powerful signals that have been received have been emitted by what seem to be truly colossal stars which scientists have named ‘quasars’.

A better understanding of these phenomena may completely alter our conception of the nature of the universe. The radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in England was for many years the largest in the world. A new telescope, over twice the size, was recently built at Sugar Grove in West Virginia. Astronomers no longer regard as fanciful the idea that they may one day pick up signals which have been sent by intelligent beings on other worlds. This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. Highly advanced civilizations may have existed on other planets long before intelligent forms of life evolved on the earth. Conversely, intelligent being which are just beginning to develop on remote worlds may be ready to pick up our signals in thousands of years’ time, or when life on earth has become extinct. Such speculations no longer belong to the realm of science fiction, for astronomers are now exploring the chances of communicating with living creatures (if they exist) on distant planets. This undertaking which has been named Project Ozma was begun in 1960, but it may take a great many years before results are obtained.

Aware of the fact that it would be impossible to wait thousands or millions of years to receive an answer from a distant planet, scientists engaged in Project Ozma are concentrating their attention on stars which are relatively close. One of the most likely stars is Tau Ceti which is eleven light years away. If signals from the earth were received by intelligent creatures on a planet circling this

star, we would have to wait twenty-two years for an answer. The Green Bank telescope in West Virginia has been specially designed to distinguish between random signals and signals which might be in code. Even if contact were eventually established, astronomers would not be able to rely on language to communicate with other beings. They would use mathematics as this is the

only truly universal language. Numbers have the same value anywhere. For this reason, intelligent creatures in any part of the universe would be able to understand a simple arithmetical sequence. They would be able to reply to our signals using similar methods. The next step would be to try to develop means for sending television pictures. A single picture would tell us more than thousands of words. In an age when anything seems to be possible, it would be narrow-minded in the extreme to ridicule these attempts to find out if there is life in other parts of the universe.

天文學方面最新發展使得我們能夠在銀河系和其他星系發現行星。這是一個重要的成就，因爲相對來說，行星很小，而且也不發光。尋找行星證明相當困難，但是要在行星上發現生命會變得無比艱難。第一個需要解答的問題是一顆行星是否有能夠維持生命的條件。舉例來說，在我們的太陽系裏，對於生命來說，金星的溫度太高，而火星的溫度則太低。只有地球提供理想的條件，而即使在這裏，植物和動物的進化也用了40億年的時間。
一顆行星是否能夠維持生命取決於它的恆星——即它的“太陽”——的大小和亮度。設想一下，一顆恆星比我們的太陽還要大，還要亮，還要熱20倍，那麼一顆行星爲了維持生命就要離開的它的恆星非常遠。反之，如果恆星很小，維持生命的行星就要在離恆星很近的軌道上運行，而且要有極好的條件才能使生命得以發展，但是，我們如何才能找到這樣一顆行星呢？現在，沒有一臺現存的望遠鏡可以發現生命的存在。而開發這樣一臺望遠鏡將會是21世紀天文學的一個重要的研究課題。
使用放置在地球上的望遠鏡是無法觀察到其他行星的生命的。地球周圍溫暖的大氣層和望遠鏡散出的熱量使得我們根本不可能找到比行星更小的物體。即使是一臺放置在圍繞地球的軌道上的望遠鏡——如非常成功的哈勃望遠鏡——也因爲太陽系中的塵埃微粒而無法勝任。望遠鏡要放置在木星那樣遙遠的行星上纔有可能在外層空間搜尋生命。因爲我們越是接近太陽系的邊緣，塵埃就越稀薄。一旦我們找到這樣一顆行星，我們就要想辦法將它的恆星射過來的光線遮暗，這樣我們就能徹底“看見”這顆行星，並分析它的大氣層。首先我們要尋找植物，而不是那種“小綠人”。行星上最容易生存下來的是細菌。正是細菌生產出我們在地球上呼吸的氧氣。在地球上發展的大部分進程中，細菌是地球上唯一的生命形式。作爲地球上的居民，我們總存有這樣的希望：小綠人來拜訪我們，而我們可以和他們交流。但是，這種希望總是隻在科幻小說中存在。如果我們能夠在另一顆行星上找到諸如細菌的那種低等生命，那麼這個發現將徹底改變我們對我們自己的看法。正如美國國家航空和宇宙航空局的丹尼爾.戈爾丁指出的“在其他地方發現生命會改變一切。任何人類的努力和想法都會發生變化。”

Lesson56 Our neighbour, the river

The river which forms the eastern boundary of our farm has always played an important part in our lives. Without it we could not make a living. There is only enough spring water to supply the needs of the house, so we have to pump from the river for farm use. We tell the river all our secrets. We know instinctively, just as beekeepers with their bees, that misfortune might overtake us if the important events of our lives were not related to it.

We have special river birthday parties in the summer. Sometimes we go up-stream to a favourite backwater, some- times we have our party at the boathouse, which a predecessor of ours at the farm built in the meadow hard by the deepest pool for swimming and diving. In a heat-wave we choose a midnight birthday party and that is the most exciting of all. We welcome the seasons by the river- side, crowning the youngest girl with flowers in the spring, holding a summer festival on Midsummer Eve, giving thanks for the harvest in the autumn, and throwing a holly wreath into the current in the winter. After a long period of rain the river may overflow its banks. This is a rare occurrence as our climate seldom god to extremes. We are lucky in that only the lower fields, which make up a very small proportion of our farm, are affected by flooding, but other farms are less favourably sited, and flooding can sometimes spell disaster for their owners.

One bad winter we watched the river creep up the lower meadows. All the cattle had been moved into stalls and we stood to lose little. We were, however, worried about our nearest neighbours, whose farm was low lying and who were newcomers to the district. As the floods had put the telephone out of order, we could not find out how they were managing. From an attic window we could get a sweeping view of the river where their land joined ours, and at the most critical juncture we took turns in watching that point. The first sign of disaster was a dead sheep floating down. Next came a horse, swimming bravely, but we were afraid that the strength of the current would prevent its landing anywhere before it became exhausted. Suddenly a raft appeared, looking rather like Noah’s ark, carrying the whole family, a few hens, the dogs, a cat, and a bird in a cage. We realized that they must have become unduly frightened by the rising flood, for their house, which had sound foundations, would have stood stoutly even if it had been almost submerged. The men of our family waded down through our flooded meadows with boathooks, in the hope of being able to grapple a corner of the raft and pull it out of the current towards our bank. We still think it a miracle that they were able to do so.

形成我們農場東部邊界的一條河流一直在我們生活中發揮着重要作用。要是沒有這條河，我們就無法生存下去。泉水只能滿足家庭生活用水，因此我們必須從河裏抽水以用於農業生產。我們向那條河傾訴我們的祕密。我們本能地懂得，就像養蜂人和他的蜜蜂那樣，要是我們不把生活中的重大的事件告訴那條河，就可能大禍臨頭。
夏天，我們爲這條河舉辦特殊的生日宴會。有時，我們溯流而上來到我們喜愛的回水河汊舉辦；有時在船塢舉辦。那船塢是農場一位前輩在一塊草地上蓋的，草地緊挨着一個專供游泳、跳水的深水池。天氣炎熱時，我們便選擇在半夜舉辦生日聚會，這種聚會是最令人激動的。我們在河邊迎接一年四季。春天在河邊爲最年輕的姑娘戴上花冠，夏天在河邊歡慶“仲夏前夜”，秋天在河邊豐收而感恩，冬天往河中拋撒一個冬表花環。
久雨這後，河水會氾濫成災，但是在我們這裏，氣候很少發生異常，河水極少氾濫。值得慶幸的是，只有低窪的受到洪水影響，而低窪地在我們農場比例很小。其他農場地勢欠佳，洪水有時會給農場主帶來災難。
有一年冬天，天氣不好，我們眼看着河水浸沒了地勢較低的草場。所有的牲口已提前轉移到畜圈裏，沒有造成什麼損失。不過，我們很爲我們的近鄰擔心。他們的農場地勢低窪，而且他們又新來乍到。由於洪水造成了電話中斷，我們無法瞭解他們情況。從頂樓窗口看去，我們農場與他們農場接壤處的那段河流一覽無餘。在最緊急的時刻，我們輪流監視那段河流的險情。災難的第一跡象是一隻死羊順流而下，接着一匹活馬勇敢地與水搏擊。但我們擔心，洪水力量將使它上岸之前就筋疲力盡了。突然，出現了一隻筏子，看起來很像諾亞方舟，上面載着他們全家老小，還有幾隻母雞、幾隻狗，一隻貓與一隻鳥籠，那裏頭有一隻小鳥。我們意識到他們一定是被不斷上漲的洪水嚇壞了。因爲他們的房子地基牢固，即使洪水幾乎滅頂也不會倒塌。我家的男人們手拿船篙過被水淹沒草場，希望能夠鉤住筏子一角，將它拽出激流，拖回岸邊。他們終於成功了。至今我們仍認爲這是個奇蹟。

Lesson57 Back in the old country

I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map. I had expected to be near my objective by now, but everything still seemed alien to me. I was only five when my father had taken me abroad, and that was eighteen years ago. When my mother had died after a tragic accident, he did not quickly recover from the shock and loneliness. Everything around him was full of her presence, continually re-opening the wound. So he decided to emigrate. In the new country he became absorbed in making a new life for the two of us, so that he gradually ceased to grieve. He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman’s care; but I lacked for nothing, for he was both father and mother to me. He always meant to go back one day but not to stay. His roots and mine had become too firmly embedded in the new land. But he wanted to see the old folk again and to visit my mother’s grave. He became mortally ill a few months before we had planned to go and, when he knew that he was dying, he made me promise to go on my own.

I hired a car the day after landing and bought a comprehensive book of maps, which I found most helpful on the cross country journey, but which I did not think I should need on the last stage. It was not that I actually remembered anything at all. But my father had described over and over again what we should see at every milestone, after leaving the nearest town, so that I was positive I should recognize it as familiar territory. Well, I had been wrong, for I was now lost.

I looked at the map and then at the milometer. I had come ten miles since leaving the town, and at this point, according to my father, I should be looking at farms and cottages in a valley, with the spire of the church of our village showing in the far distance. I could see no valley, no farms, no cottages and no church spire–only a lake. I decided that I must have taken a wrong turning somewhere. So I drove back to the town and began to retrace the route, taking frequent glances at the map. I landed up at the same corner. The curious thing was that the lake was not marked on the map. I felt as if I had stumbled into a nightmare country, as you sometimes do in dreams. And, as in a nightmare, there was nobody in sight to help me. Fortunately for me, as I was wondering what to do next, there appeared on the horizon a man on horseback, riding in my direction. I waited till he came near, then I asked him the way to our old village. He said that there was now no village. I thought he must have misunderstood me. so I repeated its name. This time he pointed to the lake. The village no longer existed because it had been submerged, and all the valley too. The lake was not a natural one, but a man made reservoir.

我停下車，讓汽車發動機冷卻一下，同時查看一下地圖。我本想離目的地已經不遠，但周圍一切對我仍很陌生。我5歲那年，父親就帶我出了國，那是18年前的事了。當時我母親在一次事故中慘死，父親未能很快從悲痛與孤獨中恢復過來。他身邊的一切都是母親的影子不斷勾起他的傷感。於是他決定移居他國。在這個新的國家裏，父親專心致志地爲我們倆開創一種新的生活，慢慢地不傷心了。父親沒有再娶，因此，我在沒有母親的環境里長大成人。但我卻什麼都不缺，他既當父親又當母親。他總想將來回國看看，但卻不願長期住下去，因爲他與我一樣已經把根深深地紮在異國的土地上。但是，他想看一看家鄉父老鄉親，爲我的母親掃墓。就在他計劃回國的前幾個月，他突然身患絕症。他知道自己已奄奄一息，於是他要我答應一定單獨回故鄉一趟。
我下飛機後租了一輛車，並買了一本詳盡的地圖冊。在鄉間行車途中，我覺得它非常有用，但快到家了，我倒覺得它沒什麼用了。這倒並非是我背熟了地圖，而是父親曾詳細給我講了，在過了離故鄉最近的那個小鎮後，在每一個路標處可見到些什麼。因此，我相信這段路對我來說會是很熟悉的。唉，實際我錯了，我現在迷路了。
我看了看地圖，又查了一下里程錶。從小鎮出來，我走了10英里。照父親的說法，我面前應是一個山谷，有農場與村舍，還可遠遠望見老家村子裏的教堂的尖頂。可現在我卻看不出山谷，看不見農舍，也看見教學尖頂，看見只是一片湖泊。我想一定是什麼地方拐錯了彎兒。於是我駕車返回小鎮，重新按路線行駛。結果又來到剛纔那個拐彎處。奇怪的是那個湖沒有在地圖上標出。我感到自己就像平時作夢那樣迷迷糊糊地闖進了惡夢境地。就像在惡夢裏一樣，見不到一個人可以幫助我。不過，我是幸運的，正當我走投無路之時，從天邊出現一個騎馬的人向我騎來。等他走近了，問他去老家的路。他說那村子已經沒有了。我想他一定誤解了我的意思，於是又說一遍村莊的名字。這次他用手指了一下那個湖。村莊已不復存在，因爲已經爲水所淹，山谷也被水淹沒了。這不是一個天然湖泊，是一座人工修建的水庫。

Lesson58 A spot of bother

The old lady was glad to be back at the block of flats where she lived. Her shopping had tired her and her basket had grown heavier with every step of the way home. In the lift her thoughts were on lunch and a good rest; but when she got out at her own floor, both were forgotten in her sudden discovery that her front door was open. She was thinking that she must reprimand her daily maid the next morning for such a monstrous piece of negligence, when she remembered that she had gone shopping after the maid had left and she knew that she had turned both keys in their locks. She walked slowly into the hall and at once noticed that all the room doors were open, yet following her regular practice she had shut them before going out. Looking into the drawing room, she saw a scene of confusion over by her writing desk. It was as clear as daylight then that burglars had forced an entry during her absence. Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves, but then she decided that at her age it might be more prudent to have someone with her, so she went to fetch the porter from his basement. By this time her legs were beginning to tremble, so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police. Then, her composure regained, she was ready to set off with the porter’s assistance to

search for any intruders who might still be lurking in her flat.

They went through the rooms, being careful to touch nothing, as they did not want to hinder the police in their search for fingerprints. The chaos was inconceivable. She had lived in the flat for thirty years and was a veritable magpie at hoarding; and it seemed as though everything she possessed had been tossed out and turned over and over. At least sorting out the things she should have discarded years ago was now being made easier for her. Then a police inspector arrived with a constable and she told them of her discovery of the ransacked flat. The inspector began to look for fingerprints, while the constable checked that the front door locks had not been forced, thereby

proving that the burglars had either used skeleton keys or entered over the balcony. There was no trace of fingerprints, but the inspector found a dirty red bundle that contained jewellery which the old lady said was not hers. So their entry into this flat was apparently not the burglars’ first job that day and they must have been disturbed. The inspector then asked the old lady to try to check what was missing by the next day and advised her not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights. The old lady thought he was a fussy creature, but since the porter agreed with him, she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.

老婦人回到了她居住的公寓樓，心裏很高興。去商店買東西把她搞得筋疲力盡；在回家的路上，她每走一步，就感到手裏的籃子又重了一點。她乘上電梯後，只想着午餐和好好休息一下。但她到自己的樓層走出電梯後，就把這兩件事忘了個乾淨，因爲她突然發現她家的大門開着。她心想明天上午一定要好好訓斥那個幹家務的幫手，她竟如此疏忽大意。但突然記起來了，幫手是在她出去買東西之前走的，她還記得曾用了兩把鑰匙把大門鎖上了。她慢慢地走進前廳，立即發現所有的房門都敞開着，而她記得在出門買東西前，她按老規矩是把房門一一鎖上的。她往起居室裏看去，寫字檯邊一片狼籍。事情很清楚，在她外出時，竊賊曾闖進家門。她第一個條件反射是各個房間搜尋一下竊賊，但轉念一想，像她這個年紀，最好找個人一起去。於是她到地下室去找看門的人。這時她兩腿累得開始發抖，於是坐了下來，喝了一杯濃茶。與此同時，看門的人給警察掛了電話。此刻老婦人也鎮定了下來，準備在看門人的協助下搜尋可能仍躲藏在她房裏的竅賊。
他倆搜遍這每一個房間，小心翼翼地不接觸任何東西，因爲他們怕妨礙警察尋找指紋。房間裏的紊亂狀況是無法想像的。老婦人在這套公寓裏住了30年，她又是個名副其實的收藏家。看來她的每一件東西都被翻了出來，並且被裏裏外外看了遍。這樣一來，她倒是容易將那些幾年前就該扔掉的東西找出來了。過了一會兒，一位巡官帶着一名警察來了。她向他們講述了發現公寓遭劫的經過。巡官開始搜尋指紋，警察經檢查發現大門鎖頭並無撬過的跡象。由此可以證明，竅賊或者是用萬能鑰匙，或者是翻越陽臺進來的。巡官沒有發現指紋，卻發現了一個裝有珠寶的、骯髒的紅包袱。老婦人說那不是她的。很明顯，闖進這套公寓的竊賊那天並不是首次作案，而且他一定受了驚嚇。巡官請老婦人在次日之前設法查清丟了些什麼，並勸她幾夜之內不要獨自一人在公寓過夜。老婦人覺得巡官大驚小怪，但既然看門人也同意他的意見，她只得打電話向女兒求援，說她碰到了一點兒小麻煩。

Lesson59 Collecting

People tend to amass possessions, sometimes without being aware of doing so. Indeed they can have a delightful surprise when they find something useful which they did not know they owned. Those who never have to move house become indiscriminate collectors of what can only be described as clutter. They leave unwanted objects in drawers, cupboards and attics for years, in the belief that they may one day need just those very things. As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons, lack of physical and mental energy, both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away, and sentiment. Things owned for a long time are full associations with the past, perhaps with relatives who are dead, and so they gradually acquire a value beyond their true worth.
Some things are collected deliberately in the home in an attempt to avoid waste. Among these I would list string and brown paper, kept by thrifty people when a parcel has been opened, to save buying these two requisites. Collecting small items can easily become a mania. I know someone who always cuts sketches out from newspapers of model clothes that she would like to buy if she had the money. As she is not rich, the chances that she will ever be able to afford such purchases are remote; but she is never sufficiently strong-minded to be able to stop the practice. It is a harmless bait, but it litters up her desk to such an extent that every time she opens it, loose bits of paper fall out in every direction.
Collecting as a serous hobby is quite different and has many advantages. It provides relaxation for leisure hours, as just looking at one’s treasures is always a joy. One does not have to go outside for amusement, since the collection is housed at home. Whatever it consists of, stamps, records, first editions of books china, glass, antique furniture, pictures, model cars, stuffed birds, toy animals, there is always something to do in connection with it, from finding the right place for the latest addition, to verifying facts in reference books. This hobby educates one not only in the chosen subject, but also in general matters which have some bearing on it. There are also other benefits. One wants to meet like-minded collectors, to get advice, to compare notes, to exchange articles, to show off the latest find. So one’s circle of friends grows. Soon the hobby leads to travel, perhaps to a meeting in another town, possibly a trip abroad in search of a rare specimen, for collectors are not confined to any one country. Over the years, one may well become a authority on one’s hobby and will very probably be asked to give informal talks to little gatherings and then, if successful, to larger audiences. In this way self-confidence grows, first from mastering a subject, then from being able to take about it. Collecting, by occupying spare time so constructively, makes a person contented, with no time for boredom.

人們喜歡收藏東西，有時並沒有意識到自己在這樣做。確實，一旦無意之中從自己的收藏品中找到某件有用的東西時，可以給人一種驚喜的感覺。那些從來不必搬家的人們成了一種無所無容的收藏家。他們專門收藏那些只能被稱作雜貨的東西。他們在抽屜裏，碗櫃中、閣樓上堆放着一些不用的東西，一放就是好幾年，相信總有一天需要的正好是那些東西。人們年老之後也喜歡收藏東西，不過是出於兩個不同的原因：一是體力，精力均告不佳，這二者是清除無用的東西必不可少的因素；另一原因是感情因素。東西擱得時間久了，便會充滿着與過去歲月的聯繫，比方說與死去的親戚有關。因此這些東西慢慢獲得了一種超出它本身的價值。
居家度日，有目的地收藏某些東西是爲了防止浪費。這些東西中我想舉出線繩和包裝紙爲例。節儉的人們打開包裹後便把這兩樣必備的東西收藏起來。省得日後去買。收集小玩藝兒很容易着迷。我認識一個人，她總喜歡從報紙上剪下流行服裝的圖樣，等以後有錢時去買服裝。由於她並不富裕，她買得起這些服裝的可能性十分渺茫。但她又缺乏足夠堅強的意志把這一收集活動停下來。這種習慣無害，只把寫字檯裏堆得滿滿當當，以致每次打開抽屜總能帶出許多紙片四處飛揚。
作爲一種嚴肅的業餘愛好的收藏活動完全是另外一回事，它具有許多益處。它可以使人在閒暇中得到休息，因爲欣賞自己收藏的珍品總會充滿了樂趣。人們不必走到戶外去尋求娛樂，因爲收藏品都是存放在家中。不管收藏品是什麼，郵票、唱片、頭版書籍、瓷器、玻璃杯、老式傢俱、繪畫、模型汽車、鳥類標本，還是玩具動物，從爲新增添的收藏品尋找擺放位置到覈對參考書中的事實，總歸有事可做。這種愛好不僅能使人從選擇的專題中受到教育，而且也能從與之有關的一般事物中獲得長進。除此之外，還有其他的益處。收藏者要會見情趣相投的收藏者，以獲取教益，交流經驗、交換收藏品，炫耀自己的最新收藏。朋友的圈子就這樣不斷擴大。用不了多久，有這種愛好的人便開始旅行，也許是去另一個城市參加會議，也可能是出國尋找一件珍品，因爲收藏家是不分國籍的。一人積了多年經驗會成爲自己這種愛好的權威，很可能應邀在小型集會上作非正式的講話。如果講得好，可能向更多人發表演說。這樣，你自信心不斷增強，先是因爲掌握一門學問，接下來是因爲能夠就此發表見解。收藏活動通過富有建設性地利用業餘時間使人感到心滿意足，不再有無聊之日。

Lesson60Too early and too late太早和太晚
Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs in civilized society. Without it, nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion; everything would be in state of chaos. Only in a sparsely-populated rural community is it possible to disregard it. In ordinary living, there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality. The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand. He is therefore forgiven if late for a dinner party. But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fine. It is hard for energetic, quick-minded people to waste time, so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment. If no accidents occur on the way, like punctured tires, diversions of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time. They are often more industrious, useful citizens than those who are never late. The over-punctual can be as much a trial to others as the unpunctual. The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance. Some friends of my family had this irritating habit. The only thing to do was ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests. Then they arrived just when we wanted them.
If you are citing a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minted too late. Although being early may mean wasting a little time, this will be less than if you miss the train and have to wait an hour or more for the next one; and you avoid the frustration of arriving at the very moment when the train is drawing out of the station and being unable to get on it. An even harder situation is to be on the platform in good time for a train and still to see it go off without you. Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was traveling alone.
She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due, since her parents had impressed upon her that it would be unforgivable to miss it and cause the friends with whom she was going to stay to make two journeys to meet her. She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket. To her horror he said that she was two hours too soon. She felt inhere handbag for the piece of paper on which her father had written down al the details of the journey and gave it to the porter. He agreed that a train did come into the station at the time on the paper and that it did stop, but only to take on mail, not passengers. The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake. The porter went to fetch one and arrive back with the station master, who produced it with a flourish and pointed out a microscopic ‘o’ beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station; this little ‘o’ indicated that the train only stopped for mail. Just as that moment the train came into the station. The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard’s van. But the station master was adamant: rules could not be broken and she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.

準時是文明社會中進行一切社交活動時必須養成的習慣。不準時將一事無成，事事都會陷入混亂不堪的境地。只有在人口稀少的農村，纔可以忽視準時的習慣。在日常生活中人們可以容忍一定程度的不準時。一個專心鑽研某個複雜問題的知識分子，爲了搞好手頭的研究，要把一切都協調一致，組織周密。因此，他要是赴宴遲到了會得到諒解。但有些人不準時常常因爲掐鐘點所致，他們常常受到責備，精力充沛、頭腦敏捷的人極不願意浪費時間，因此他們常想做完一件事後再去赴約。要是路上沒有發生如爆胎、改道、突然起霧等意外事故，他們決不會遲到。他們與那些從不遲到的人相比，常常是更勤奮有用的公民。早到的人同遲到的人一樣令人討厭。客人提前半小時到達是令人討厭的。我家有幾個朋友就有這有令人惱火的習慣。唯一的辦法就是請他們比別的客人晚來半小時。這樣，他們可以恰好在我們要求的時間到達。
如果趕火車，早到總比晚到好，哪怕早到一會兒也好。雖然早到可能意味着浪費一點時間，但這比誤了火車等上一個多小時坐下班車浪費的時間要少，而且可以避免那種正好在火車駛出站時趕到車站，因上不去車而感到的沮喪。更難堪的情況是雖然及時趕到站臺上，卻眼睜睜地看着那趟火車啓動，把你拋下。一個小姑娘第一次單獨出門就碰到了這種情況。
在火車進站20分鐘前她就進了車站。因爲她的父母再三跟她說，如果誤了這趟車，她的東道主朋友就得接她兩趟，這是不應該的。她把行李交給搬運工並給他看了車票。搬運工說她早到了兩個小時，她聽後大吃一驚。她從錢包裏摸出一張紙條，那上面有她父親對這次旅行詳細說明，她把這張紙條交給了搬運工。搬運工說，正如紙條所說，確有一趟火車在那個時刻到站，但它只停站裝郵件，不載旅客。姑娘要求看到時刻表，因爲她相信父親不能把這麼大的事弄錯。搬運工跑回去取時刻表，同時請來了站長。站長拿着時刻表一揮手，指着那趟列車到站時刻旁邊一個很小的圓圈標記。這個標記表示列車是爲裝郵件而停車。正在這時，火車進站了。女孩淚流滿面，央求讓她不聲不響地到押車員車廂裏去算了。但站長態度堅決，規章制度不能破壞，姑娘只得眼看那趟火車消逝在她要去的方向而撇下了她。