新概念三 Lesson 14 A noble gangster 贵族歹徒
There was a time when the owners of shops and businesses in Chicago had to pay large sums ofmoney to gangstersin returnfor 'protection.'
If the money was not paidpromptly, the gangsters would quickly put a manout of business by
destroying his shop.Obtaining'protection money' is not a modern crime.As long ago as the fourteenth century,
anEnglishman, Sir John Hawkwood,made the remarkablediscovery that peoplewouldratherpay largesums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.
Six hundredyears ago, Sir Johan Hawkwood arrived inItaly with a band of soldiers andsettlednear Florence.
He soonmadea name for himself and
came to be known to the Italians as Giovanni Acuto.Whenever the Italian city-states wereat war with each other, Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers toprinces
who were willing to pay the high price hedemanded.In times of peace,when business was bad, Hawkwood and his men wouldmarchinto
a city-state and, afterburningdown a few farms, wouldoffer to go away if protection money was paid to them.Hawkwoodmade
large sums ofmoney in this way.Inspite of this, the Italiansregardedhim as a sort of hero. When he diedat
the age of eighty, the Florentines gave him a state funeralandhad a pictured painted which was
dedicatedto the memory of'the mostvaliant soldier and most
notable leader, Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'
曾经有一个时期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老板们不得不拿出大笔的钱给歹徒以换取"保护"。如果交款不及时,歹徒们就会很快捣毁他的商店,让他破产.榨取"保护金"并不是一种现代的罪恶行径.早在14世纪,英国人约翰.霍克伍德就有过非凡的发现:"人们情愿拿出大笔的钱,也不愿毕生的心血毁于歹徒之手.
600年前,约翰.霍克伍德爵士带着一队士兵来到意大利,在佛罗伦萨附近驻扎下来,很快就出了名.意大利人叫他乔凡尼.阿库托.每次意大利各城邦之间发生战争,霍克伍德把他的士兵雇佣给愿给他出高价的君主。和平时期,当生意萧条时,霍克伍德便带领士兵进入某个城邦,纵火烧毁一两个农场,然后提出,如向他们缴纳保护金,他们便主动撤离。霍克伍德用这种方法挣了大笔钱.尽管如此,意大利人还是把他视作某种英雄。他80岁那年死去时,佛罗伦萨人为他举行了国葬,并为他画像以纪念这位"骁勇无比的战士、杰出的领袖乔凡尼.阿库托先生."
Lesson 17 The longest suspension bridge in the world 世界上最长的吊桥
Verrazano, anItalian about whom little is known, sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 andnamed it Angouleme. Hedescribed it as'a very
agreeable situation locatedwithin two small hills in the midst of whichfloweda great river.'
Though Verrazano isby no means
consideredto be a great explorer, his name willprobablyremain
immortal, for on November 21st,1964, the longestsuspension bridge inthe world wasnamed afterhim.
The VerrazanoBridge, which was designed by OthmarAmmann, joins Brooklyn to Staten Island. It has aspanof 4,260 feet.
The bridge is so long that theshapeof the earth had to be takeninto account by its designer.Two great towers
support four huge cables. The towers are built onimmense underwater platformsmade of
steel and concrete.Theplatforms
extend to a depth of over 100 feet underthe sea. These alone took sixteen months to build. Above thesurface of the water, the towersrise
to a height of nearly 700 feet. They support thecables from which the bridge has been suspended.Each of
the four cables contains 26,108 lengths of wire.
It has beenestimated that if the bridge werepacked with cars, it wouldstill only be carrying a third of its totalcapacity.However,
size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge.Despite its immensity, it is both simple andelegant,fulfilling its designer's dream tocreate
'an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible'.
1524年，一位鲜为人知的意大利人维拉萨诺驾船驶进纽约港，并将该港名为安古拉姆。他对该港作了这样的描述：“地理位置十分适宜，位于两座小山的中间，一条大河从中间流过”。虽然维拉萨诺绝对算不上一个伟大的探险家，但他的名字将流芳百世，因为1964年11月21日建成的一座世界上最长的吊桥是以他的名字命名。
维拉萨诺大桥由奥斯马.阿曼设计，连结着布鲁克林与斯塔顿岛，桥长4,260英尺。由于桥身太长，设计者不得不考虑了地表的形状。两座巨塔支撑着4根粗大的钢缆。塔身建在巨大的水下钢盘混凝土平台上。平台深入海底100英尺。仅这两座塔就花了16个月才建成。塔身高出水面将近700英尺。高塔支撑着钢缆，而钢缆又悬吊着大桥，4根钢缆中的每根由26，108股钢绳组成。据估计，若桥上摆满了汽车，也只不过是桥的总承载力的1/3。然而，这座桥重要特点不仅是它的规模与强度。尽管此桥很大，但它的结构简单，造型优美，实现了设计者企图创造一个“尽量用细线条勾画出一个庞然大物”的梦想。
Lesson 21 Daniel Mendoza 丹尼尔.门多萨
Boxing matcheswere very popular in England two hundred years ago. In those days, boxersfought with
bare fists for prize money. Because of this, theywereknown as'prize-fighters'.
However, boxing was verycrude, for there were no rules and a prize-fightercould beseriously injured or evenkilled during a match.
One of the mostcolourful figures in boxing history wasDaniel Mendoza, who was born in 1764. The use ofgloveswas not
introduced until 1860, when theMarquis of
Queensberry drew up the first set ofrules. Though he wastechnically aprize-fighter, Mendoza did much to change crude
prize-fighting into a sport,for he broughtscienceto the game.In his day,Mendoza
enjoyedtremendous popularity.He wasadoredby rich and poor alike.
Mendoza rose to
fame swiftly after a boxing-match when he was onlyfourteen years old. Thisattracted theattention of Richard Humphries who was then the mosteminent
boxer in England. He offered to train Mendoza andhis youngpupil wasquick to learn. In fact, Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphriesturned
against him. The twomenquarrelled bitterly and it was clearthat the argument could only besettledby a fight. A match was held at Stilton, where
both men fought for an hour. Thepublic bet a great deal of money on Mendoza, but he wasdefeated.Mendoza met Humphriesin thering on a later
occasion and he lost for a second time.Itwas not until his third match in 1790 that he finally beat Humphries and becameChampionof
England. Meanwhile, he founded a highly successfulAcademy and even LordByron became one of hispupils.He
earnedenormous sums of moneyand was paidas much as100 pounds for a single appearance.Despite
this, he was soextravagantthat he was always indebt.After he was defeated by a boxer called Gentleman Jackson, he was quicklyforgotten. He was sent
to prison for failing to pay his debts and diedin poverty in 1836.
两百年前，拳击比赛在英国非常盛行。当时，拳击手们不戴手套，为争夺奖金而搏斗。因此，他们被称作“职业拳击手”。不过，拳击是十分野蛮的，因为当时没有任何比赛规则，职业拳击手有可能在比赛中受重伤，甚至丧命。
拳击史上最引人注目的人物之一是丹尼尔.门多萨，他生于1764年。1860年昆斯伯里侯爵第一次为拳击比赛制定了规则，拳击比赛这才用上了手套。虽然门多萨严格来讲不过是个职业拳击手，但在把这种粗野的拳击变成一种体育运动方面，他作出了重大贡献。是他把科学引进了这项运动。门多萨在他的全盛时期深受大家欢迎，无论是富人还是穷人都对他祟拜备至。
门多萨在14岁时参加一场拳击赛后一举成名。这引起当时英国拳坛名将理查德.汉弗莱斯的注意。他主动提出教授门多萨，而年少的门多萨一学就会。事实上，门多萨不久便名声大振，致使汉弗莱斯与他反目为敌。两个人争吵不休，显而易见，只有较量一番才能解决问题。于是两人在斯蒂尔顿设下赛场，厮打了一个小时。公众把大笔赌注下到了门多萨身上，但他却输了。后来，门多萨与汉弗莱斯再次在拳击场上较量，门多萨又输了一场。直到1790年他们第3次对垒，门多萨才终于击败汉弗莱斯，成了全英拳击冠军。同时，他建立了一所拳击学校，办得很成功，连拜伦勋爵也成了他的学生。门多萨挣来大笔大笔的钱，一次出场费就多可达100英镑。尽管收入不少，但他挥霍无度，经常债台高筑。他被一个叫杰克逊绅士的拳击手击败后很快被遗忘。他因无力还债而被捕入狱，最后于1836年在贫困中死去。
Lesson 24 A skeleton in the cupboard “家丑”
We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret which has been concealed from strangers foryears.The English
language possesses a vivid saying to describe this sort of situation.The terrible secret is called ‘as keleton in the cupboard’.At
some dramatic moment in the story, the terrible secret becomes known and a reputation isruined. The reader's hairstands
on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that theheroine, a dear old lady who had alwaysbeen so kind to everybody, had, in her youth,poisonedevery
one of her five husbands.
It is all very well for such things tooccur in fiction.
Tovarying degrees, we all have secrets which we do not want even ourclosest friends to learn, but few of us haveskeletons in the cupboard. The only person I know who has a skeleton
in thecupboard is George Carlton, and he is veryproud of the fact. George studied medicine in his youth.Instead of becoming a doctor, however, he became a successful writer ofdetective
stories. I once spent anuncomfortable weekend which I shall never forgetat his house. George showed me to the guest-room which, he said, was rarelyused. He told me tounpack
my things andthen come down to dinner. After I had stacked my shirts and underclothes in twoempty drawers, I decided to hang one ofthe two suits I had brought with me in the cupboard.
I opened the cupboarddoor and then stood in front ofitpetrified. A skeleton was
dangling before my eyes. The sudden movement ofthe door made it swayslightly and itgave me the
impression that it was about toleap out at me. Dropping mysuit, I
dashed downstairs to tellGeorge. This was worse than ‘a terrible secret’; this was a real skeleton! ButGeorge wasunsympathetic. ‘Oh, that,’ hesaid with a smileas
ifhe were talking aboutan old friend. ‘That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical studentonce upon a time. ’
在小说中，我们经常读到一个表面上受人尊重的人物或家族，却有着某种多年不为人所知的骇人听闻的秘密。英语中有一个生动的说法来形容这种情况。惊人的秘密被称作“柜中骷髅”。在小说的某个戏剧性时刻，可怕的秘密泄漏出来，接着便是某人的声誉扫地。当读者读到小说最后几页了解到书中女主人公，那位一向待大家很好的可爱的老妇人年轻时一连毒死了她的5个丈夫时，不禁会毛骨悚然。
这种事发生在小说中是无可非议的。尽管我们人人都有各种大小秘密，连最亲密的朋友都不愿让他们知道，但我们当中极少有人有柜中骷髅。我所认识的唯一的在柜中藏骷髅的人便是乔治·卡尔顿，他甚至引以为自豪。乔治年轻时学过医，然而，他后来没当上医生，却成了一位成功的侦探小说作家。有一次，我在他家里度周末，过得很不愉快。这事我永远不会忘记。乔治把我领进客房，说这间房间很少使用。他让我打开行装后下楼吃饭。我将衬衫、内衣放进两个空抽屉里，然后我想把随身带来的两套西服中的一套挂到大衣柜里去。我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下子惊呆了。一具骷髅悬挂在眼前，由于柜门突然打开，它也随之轻微摇晃起来，让我觉得它好像马上要跳出柜门朝我扑过来似的。我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。这是比“骇人听闻的秘密”更加惊人的东西，这是一具真正的骷髅啊！但乔治却无动于衷。“噢，是它呀！他笑着说道，俨然在谈论一位老朋友。“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是学医的了。”
Lesson 27 Nothing to sell and nothing to buy 没有东西可卖也没有东西可买
It has been said that everyonelives byselling something.In the lightof
this statement, teacherslive by selling knowledge,philosophersby selling wisdom andpriests by sellingspiritual
comfort. Though it may bepossible tomeasure the value ofmaterial goodin terms ofmoney, it is
extremely difficult to estimate the true value of theservices which people
performfor us.There are times whenwe wouldwillingly give everything we
possess to save our lives, yet we might
grudge paying a surgeon a high fee for offeringuspreciselythisservice.
The conditions of society are such that skills have to be paid forin the same way thatgoods are paid for at a shop. Everyone has something to sell.
Tramps seem to be the only
exception to this general rule. Beggars almostsell themselves ashuman beingsto arouse the pity of passers-by. But real tramps are not beggars.They havenothing
to sell and require nothing from others. In seeking independence, they do not sacrifice their humandignity. A tramp may ask you for money, but hewill never
ask you tofeelsorry for him. He has
deliberatelychosen to lead the life he leads and is fullyaware of the
consequences.He may never be sure where the next meal iscoming from, but he is
free from the thousands of
anxieties whichafflictother people. His few material possessions make it possible for him to movefrom place to placewith ease.By
having to sleep in the open,he
gets far closer tothe world of nature than most of us ever do. He may hunt, beg, or stealoccasionally to keep himself alive; he may even,in
times of real need, do alittle work; but he will neversacrificehis freedom.
We oftenspeakof tramps with
contempt andput them in the same class as beggars, but how many of us can honestly say thatwe have not felt a littleenvious oftheir simple way of life and their
freedom from care?
据说每个人都靠出售某种东西来维持生活。根据这种说法，教师靠卖知识为生，哲学家靠卖智慧为生，牧师靠卖精神安慰为生。虽然物质产品的价值可以用金钱来衡量，但要估算别人为我们为所提供的服务的价值却是极其困难的。有时，我们为了挽救生命，愿意付出我们所占有的一切。但就在外科大夫给我们提供了这种服务后，我们却可能为所支付的昂贵的费用而抱怨。社会上的情况就是如此，技术是必须付钱去买的，就像在商店里要花钱买商品一样。人人都有东西可以出售。
在这条普遍的规律前面，好像只有流浪汉是个例外，乞丐出售的几乎是他本人，以引起过路人的怜悯。但真正的流浪并不是乞丐。他们既不出售任何东西，也不需要从别人那儿得到任何东西，在追求独立自由的同时，他们并不牺牲为人的尊严。游浪汉可能会向你讨钱，但他从来不要你可怜他。他是故意在选择过那种生活的，并完全清楚以这种方式生活的后果。他可能从不知道下顿饭有无着落，但他不像有人那样被千万桩愁事所折磨。他几乎没有什么财产，这使他能够轻松自如地在各地奔波。由于被迫在露天睡觉，他比我们中许多人都离大自然近得多。为了生存，他可能会去打猎、乞讨，偶尔偷上一两回；确实需要的时候，他甚至可能干一点儿活，但他决不会牺牲自由。说起流浪汉，我们常常带有轻蔑并把他们与乞丐归为一类。但是，我们中有多少人能够坦率地说我们对流浪汉的简朴生活与无忧无虑的境况不感到有些羡慕呢？
Lesson 33 A day to remember 难忘的一天
We haveall experienced days when everythinggoes wrong. A day may beginwell enough, but suddenly everything seems toget
out of control. What invariably happens is that
a great number of thingschoose to go wrong atprecisely
the same moment. It is asif a single unimportant eventsetup a chain of
reactions. Letus suppose that you are preparing a meal and
keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. Thetelephone rings and this marks thepreludetoan
unforeseen series of catastrophes.While you are
on the phone,the baby pulls the table-cloth off the table,smashinghalf your best
crockery and cuttinghimselfin the
process.Youhang uphurriedly and
attend tobaby, crockery, etc. Meanwhile, the mealgets burnt.
As if this were not enough toreduce you to tears, your husband arrives,unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a big scale, as anumber of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. Duringtherush hour oneevening two carscollided
and bothdrivers began to argue. The womanimmediatelybehind the two cars
happened tobe a learner. She suddenlygot into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driverfollowing her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him
holding a large cake.As she wasthrown forward, the cake wentright through thewindscreen and landedon the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry–driver
who wasdrawing up alongside the car,pulled upall of a sudden.
The lorry wasloaded with empty beerbottles and hundreds of themslidoff the back of the
vehicleand on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, thetrafficpiled upbehind.
It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the moveagain.In the meantime,the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two straydogsbenefited
from all this confusion, for they greedily
devoured what was left of the cake. It was justone of those days!
我们大家都有过事事不顺心的日子。一天开始时，可能还不错，但突然间似乎一切都失去了控制。情况经常是这样的，许许多多的事情都偏偏赶在同一时刻出问题，好像是一件无关紧要的小事引起了一连串的连锁反应。假设你在做饭，同时又在照看孩子。这时电话铃响了，它预示着一连串意想不到的灾难的来临。就在你接电话时，孩子把桌布从桌子上扯了下来，将家中最好的陶瓷餐具半数摔碎，同时也弄伤了他自己。你急急忙忙挂上电话，赶去照看孩子和餐具。这时，饭又烧糊了。好像这一切还不足以使你急得掉泪，你的丈夫接着回来了，事先没打招呼就带来3个客人吃饭。
就像许多人最近在悉尼郊区帕拉马塔所发现的那样，有时乱子会闹得很大。一天傍晚交通最拥挤时，一辆汽车撞上前面一辆汽车，两个司机争吵起来。紧跟其后的一辆车上的司机碰巧是个初学者，她一惊之下突然把车停了下来。她这一停使得跟在后头的司机也来了个急刹车。司机的妻子正坐在他身边，手里托着块大蛋糕。她往前一冲，蛋糕从挡风玻璃飞了出去掉在马路上。此时，一辆卡车正好从后边开到那辆汽车边上，司机看见一块蛋糕从天而降，紧急刹车。卡车上装着空啤酒瓶，成百只瓶子顺势从卡车后面滑出车外落在马路上。这又引起了一场唇枪舌剑的争吵。与此同时，后面的车辆排成了长龙，警察花了将近一个小时才使车辆又开起来。在这段时间里，卡车司机不得不清扫那几百只破瓶子。只有两只野狗从这一片混乱中得到了好处，它们贪婪地吃掉了剩下的蛋糕。这就是事事不顺心的那么一天！
Lesson 34 A happy discovery 幸运的发现
Antiqueshops exert a peculiarfascination on a great many people. The more expensive kind ofantique shop where rare objects are beautifully displayed in glass cases tokeep them free from dust is usually
a forbiddingplace. But no one has tomusterup courage to enter a lesspretentiousantique shop.
There is always hope that in itslabyrinthof musty, dark,
disordered rooms a realrarity will be found amongst the piles ofassortedjunk that litter the floors.
No one discoversa rarity by chance.A trulydedicated
bargain hunter must havepatience, and
above all, the ability torecognize the worth of something when he sees it.To do this, he must beat leastas knowledgeable
as the dealer. Like a scientistbent on making a discovery,
hemust cherish the hope that one day hewill beamply rewarded.
My old friend,Frank Halliday, is just such a person. He has often describedto me how hepicked upa masterpiece for a mere￡50. One Saturday morning,Frank visited
an antique shop in my neighbourhood.As he had never beenthere before,
he found a greatdeal to interest him. The morning passed rapidly and Frankwas about to leave when he
noticed a large packing-case lying on the floor.Thedealer told him that it had just
come in, but that he could not bebotheredto open it. Frank
beggedhim to do so and the dealer
reluctantlyprised it open. The contents were disappointing.Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger,the box was full of crockery,muchofit
broken.Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box and suddenly noticed aminiature painting
at the bottom of the packing-case. As itsComposition and line
remindedhim of an Italian painting he knew well, he decided to buy it.Glancing at it briefly, thedealer told him that it was worth￡50. Frank could hardlyconceal
his excitement, forhe knew that he hadmade a realdiscovery. The tiny paintingproved to be an unknown
masterpiece by Correggio and was worth hundreds of thousandsof pounds.
古玩店对许多人来说有一种特殊的魅力。高档一点的古玩店为了防尘，把文物漂亮地陈列在玻璃柜子里，那里往往令人望而却步。而对不太装腔作势的古玩店，无论是谁都不用壮着胆子才敢往里进。人们还常常有希望在发霉、阴暗、杂乱无章、迷宫般的店堂里，从杂乱地摆放在地面上的、一堆堆各式各样的破烂货里找到一件稀世珍品。
无论是谁都不会一下子就发现一件珍品。一个到处找便宜货买的人必须具有耐心，而且最重要的是看到珍品时要有鉴别珍品的能力。要做到这一点，他至少要像古董商一样在行。他必须像一个专心致志进行探索的科学家那样抱有这样的希望，即终有一天，他的努力会取得丰硕的成果。
我的老朋友弗兰克·哈利戴正是这样一个人。他多次向我详细讲他如何只花50英镑便买到一位名家的杰作。一个星期六的上午，弗兰克去了我家附近的一家古玩店。由于他从未去过那儿，结果他发现了许多有趣的东西。上午很快过去了，弗兰克正准备离去，突然看见地板上放着一只体积很大的货箱。古董商告诉他那只货箱刚到不久，但他嫌麻烦不想把它打开。经弗兰克恳求，古董商才勉强把货箱撬开了。箱内东西令人失望。除了一柄式样别致、雕有花纹的匕首外，货箱内装满了陶器，而且大部分都已破碎。弗兰克轻轻地把陶器拿出箱子，突然发现在箱底有一幅微型画，画面构图与线条使他想起了一幅他所熟悉的意大利画，于是他决定将画买下来。古董商漫不经心看了一眼那幅画，告诉弗兰克那画值50英镑。弗兰克几乎无法掩饰自己兴奋的心情，因为他明白自己发现了一件珍品。那幅不大的画原来是柯勒乔的一幅未被发现的杰作，价值几十万英镑。
Lesson 38 The first calender 最早的日历
Future historians will bein a unique position when theycome to record the history of our own times.Theywill hardly know which facts to
selectfrom thegreat massof evidence that steadilyaccumulates.What
is more, theywill not have torely solely onthe written word. Films, videos, CDs and CD-ROMS are just some of thebewildering amount of information
they will have.They will be able,as itwere, to see and hear usin action. But the historianattempting to
reconstructthe distant past is always
facedwith a difficult task. He has todeducewhat he can from the few
scanty clues available. Even seeminglyinsignificant remains can
shed interesting light on thehistory of early man.
Up to now, historians haveassumedthat calendars
came into beingwith the advent ofagriculture,for then man was
faced with areal need to understand something about the seasons. Recentscientificevidence seems to indicatethat thisassumption
is incorrect.
Historians have long been puzzledby dots,lines and symbols which have beenengravedon walls, bones, and the ivory tusks ofmammoths.The
nomads who made these markingslived by hunting and fishingduring the last Ice Age which began about 35,000 B.C. and ended about 10,000B.C. Bycorrelating
markings made invarious parts of the world, historians have been able to read this difficultcode. They have found that it isconnectedwith the passage of days and thephasesof
the moon. It is, in fact,a
primitive type of calendar.It has long been knownthat the hunting scenesdepicted onwalls were not simply
a form ofartisticexpression. They had a definite meaning, for they wereas near as early man couldget to writing.It
is possiblethat there is adefiniterelation between these paintings and the markings that sometimesaccompany them.
It seems that man was making a realeffort to understand the seasons 20,000 yearsearlier than has beensupposed.
未来的历史学家在写我们这一段历史的时候会别具一格。对于逐渐积累起来的庞大材料，他们几乎不知道选取哪些好，而且，也不必完全依赖文字材料。电影、录像、光盘和光盘驱动器只是能为他们提供令人眼花缭乱的大量信息的几种手段。他们能够身临其境般地观看我们做事，倾听我们讲话。但是，历史学家企图重现遥远的过去可是一项艰巨的任务，他们必须根据现有的不充分的线索进行推理。即使看起来微不足道的遗物，也可能揭示人类早期历史的一些有趣的内容。
历史学家迄今认为日历是随农业的问世而出现的，因为当时人们面临着了解四季的实际需要，但近期科学研究发现，好像这种假设是不正确的。
长期以来，历史学家一直对雕刻在墙壁上、骨头上、古代长毛象的象牙上的点、线和形形色色的符号感到困惑不解。这些痕迹是游牧人留下的，他们生活在从公元前约35，000年到公元前10，000年的冰川期的末期，以狩猎、捕鱼为生。历史学家通过把世界各地留下的这种痕迹放在一起研究，终于弄懂了这种费解的代码。他们发现代码与昼夜更迭和月亮圆缺有关，事实上是一种最原始的日历。大家早就知道，画在墙上的狩猎图景并不是单纯的艺术表现形式，它们有着一定的含义，因为它们已接近古代人的文字形式。有时，这种图画与墙壁上的刻痕共存，它们之间可能有一定的联系。看来人类早就致力于探索四季变迁了，比人们想像的要早20,000年。
Lesson 40 Who's who 真假难辨
It has neverbeen explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than anyone else. Studentsspecialize in a particular type
of practical joke:thehoax. Inviting the fire-brigadetoput out a
non-existent fire is a crude form ofdeception which no self-respecting student wouldeverindulge in.Students
often create amusingsituationswhich are funny to everyone except thevictims.
When a studentrecently saw two workmen using a pneumaticdrill outside his university, he immediately telephoned the police andinformed them that two students
dressed up as workmen were
tearing up the road with apneumatic drill.As soon ashe had
hung up, hewent over to the workmen and told them that if a policemanordered them to
go away, they were not totake him seriously. He addedthat a student had dressed up as a policeman and was playingall
sorts of silly jokes onpeople.Both the police and the workmen were
gratefulto the student for this piece ofadvanceinformation.
The student hidin an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything that went on.Sure enough, a policeman
arrived on the scene andpolitely asked the workmen to go away.When he received a very rude replyfrom one of the workmen, he
threatenedto remove them by force. The workmen told him to do as he pleased and thepolicemantelephoned for help.Shortly
afterwards,four more policemen arrived andremonstratedwith the workmen. As the men refused to stop working, the policeattempted to seize the pneumatic
drill. Theworkmenstruggled fiercely and one ofthemlost his temper.He
threatened tocall the police. At this, the policepointed out
ironicallythat this would hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest.Pretending tospeak seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might
make a telephone call beforebeing taken to the station.Permissionwas granted and a policemanaccompaniedhim
to a pay phone.Onlywhen he saw that the man was actually telephoning the police did he
realize that they had all been the victims of ahoax.
谁也弄不清为什么大学生好像比任何人都更喜欢恶作剧。大学生擅长一种特殊的恶作剧——戏弄人。请消防队来扑灭一场根本没有的大火是一种低级骗局，有自尊心的大学生决不会去做。大学生们常常做的是制造一种可笑的局面，除了受害者大家都觉得非常滑稽。
最近有个学生看见两个工人在大学校门外用风钻干活，马上打电话报告警察，说有两个学生装扮成工人，正在用风钻破坏路面。挂上电话后，他又马上来到工人那儿，告诉他们若有个警察来让他们走开，不要把他当回事；还对工人说，有个学生常装扮成警察无聊地同别人开玩笑。警察与工人都对那个学生事先通报情况表示感谢。
那学生躲在附近一拱形门廊里，在那儿可以看见、听到现场发生的一切。果然，警察来了，有礼貌地请工人离开此地；但其中一个工人粗鲁地回了几句。于是警察威胁要强行使他们离开。工人说，悉听尊便。警察去打电话叫人。一会儿工夫，又来了4个警察，规劝工人离开。由于工人拒绝停下手中的活，警察想夺风钻。两个工人奋力抗争，其中一个发了火，威胁说要去叫警察。警察听后讥讽地说，这大可不必，因为他俩已被逮捕了。其中一个工人装模作样地问道，在被带往警察局之前，是否可以打一个电话。警察同意了，陪他来到一个投币电话前。当他看到那个工人真的是给警察挂电话，才恍然大悟，原来他们都成了一场骗局的受害者。
Lesson 41 Illusions of PastoralPeace 宁静田园生活的遐想
Thequiet life of the country has never appealed to me. City born and city bred, I have alwaysregarded the country assomething you look at through
a train window, or something youoccasionally visit during the weekend. Most of myfriends live in the city, yet they alwaysgo into raptures
at the mere mention of the country. Though they
extol thevirtuesof the peaceful life, only one of them has ever gone to live in the country andhe was back in town within six months.Even he still lives
under the illusion thatcountry life is somehowsuperiorto town life. He is forevertalking about the
friendly people, the cleanatmosphere, the closeness to nature and thegentle pace of living.Nothing can be
compared,he maintains, with the first cock crow, thetwitteringof birds at dawn, the sight of the rising sunglintingon
the trees and pastures. Thisidyllic
pastoral scene is only part of the picture.My friendfails to
mention the long and friendless winter eveningsin front of the TV ----
virtually the only form of entertainment. Hesays nothing about the poorselection of goods in the shops, or about thoseunfortunatepeople
who have to travel from the country to the city every day to get towork.Why people are
preparedto tolerate a four-hourjourney each day for the dubious
privilegeof living in the country is beyond me. They could be saved so much miseryand expense if theychose tolive in the city where theyrightlybelong.
If you can do without the fewpastoral pleasures of the country, you will findthe city canprovide you withthe
best that life can offer. Younever have to travel miles to see your friends. Theyinvariably live nearby and are alwaysavailable for an informal chat or an
evening'sentertainment. Some of myacquaintancesin the country
come up totown once or twice a year to visit the theatre as a special treat. For themthis is a majoroperation which involvesconsiderable
planning. As the playdraws to its close, theywonder whether they will ever catch that last train home.The city dwellernever experiences anxieties of this sort. The latest
exhibitions, films, or plays are only a short busride away. Shopping, too, is always a pleasure.There is so much variety that you never have tomake do with
second best.Country people run wild when they go shopping inthe city and
stagger homeloaded with as many of the
exotic items as they can carry.
Nor is the city without its moments ofbeauty.There is something comforting about the warm glow shedby advertisements on cold wet winter nights. Few things could be moreimpressive
than the peace that descends on deserted city streets at weekendswhen the thousands that travel to work every day aretucked away in their homes in the country.It
has always been a mysteryto me why city dwellers, whoappreciateall these things,
obstinately pretendthat they would
prefer tolive in the country.
宁静的乡村生活从来没有吸引过我。我生在城市，长在城市，总认为乡村是透过火车车窗看到的那个样子，或偶尔周末去游玩一下的景象。我的许多朋友都住在城市，但他们只要一提起乡村，马上就会变得欣喜若狂。尽管他们都交口称赞宁静的乡村生活的种种优点，但其中只有一人真去农村住过，而且不足6个月就回来了。即使他也仍存有幻觉，好像乡村生活就是比城市生活优越。他滔滔不绝地大谈友好的农民，洁净的空气，贴近大自然的环境和悠闲的生活节奏。他坚持认为，凌晨雄鸡第一声啼叫，黎明时分小鸟吱喳欢叫，冉冉升起的朝阳染红树木、牧场，此番美景无与伦比。但这种田园诗般的乡村风光仅仅是一个侧面。我的朋友没有提到在电视机前度过的漫长寂寞的冬夜——电视是唯一的娱乐形式。他也不说商店货物品种单调，以及那些每天不得不从乡下赶到城里工作的不幸的人们。人们为什么情愿每天在路上奔波4个小时去换取值得怀疑的乡间的优点，我是无法理解的。要是他们愿意住在本来属于他们的城市，则可以让他们省去诸多不便与节约大量开支。
如果你愿舍弃乡下生活那一点点乐趣的话，那么你会发现城市可以为你提供生活中最美好的东西。你去看朋友根本不用跋涉好几英里，因为他们都住在附近，你随时可以同他们聊天或在晚上一起娱乐。我在乡村有一些熟人，他们每年进城来看一回或几回戏，并把此看作一种特殊的享受。看戏在他们是件大事，需要精心计划。当戏快演完时，他们又为是否能赶上末班火车回家而犯愁。这种焦虑，城里人是从未体验过的。坐公共汽车几站路，就可看到最新的展览、电影、戏剧。买东西也是一种乐趣。物品品种繁多，从来不必用二等品来凑合。乡里人进城采购欣喜若狂，每次回家时都买足了外来商品，直到拿不动方才罢休，连走路都摇摇晃晃的。城市也并非没有良辰美景。寒冷潮湿的冬夜里，广告灯箱发出的暖光，会给人某种安慰。周末，当成千上万进城上班的人回到了他们的乡间寓所之后，空旷的街市笼罩着一种宁静的气氛，没有什么能比此时的宁静更令人难忘了。城里人对这一切心里很明白，却偏要执拗地装出他们喜欢住在乡村的样子，这对我来说一直是个谜。
Lesson 42 Modern cavemen 现代洞穴人
Caveexploration, or pot-holing, as it hascome to be known, is a
relativelynew sport. Perhaps it is the desire forsolitudeor the chance of making an unexpected discovery that lures peopledown
to the depths of theearth. It is impossible togivea satisfactory explanation for a pot-holer's motives. For him,caveshave the same peculiar
fascination whichhigh mountains have for the climber.They arouse
instincts which can only be dimly understood.
Exploring reallydeep caves is not a task for the Sunday afternoon rambler.Such undertakings require thepreciseplanning and
foresight ofmilitary operations.
It can take as long as eightdays to
rig up ropeladders and to establish supply bases before adescentcan be
made into avery deep cave.Precautions of this sortare necessary, for it is impossible toforetellthe exact nature
of the difficulties which willconfrontthe pot-holer. The deepest known cave in the world is the Gouffre Berger nearGrenoble. Itextends toa depth of 3,723 feet.
This immensechasmhas been formed by an underground stream which hastunneleda course through a flaw in the rocks. Theentrance
to the cave is on a plateau in the Dauphine Alps. As it is only sixfeet across, it is barelynoticeable.
Thecave might never have been discovered had not the entrance been spotted by thedistinguished French pot-holer, Berger. Sinceits discovery, it has become a sort of pot-holers'Everest(珠峰).
Though a number ofdescents have been made,much of it still remains to be explored.
A team of pot-holersrecentlywent downthe Gouffre Berger. After entering the narrow gapon the plateau,
they climbed down the
steepsides of the cave until they came to narrowcorridor.They had to
edge their wayalong this, sometimeswadingacross shallow streams, or swimming across deep pools. Suddenly theycame to a waterfall whichdroppedinto
an underground lakeat the bottom of the cave. Theyplunged into the lake, and after loading theirgear on aninflatable
rubber dinghy, let the current carry them to the otherside. To protect themselves from the icy water, they had to wear special rubbersuits. At the far end of the lake, they came to huge piles of
rubble which had been washed up by the water. Inthis part of the cave, they could hear aninsistentbooming sound which they found wascaused
by a small water-spout shooting down into a pool fromthe roof of the cave.Squeezing througha
cleft in the rocks, the pot-holersarrived at an
enormous cavern, the size of a huge concert hall.After switching on powerful arc lights, they saw greatstalagmites -- some of them over forty feet high--rising
up liketree-trunks to meet thestalactites
suspended from the roof.Round about, piles of limestoneglistenedin all the colours of the rainbow. In theeerie（可怕的）
silence of thecavern, the only sound that could be heard was made by water which drippedcontinuously from the high dome above them.
洞穴勘查——或洞穴勘探——是一项比较新的体育活动。寻求独处的愿望或寻求意外发现的机会的欲望吸引人们来到地下深处。要想对洞穴探险者的动机作出满意的解释是不可能的。对洞穴探险者来说，洞穴有一种特殊的魅力，就像高山对登山者有特殊魅力一样。为什么洞空能引发人的那种探险本能，人们对此只能有一种模模糊糊的理解。
探测非常深的洞穴不是那些在星期日下午漫步的人所能胜任的。这种活动需要有军事行动般的周密布署和预见能力。有时需要花费整整8天时间来搭起绳梯，建立供应基地，然后才能到一个很深的洞穴里。作出这样的准备是必要的，因为无法预见到洞穴探险者究竟会遇到什么性质的困难。世界上最深的洞穴是格里诺布尔附近的高弗.伯杰洞，深达3,723英尺。这个深邃的洞穴是由一条地下暗泉冲刷岩石中的缝隙并使之慢慢变大而形成的。此洞的洞口在丹芬阿尔卑斯山的高原上，仅6英尺宽，很难被发现。若不是法国著名洞穴探险家伯杰由于偶然的机会发现了这个洞口的话，这个洞也许不会为人所知。自从被发现以后，