贺知章简介-

2021年2月17日发(作者：发展规划书)

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

（

< p>
adj.

被困得走投无路

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.

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.'

Lesson 3 An unknown goddess

Some time ago

，

an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean

（

adj.

爱琴

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.

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'.

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.

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.

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!'

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.

Lesson9

By now, a rocket will have set off on its 35 million mile trip to Mars and scientists

must be waiting anxiously for the results. The rocket will be travelling for six months

before it reaches the planet.

It contains a number of scientific instruments, including a television camera. Any

pictures that are taken will have to travel for three minutes before they reach the earth.

If the pictures are successful, they may solve a number of problems about Mars and

provide information about the markings on its surface which, nearly 100 years ago,

the astronomer, Schiaparelli, thought to be canals.

It will be a long time before any landing on Mars can be attempted. This will only

be possible when scientists have learnt a lot more about the atmosphere that surrounds

the planet. If a satellite can one day be put into orbit round Mars, scientists will be

able to find out a great deal. An interesting suggestion for measuring the atmosphere

around Mars has been put forward. A rubber ball containing a radio transmitter could

be dropped from a satellite so that it would fall towards the surface of the planet. The

radio would signal the rate which the ball was slowed down and scientists would be

able to calculate how dense the atmosphere is. It may even be possible to drop a

capsule containing scientific instruments on to the planet's surface. Only when a great

deal more information has been obtained, will it be possible to plan a manned trip to

Mars.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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.

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 !

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'.

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 !

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

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.

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 $$2 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener. The response to this

competition was tremendous. Before long, biscuits of all shapes and sizes began

arriving at the factory. One lady brought in a biscuit on a wheelbarrow. It weighed

nearly 500 pounds. A little later, a man came along with a biscuit which occupied the

whole boot of his car. All the biscuits that were sent were carefully weighed. The

largest was 713 pounds. It seemed certain that this would win the prize. But just

before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal

biscuit which weighed 2400 pounds. It had been baked by a college student who had

used over 1000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of fat, and 400

pounds of various other ingredients. It was so heavy that a crane had to be used to

remove it from the lorry. The manufacturers had to pay more money than they had

anticipated, for they bought the biscuit from the student for $$4800.

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?

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 !

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.

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

（隐遁者

,

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.

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(

势

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.'

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

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