新概念三 Lesson 14    A noble gangster 貴族歹徒

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 andsettled

near 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 wouldmarch

into 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.'

曾經有一個時期,芝加哥的店主和商行的老闆們不得不拿出大筆的錢給歹徒以換取"保護"。如果交款不及時,歹徒們就會很快搗毀他的商店,讓他破產.榨取"保護金"並不是一種現代的罪惡行徑.早在14世紀,英國人約翰.霍克伍德就有過非凡的發現:"人們情願拿出大筆的錢,也不願畢生的心血毀於歹徒之手.

600年前,約翰.霍克伍德爵士帶著一隊士兵來到義大利,在佛羅倫薩附近駐紮下來,很快就出了名.義大利人叫他喬凡尼.阿庫託.每次義大利各城邦之間發生戰爭,霍克伍德把他的士兵僱傭給願給他出高價的君主。和平時期,當生意蕭條時,霍克伍德便帶領士兵進入某個城邦,縱火燒燬一兩個農場,然後提出,如向他們繳納保護金,他們便主動撤離。霍克伍德用這種方法掙了大筆錢.儘管如此,義大利人還是把他視作某種英雄。他80歲那年死去時,佛羅倫薩人為他舉行了國葬,併為他畫像以紀念這位"驍勇無比的戰士、傑出的領袖喬凡尼.阿庫託先生."

Lesson 17     The longest suspension bridge in the world 世界上最長的吊橋

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，一位鮮為人知的義大利人維拉薩諾駕船駛進紐約港，並將該港名為安古拉姆。他對該港作了這樣的描述：“地理位置十分適宜，位於兩座小山的中間，一條大河從中間流過”。雖然維拉薩諾絕對算不上一個偉大的探險家，但他的名字將流芳百世，因為1964年11月21日建成的一座世界上最長的吊橋是以他的名字命名。

維拉薩諾大橋由奧斯馬.阿曼設計，連結著布魯克林與斯塔頓島，橋長4,260英尺。由於橋身太長，設計者不得不考慮了地表的形狀。兩座巨塔支撐著4根粗大的鋼纜。塔身建在巨大的水下鋼盤混凝土平臺上。平臺深入海底100英尺。僅這兩座塔就花了16個月才建成。塔身高出水面將近700英尺。高塔支撐著鋼纜，而鋼纜又懸吊著大橋，4根鋼纜中的每根由26，108股鋼繩組成。據估計，若橋上擺滿了汽車，也只不過是橋的總承載力的1/3。然而，這座橋重要特點不僅是它的規模與強度。儘管此橋很大，但它的結構簡單，造型優美，實現了設計者企圖創造一個“儘量用細線條勾畫出一個龐然大物”的夢想。

Lesson 21     Daniel Mendoza      丹尼爾.門多薩

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.

兩百年前，拳擊比賽在英國非常盛行。當時，拳擊手們不戴手套，為爭奪獎金而搏鬥。因此，他們被稱作“職業拳擊手”。不過，拳擊是十分野蠻的，因為當時沒有任何比賽規則，職業拳擊手有可能在比賽中受重傷，甚至喪命。

拳擊史上最引人注目的人物之一是丹尼爾.門多薩，他生於1764年。1860年昆斯伯裡侯爵第一次為拳擊比賽制定了規則，拳擊比賽這才用上了手套。雖然門多薩嚴格來講不過是個職業拳擊手，但在把這種粗野的拳擊變成一種體育運動方面，他作出了重大貢獻。是他把科學引進了這項運動。門多薩在他的全盛時期深受大家歡迎，無論是富人還是窮人都對他祟拜備至。

門多薩在14歲時參加一場拳擊賽後一舉成名。這引起當時英國拳壇名將理查德.漢弗萊斯的注意。他主動提出教授門多薩，而年少的門多薩一學就會。事實上，門多薩不久便名聲大振，致使漢弗萊斯與他反目為敵。兩個人爭吵不休，顯而易見，只有較量一番才能解決問題。於是兩人在斯蒂爾頓設下賽場，廝打了一個小時。公眾把大筆賭注下到了門多薩身上，但他卻輸了。後來，門多薩與漢弗萊斯再次在拳擊場上較量，門多薩又輸了一場。直到1790年他們第3次對壘，門多薩才終於擊敗漢弗萊斯，成了全英拳擊冠軍。同時，他建立了一所拳擊學校，辦得很成功，連拜倫勳爵也成了他的學生。門多薩掙來大筆大筆的錢，一次出場費就多可達100英鎊。儘管收入不少，但他揮霍無度，經常債臺高築。他被一個叫傑克遜紳士的拳擊手擊敗後很快被遺忘。他因無力還債而被捕入獄，最後於1836年在貧困中死去。

Lesson 24 A skeleton in the cupboard“家醜”

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. ’

在小說中，我們經常讀到一個表面上受人尊重的人物或家族，卻有著某種多年不為人所知的駭人聽聞的祕密。英語中有一個生動的說法來形容這種情況。驚人的祕密被稱作“櫃中骷髏”。在小說的某個戲劇性時刻，可怕的祕密洩漏出來，接著便是某人的聲譽掃地。當讀者讀到小說最後幾頁瞭解到書中女主人公，那位一向待大家很好的可愛的老婦人年輕時一連毒死了她的5個丈夫時，不禁會毛骨悚然。

這種事發生在小說中是無可非議的。儘管我們人人都有各種大小祕密，連最親密的朋友都不願讓他們知道，但我們當中極少有人有櫃中骷髏。我所認識的唯一的在櫃中藏骷髏的人便是喬治·卡爾頓，他甚至引以為自豪。喬治年輕時學過醫，然而，他後來沒當上醫生，卻成了一位成功的偵探小說作家。有一次，我在他家裡度週末，過得很不愉快。這事我永遠不會忘記。喬治把我領進客房，說這間房間很少使用。他讓我開啟行裝後下樓吃飯。我將襯衫、內衣放進兩個空抽屜裡，然後我想把隨身帶來的兩套西服中的一套掛到大衣櫃裡去。我開啟櫃門，站在櫃門前一下子驚呆了。一具骷髏懸掛在眼前，由於櫃門突然開啟，它也隨之輕微搖晃起來，讓我覺得它好像馬上要跳出櫃門朝我撲過來似的。我扔下西服衝下樓去告訴喬治。這是比“駭人聽聞的祕密”更加驚人的東西，這是一具真正的骷髏啊！但喬治卻無動於衷。“噢，是它呀！他笑著說道，儼然在談論一位老朋友。“那是塞巴斯蒂安。你忘了我以前是學醫的了。”

Lesson 27    Nothing to sell and nothing to buy 沒有東西可賣也沒有東西可買

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?

據說每個人都靠出售某種東西來維持生活。根據這種說法，教師靠賣知識為生，哲學家靠賣智慧為生，牧師靠賣精神安慰為生。雖然物質產品的價值可以用金錢來衡量，但要估算別人為我們為所提供的服務的價值卻是極其困難的。有時，我們為了挽救生命，願意付出我們所佔有的一切。但就在外科大夫給我們提供了這種服務後，我們卻可能為所支付的昂貴的費用而抱怨。社會上的情況就是如此，技術是必須付錢去買的，就像在商店裡要花錢買商品一樣。人人都有東西可以出售。

在這條普遍的規律前面，好像只有流浪漢是個例外，乞丐出售的幾乎是他本人，以引起過路人的憐憫。但真正的流浪並不是乞丐。他們既不出售任何東西，也不需要從別人那兒得到任何東西，在追求獨立自由的同時，他們並不犧牲為人的尊嚴。遊浪漢可能會向你討錢，但他從來不要你可憐他。他是故意在選擇過那種生活的，並完全清楚以這種方式生活的後果。他可能從不知道下頓飯有無著落，但他不像有人那樣被千萬樁愁事所折磨。他幾乎沒有什麼財產，這使他能夠輕鬆自如地在各地奔波。由於被迫在露天睡覺，他比我們中許多人都離大自然近得多。為了生存，他可能會去打獵、乞討，偶爾偷上一兩回；確實需要的時候，他甚至可能幹一點兒活，但他決不會犧牲自由。說起流浪漢，我們常常帶有輕蔑並把他們與乞丐歸為一類。但是，我們中有多少人能夠坦率地說我們對流浪漢的簡樸生活與無憂無慮的境況不感到有些羨慕呢？

Lesson 33 A day to remember難忘的一天

 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!

我們大家都有過事事不順心的日子。一天開始時，可能還不錯，但突然間似乎一切都失去了控制。情況經常是這樣的，許許多多的事情都偏偏趕在同一時刻出問題，好像是一件無關緊要的小事引起了一連串的連鎖反應。假設你在做飯，同時又在照看孩子。這時電話鈴響了，它預示著一連串意想不到的災難的來臨。就在你接電話時，孩子把桌布從桌子上扯了下來，將家中最好的陶瓷餐具半數摔碎，同時也弄傷了他自己。你急急忙忙掛上電話，趕去照看孩子和餐具。這時，飯又燒糊了。好像這一切還不足以使你急得掉淚，你的丈夫接著回來了，事先沒打招呼就帶來3個客人吃飯。

就像許多人最近在悉尼郊區帕拉馬塔所發現的那樣，有時亂子會鬧得很大。一天傍晚交通最擁擠時，一輛汽車撞上前面一輛汽車，兩個司機爭吵起來。緊跟其後的一輛車上的司機碰巧是個初學者，她一驚之下突然把車停了下來。她這一停使得跟在後頭的司機也來了個急剎車。司機的妻子正坐在他身邊，手裡託著塊大蛋糕。她往前一衝，蛋糕從擋風玻璃飛了出去掉在馬路上。此時，一輛卡車正好從後邊開到那輛汽車邊上，司機看見一塊蛋糕從天而降，緊急剎車。卡車上裝著空啤酒瓶，成百隻瓶子順勢從卡車後面滑出車外落在馬路上。這又引起了一場脣槍舌劍的爭吵。與此同時，後面的車輛排成了長龍，警察花了將近一個小時才使車輛又開起來。在這段時間裡，卡車司機不得不清掃那幾百隻破瓶子。只有兩隻野狗從這一片混亂中得到了好處，它們貪婪地吃掉了剩下的蛋糕。這就是事事不順心的那麼一天！

Lesson 34 A happy discovery幸運的發現

 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.

古玩店對許多人來說有一種特殊的魅力。高檔一點的古玩店為了防塵，把文物漂亮地陳列在玻璃櫃子裡，那裡往往令人望而卻步。而對不太裝腔作勢的古玩店，無論是誰都不用壯著膽子才敢往裡進。人們還常常有希望在發黴、陰暗、雜亂無章、迷宮般的店堂裡，從雜亂地擺放在地面上的、一堆堆各式各樣的破爛貨裡找到一件稀世珍品。

無論是誰都不會一下子就發現一件珍品。一個到處找便宜貨買的人必須具有耐心，而且最重要的是看到珍品時要有鑑別珍品的能力。要做到這一點，他至少要像古董商一樣在行。他必須像一個專心致志進行探索的科學家那樣抱有這樣的希望，即終有一天，他的努力會取得豐碩的成果。

我的老朋友弗蘭克·哈利戴正是這樣一個人。他多次向我詳細講他如何只花50英鎊便買到一位名家的傑作。一個星期六的上午，弗蘭克去了我家附近的一家古玩店。由於他從未去過那兒，結果他發現了許多有趣的東西。上午很快過去了，弗蘭克正準備離去，突然看見地板上放著一隻體積很大的貨箱。古董商告訴他那隻貨箱剛到不久，但他嫌麻煩不想把它開啟。經弗蘭克懇求，古董商才勉強把貨箱撬開了。箱內東西令人失望。除了一柄式樣別緻、雕有花紋的匕首外，貨箱內裝滿了陶器，而且大部分都已破碎。弗蘭克輕輕地把陶器拿出箱子，突然發現在箱底有一幅微型畫，畫面構圖與線條使他想起了一幅他所熟悉的義大利畫，於是他決定將畫買下來。古董商漫不經心看了一眼那幅畫，告訴弗蘭克那畫值50英鎊。弗蘭克幾乎無法掩飾自己興奮的心情，因為他明白自己發現了一件珍品。那幅不大的畫原來是柯勒喬的一幅未被發現的傑作，價值幾十萬英鎊。

Lesson 38    The first calender 最早的日曆

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.

未來的歷史學家在寫我們這一段歷史的時候會別具一格。對於逐漸積累起來的龐大材料，他們幾乎不知道選取哪些好，而且，也不必完全依賴文字材料。電影、錄影、光碟和光碟驅動器只是能為他們提供令人眼花繚亂的大量資訊的幾種手段。他們能夠身臨其境般地觀看我們做事，傾聽我們講話。但是，歷史學家企圖重現遙遠的過去可是一項艱鉅的任務，他們必須根據現有的不充分的線索進行推理。即使看起來微不足道的遺物，也可能揭示人類早期歷史的一些有趣的內容。

歷史學家迄今認為日曆是隨農業的問世而出現的，因為當時人們面臨著瞭解四季的實際需要，但近期科學研究發現，好像這種假設是不正確的。

長期以來，歷史學家一直對雕刻在牆壁上、骨頭上、古代長毛象的象牙上的點、線和形形色色的符號感到困惑不解。這些痕跡是遊牧人留下的，他們生活在從公元前約35，000年到公元前10，000年的冰川期的末期，以狩獵、捕魚為生。歷史學家通過把世界各地留下的這種痕跡放在一起研究，終於弄懂了這種費解的程式碼。他們發現程式碼與晝夜更迭和月亮圓缺有關，事實上是一種最原始的日曆。大家早就知道，畫在牆上的狩獵圖景並不是單純的藝術表現形式，它們有著一定的含義，因為它們已接近古代人的文字形式。有時，這種圖畫與牆壁上的刻痕共存，它們之間可能有一定的聯絡。看來人類早就致力於探索四季變遷了，比人們想像的要早20,000年。

Lesson 40 Who's who真假難辨

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.

誰也弄不清為什麼大學生好像比任何人都更喜歡惡作劇。大學生擅長一種特殊的惡作劇——戲弄人。請消防隊來撲滅一場根本沒有的大火是一種低階騙局，有自尊心的大學生決不會去做。大學生們常常做的是製造一種可笑的局面，除了受害者大家都覺得非常滑稽。

最近有個學生看見兩個工人在大學校門外用風鑽幹活，馬上打電話報告警察，說有兩個學生裝扮成工人，正在用風鑽破壞路面。掛上電話後，他又馬上來到工人那兒，告訴他們若有個警察來讓他們走開，不要把他當回事；還對工人說，有個學生常裝扮成警察無聊地同別人開玩笑。警察與工人都對那個學生事先通報情況表示感謝。

那學生躲在附近一拱形門廊裡，在那兒可以看見、聽到現場發生的一切。果然，警察來了，有禮貌地請工人離開此地；但其中一個工人粗魯地回了幾句。於是警察威脅要強行使他們離開。工人說，悉聽尊便。警察去打電話叫人。一會兒工夫，又來了4個警察，規勸工人離開。由於工人拒絕停下手中的活，警察想奪風鑽。兩個工人奮力抗爭，其中一個發了火，威脅說要去叫警察。警察聽後譏諷地說，這大可不必，因為他倆已被逮捕了。其中一個工人裝模作樣地問道，在被帶往警察局之前，是否可以打一個電話。警察同意了，陪他來到一個投幣電話前。當他看到那個工人真的是給警察掛電話，才恍然大悟，原來他們都成了一場騙局的受害者。

Lesson 41 Illusions of PastoralPeace寧靜田園生活的遐想

 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.

寧靜的鄉村生活從來沒有吸引過我。我生在城市，長在城市，總認為鄉村是透過火車車窗看到的那個樣子，或偶爾週末去遊玩一下的景象。我的許多朋友都住在城市，但他們只要一提起鄉村，馬上就會變得欣喜若狂。儘管他們都交口稱讚寧靜的鄉村生活的種種優點，但其中只有一人真去農村住過，而且不足6個月就回來了。即使他也仍存有幻覺，好像鄉村生活就是比城市生活優越。他滔滔不絕地大談友好的農民，潔淨的空氣，貼近大自然的環境和悠閒的生活節奏。他堅持認為，凌晨雄雞第一聲啼叫，黎明時分小鳥吱喳歡叫，冉冉升起的朝陽染紅樹木、牧場，此番美景無與倫比。但這種田園詩般的鄉村風光僅僅是一個側面。我的朋友沒有提到在電視機前度過的漫長寂寞的冬夜——電視是唯一的娛樂形式。他也不說商店貨物品種單調，以及那些每天不得不從鄉下趕到城裡工作的不幸的人們。人們為什麼情願每天在路上奔波4個小時去換取值得懷疑的鄉間的優點，我是無法理解的。要是他們願意住在本來屬於他們的城市，則可以讓他們省去諸多不便與節約大量開支。

如果你願捨棄鄉下生活那一點點樂趣的話，那麼你會發現城市可以為你提供生活中最美好的東西。你去看朋友根本不用跋涉好幾英里，因為他們都住在附近，你隨時可以同他們聊天或在晚上一起娛樂。我在鄉村有一些熟人，他們每年進城來看一回或幾回戲，並把此看作一種特殊的享受。看戲在他們是件大事，需要精心計劃。當戲快演完時，他們又為是否能趕上末班火車回家而犯愁。這種焦慮，城裡人是從未體驗過的。坐公共汽車幾站路，就可看到最新的展覽、電影、戲劇。買東西也是一種樂趣。物品品種繁多，從來不必用二等品來湊合。鄉里人進城採購欣喜若狂，每次回家時都買足了外來商品，直到拿不動方才罷休，連走路都搖搖晃晃的。城市也並非沒有良辰美景。寒冷潮溼的冬夜裡，廣告燈箱發出的暖光，會給人某種安慰。週末，當成千上萬進城上班的人回到了他們的鄉間寓所之後，空曠的街市籠罩著一種寧靜的氣氛，沒有什麼能比此時的寧靜更令人難忘了。城裡人對這一切心裡很明白，卻偏要執拗地裝出他們喜歡住在鄉村的樣子，這對我來說一直是個謎。

Lesson 42    Modern cavemen    現代洞穴人

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——是一項比較新的體育活動。尋求獨處的願望或尋求意外發現的機會的慾望吸引人們來到地下深處。要想對洞穴探險者的動機作出滿意的解釋是不可能的。對洞穴探險者來說，洞穴有一種特殊的魅力，就像高山對登山者有特殊魅力一樣。為什麼洞空能引發人的那種探險本能，人們對此只能有一種模模糊糊的理解。

探測非常深的洞穴不是那些在星期日下午漫步的人所能勝任的。這種活動需要有軍事行動般的周密佈署和預見能力。有時需要花費整整8天時間來搭起繩梯，建立供應基地，然後才能到一個很深的洞穴裡。作出這樣的準備是必要的，因為無法預見到洞穴探險者究竟會遇到什麼性質的困難。世界上最深的洞穴是格里諾布林附近的高弗.伯傑洞，深達3,723英尺。這個深邃的洞穴是由一條地下暗泉沖刷岩石中的縫隙並使之慢慢變大而形成的。此洞的洞口在丹芬阿爾卑斯山的高原上，僅6英尺寬，很難被發現。若不是法國著名洞穴探險家伯傑由於偶然的機會發現了這個洞口的話，這個洞也許不會為人所知。自從被發現以後，這個洞成了洞穴探險者的珠穆朗瑪峰，人們多次進入洞內探險，但至今尚有不少東西有待勘探。

最近，一隊洞穴探險者下到了高弗.伯傑洞裡。他們從高原上的窄縫進去，順著筆直陡峭的洞壁往下爬。來到一條狹窄的走廊上。他們不