These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than people 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 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. 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'. （250）manual adj. 体力的 collar n. 衣领
sacrifice v. 牺牲，献出 privilege n. 好处
dustman n. 清洁工 corporation n. 公司
overalls n. 工作服 shower n. 淋浴
secret n. 秘密 status n. 地位
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Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their reader 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 refuse 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 find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.
The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but the 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 more faxes, but received no reply. He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist. Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor that the he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace. （248）editor n. 编辑 extreme n. 极端
statistics n. 统计数字 journalist n. 新闻记者
president n. 总统 palace n. 王宫；宏伟的住宅
publish v. 出版 fax n. 传真
impatient adj. 不耐烦的 fire v. 解雇
originally adv. 起初，原先，从前
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The expensive shops in a famous 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 display. Two of his assistants had been working busily since eight 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 home blaring, roared down the arcade. It came to a stop outside the jeweller's. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stocking 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. （247）smash-and-grab n. 砸橱窗抢劫 arcade n. 有拱廊的街道
Piccadilly n.皮卡迪利大街 jewllery n. 珠宝（总称）
Necklace n.项链 ring n. 戒指
Background n. 背景 velvet n. 天鹅绒，丝绒
Headlight n. （汽车等）前灯 blare v.发嘟嗜声，吼叫
Staff n. 全体工作人员 raid n. 偷袭
Scramble n. 偷袭 scramble v. 爬行
Fantastic adj. 非常大的 ashtray n. 烟灰缸
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The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1,316 passengers and crew of 891. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At the time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen watertight 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 water of the North Atlantic, huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout. 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 walk 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 though that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen watertight 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 lifeboats for everybody, 1,500 lives were lost.（253）Southampton n. 南安普敦 colossal adj. 庞大的
Watertight adj. 不漏水的 compartment n.（轮船的）密封舱
Flood v. 充满水 float v. 漂浮，飘浮
Tragic adj. 悲惨的 liner n. 班船
Voyage n. 航行 iceberg n. 冰山
Lookout n. 了望员 collision n. 碰撞
Narrowly adv. 刚刚，勉强地 miss v. 避开
Slight adj. 轻微的 tremble v. 震颤
Faint adj. 微弱的 horror n. 恐惧
Abandon v. 抛弃 plunge v. 投入，跳入
Lifeboat n. 救生船
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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 cans 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 rainwater 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. （258）entitle v. 以......为名 calm v. 使镇定
desert island 荒岛 unrealistic adj. 不真实
paradise n. 天堂，乐士 wretched adj. 可怜的，艰苦的
starve v. 挨饿 element n. 成分
opportunity n. 机会 coral n. 珊瑚
Virgin Islands 维尔京群岛 Miami n. 迈阿密（美国最南的城市）
dinghy n. 救生筏，小船 Caribbean n. 加勒比海
spear gun 捕鱼枪 lobster n. 龙虾
tanker n.油轮 genuinely adv. 由衷地
Robinson Crusoe 鲁滨孙.克鲁索（小说《鲁滨孙漂流记》主人公）
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Children always appreciate small gifts of money. Mum or dad, of course, provides a regular supply of pocket money, but uncles and ants are always a source of extra income. With some children, small sums go a long way. If fifty pence pieces are not exchanged for sweets, they rattle for months inside moneyboxes. Only very thrifty children manage to fill up a moneybox. For most of them, fifty pence is a small price to pay for a nice big bar of chocolate.
My nephew, George, has a moneybox but it is always empty. Very few of the fifty pence pieces and pound coins I have given him have found their way there. I gave him fifty pence yesterday and advised him to save it. Instead he bought himself fifty pence worth of trouble. On his way to the sweet shop, he dropped his fifty pence and it bounced along the pavement and then disappeared down a drain. George took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and pushed is right arm through the drain cover. He could not find his fifty pence piece anywhere, and what is more, he could no 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 fire fighters 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 large box of chocolates. （263）appreciate v. 欣赏，感激 pocket money 零用钱
thrifty adj. 节约的 nephew n. 侄子，外甥
bounce v. 弹起，跳起 pavement n. 人行道
stick (stuck, stuck) v. 夹住 brigade n. 旅，（消防）队
grease n. 润滑油
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