《新概念英语》第三、四册(课文txt)

Book III Lesson 1
A puma at largePumas 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.
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.
Book III Lesson 2
Thirteen equals oneOur 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.'
Book III Lesson

3
An unknown goddess Some time ago￡?an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean 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.
Book III Lesson 4
The double life of Alfred BloggsThese 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 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'.

Book III Lesson 5
The factsEditors of newspapers and magazine

s 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 oncesent 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.
Book III Lesson 6
Smash-and-grabThe 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.
Book III Lesson 7
Mutilate
d ladiesChildren often have far more sense than their elders.
This simple truth was demonstrated rather dramatically during a civil defence exe

rcise 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!'
Book III Lesson 8
A famous monasteryThe 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.
Book III Lesson 9
By now, a rocket will have set off on its 35 million mile tri
p 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.
Book III Lesson 10
The loss of TitanicThe 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.
Book III Lesson 11
Not guilty Going through the Customs is a tiresome business.
The strange
st thing about it is that really honest people are often made to feel guilty.
The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never t

roubled 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.
Book III Lesson 12
Life on a desert islandMost 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.

Book III Lesson 13
It's only meAfter her husband had gone to work, Mrs Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom.
She was too e
xcited 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 u

p 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.

Book III Lesson 14
A noble gangsterThere 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'.
Book III Lesson 15
Fifty pence worth of troubleChildren 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 c

hocolate.
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 offhis 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.
Book III Lesson 16
Mary had a little lambMary 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 !
Book III Lesson 17
The longest suspension bridge in the worldVerrazano, 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 Verrazan
o 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 sha

pe 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'.

Book III Lesson 18
Electric currents in modern artModern 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 !

Book III Lesson 19
A very dear catKidnappers 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 Rams
ay got very worried.
She looked everywhere for him but could not find him.
Three day after Rastus' disappearance, Mrs Ramsay received an a

nonymous 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 haddone.
She explained that Rastus was very dear to her.
Considering the amount she paid, he was dear in more ways than one!
Book III Lesson 20
Pioneer pilotsIn 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'.
Hehad 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.
Book III Lesson 21
Daniel MendozaBoxing 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 wh
en 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.
Book III Lesson 22
By heartSome 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 tothe 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 th
e 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 di

m, 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.


Book III Lesson 23
One man's meat is another man's poisonPeople 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 thehall 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.

Book III Lesson 24
A skeleton in the cupboardWe 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 close

st 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.'

Book III Lesson 25
The Cutty SarkOne 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 Thermopy
lae 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.

Book III Lesson 26
Wanted: a large biscuit tinNo 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 themagic 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.

Book III Lesson 27
Nothing to sell and nothing to buyIt 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 mightgrudge 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 s

omething 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?

Book III Lesson 28
Five pounds too dearSmall 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 topay 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.
T
hough he kept throwing up his arms in despair, he readily accepted the pound I gave him.
I felt especially pleased with my wonderful bargain--u

ntil 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 !
Book III Lesson 29
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 spenta 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.

Book III Lesson 30
The death of a ghostFor 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 themoonlight.
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 revealeda 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.
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.
Book III Lesson 31
A lovable eccentricTrue 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 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 p
rivate collection of modern paintings.
This exhibition received a great deal of attention in the press, for though the pictures were supposed t

o 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.

Book III Lesson 32
A lost shipThe 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.
Book III Lesson 33
A day to rememberWe 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 ofcatastrophes.
While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the table-cloth of
f the table smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in the process.
You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc.
Mean

while, 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!
Book III Lesson 34
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 gentl
y 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 r

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