《新概念背诵三级打印版》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《新概念背诵三级打印版（11页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、lesson 4 The double life of Alfred BloggsThese 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
2、 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 wa
3、s 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 a
4、nd changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alfs 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 us
5、ed to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him Mr. Bloggs, not Alf.lesson 5 The factsEditors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics
6、. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the presidents 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
7、surrounds the presidents palace. The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them. Meanwhile, the editor was getting i
8、mpatient, 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 a
9、s 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 he had been arrested while c
10、ounting the 1084 steps leading to the 15-foot wall which surrounded the presidents palace.lesson 10 The loss of the TitanicThe great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1,316 passengers and a crew of 891. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton
11、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 16 watertight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will alw
12、ays 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, a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to a
13、void 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 on
14、e thought that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her 16 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 enou
15、gh lifeboats for everybody, 1,500 lives were lost.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
16、 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 Islan
