Lesson 23
在决定什么能吃而什么不能吃的时候，人们往往变得不合情理。比如，如果你住在地中海地区，你会把章鱼视作
是美味佳肴，同时不能理解为什么有人一见章鱼就恶心。另一方面，你一想到动物油炸土豆就会反胃，但这在北方许多
国家却是一种普通的烹饪方法。不无遗憾的是，我们中的大部分人，生来就只吃某几种食品，而且一辈子都这样。
没有一种生物所受到的赞美和厌恶会超过花园里常见的蜗牛了。蜗牛加酒烧煮后，便成了世界上许多地方的一道
珍奇的名菜。有不计其数的人们从小就知道蜗牛可做菜。但我的朋友罗伯特却住在一个厌恶蜗牛的国家中。他住在
大城市里的一所公寓里，没有自己的花园。多年来，他一直让我把园子里的蜗牛收集起来给他捎去。一开始，他的
这一想法没有引起我多大兴趣。后来有一天，一场大雨后，我在花园里漫无目的的散步，突然注意到许许多多蜗牛在我的
一些心爱的花木上慢悠悠的蠕动着。我一时冲动，逮了几十只，装进一只纸袋里，带着去找罗伯特。罗伯特见到我很高兴，
对我的薄礼也感到满意。我把纸袋放在门厅里，与罗伯特一起进了起居室，在那里聊了好几个钟头。我把蜗牛
的事已忘得一干二净，罗伯特突然提出一定要我留下来吃晚饭，这才提醒了我。蜗牛当然是到主菜。我并不喜欢这个主意，
所以我勉强跟着罗伯特走进了起居室。使我们惊愕的是门厅里到处爬满了蜗牛：它们从纸袋里逃了出来，爬得满厅都是！
从那以后，我再也不能看一眼蜗牛了。

People become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot be 
eaten. If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus a great 
delicacy. You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive. On the 
other hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat -- the normally 
accepted practice in many northern countries.  The sad truth is that most of us have been brought up 
to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives.
No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail. Cooked in 
wine, snails are a great luxury in various parts of the world. There are countless people who, 
ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food. My friend, Robert, lives in a 
country where snails are despised. As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of his own. For years 
he has been asking me to collect snails from my garden and take them to him. The idea never 
appealed to me very much, but one day, after heavy shower, I happened to be walking in my garden 
when I notice a huge number of snails taking a stroll on some of my prize plants. Actingg on a 
sudden impulse, I coolected serveral dozen, put them in a paper bag, and took them to Robert. Robert 
was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my little gift. I left the bag in the hall and Robert 
and I went into the living room where we talked for a couple of hours. I had forgotten all about the 
snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stay to dinner. Snails would, of course, be the main 
dish. I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantly followed Robert out of the room. To our dismay, we 
saw that there were snails everywhere:they had escaped from the paper bag and had taken 
complete possession of the hall! I have never been able to look at a snail since then.

Lesson 24
在小说中，我们经常读到一个表面上受人尊敬的人物或家庭，却有着某种多年不为人所知的骇人听闻的秘密。英语中
有一个生动的说法来形容这种情况。惊人的秘密称作柜中骷髅。在小说的某个戏剧性时刻，可怕的秘密泄露出来，
接着便是某人的声誉扫地。当读者到小说最后几页了解到书中女主人公，那位待大家很好的可爱的老妇人
年轻时一连毒死了她的5个丈夫时，不禁会毛骨悚然。
这种事情发生在小说中是无可非议的。尽管我们人人都有各种大小秘密。连最亲密的朋友都不愿让他们知道，但我们
当中极少有人有柜中骷髅。我所认识的唯一的在柜中藏骷髅的人便是乔治，他甚至引以为豪。乔治年轻时
学过医，然而，他后来没当上医生，却成了一位成功的侦探小说作家。有一次，我在他家里度周末，过得很不愉快。
这事我永远不会忘记。乔治把我领进客房，说这间很少使用。他让我打开行装后下楼吃饭。我将衬衫、内衣放进
两个空抽屉里，然后我想把随身带来的两套西服中的一套挂到大衣柜里去。我打开柜门，站在柜门前一下惊呆了。
一具骷髅悬挂在眼前，由于柜门突然打开，它也随之轻微摇晃起来，让我觉得它好像马上要跳出柜门朝我扑过来似的。
我扔下西服冲下楼去告诉乔治。这是比骇人听闻的秘密更加惊人的东西，这是一具真正的骷髅啊！但乔治却无动于衷。
他笑着说道，俨然在谈论一位老朋友，那是。你忘了我以前是学医的了。

We often read in novels how a seemingly respectable person or family has some terrible secret 
which has been concealed from strangers for years. The English language possesses a vivid 
saying to describe this ort of situation. The terrible secret is called a skeleton in the cupboard. 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 very one of her five husband.
It is all very well for such things to occur in fiction. To varing degrees, we all have secrets which 
we do not want even our closest friends to learn, but few of us have skeletons in the cupboard. The 
only person I know who has a skeleton in the cupboard is George, and he is very pound 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 spend an uncomfortable weekend which I share never 
forget at his house. George showed me to the guestroom wihch, he said, was rarely used. He told 
me to unpack mythings and then come down to dinner. After I had stacked my shirts and 
underclothes in two empty drawers, I decided to hang one of the tow suits I had brought with me
in the cupboard. 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 
and old friend. That's Sebastian. You forget that I was a medical student once upon a time.

Lesson 26
没有人能避免受广告的影响。尽管我们还可以自夸自己的鉴赏力如何敏锐，但我们已经无法独立自主地选购自己所需
的东西了。这是因为广告在我们身上施加着一种潜移默化的影响。做广告的人在力图劝说我们买下这种产品或那种
产品之前，已经仔细研究了人的本性，并把人的弱点进行了分类。
做广告的人们多年前就发现我们大家都喜欢免费得到东西。凡是用免费这个神奇的词开头的广告很少会失败的。
目前，做广告的人不仅提供免费样品，而且还提供免费汽车、免费住房、免费周游世界。他们设计数以百计的竞赛，
竞赛中有人可赢得巨额奖金。电台、电视使做广告的人可以用这种手段吸引百万人的注意力。
有一次，在电台播放的节目里，一个生产饼干的公司请听众烘制饼干送到他们的工厂去。他们愿意以每磅10美元
的价钱买下由听众烘制的最大的饼干。这次竞赛在听众中引起极其热烈的反响。不久，形状各异，大小不一的饼干陆续
送到工厂。一位女士用手推车运来一个饼干，重达500磅左右。相隔不一会儿，一个男子也带来一个大饼干，那个
饼干把汽车的行李箱挤得满满的。凡送来的饼干都仔细地称量。最重的一个达713磅，看来这个饼干获奖无疑了。


No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. Much as we may pride ourselves on our 
good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for advertising exert a sublt 
influence on us. In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product, advertises have made a 
close study of human nature and have classified all our little weaknesses.
Advertisers discovered years ago that all of us love to get something for nothing. An 
advertisement which begins with the magic word FREE can rarely go wrong. These days, advertisers 
not only offer free samples, but free cars, free houses, and free trips round the world as well. They 
devise hundreds of competitions which will enable us to win huge sums of money. Radio and 
television have made it possible for advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this 
way.
During a radio programme, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to bake 
biscuits and send them to their factory. They offered to pay $10 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 
weighted 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 2,4000 pounds. It had been 
baked by a college student who had used over 1,000 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 $24,000.

Lesson 27
据说每个人都靠出售某种东西来维持生活。根据这种说法，教师靠卖知识为生，哲学家靠卖智慧为生，牧师靠卖
精神安慰为生。虽然物质产品的价值可以用金钱来衡量，但要估算别人为我们所提供的服务的价值却是极其困难的。
有时，我们为了挽救生命，愿意付出我们所占有的一切。但就在外科大夫给我们提供了这种服务后，我们却可能
为所支付的昂贵的费用而抱怨。社会上的情况就是如此，技术是必须付钱去买的，就像在商店里要花钱买商品一样。
人人都有东西可以出售。
在这条普遍的规律前面，好像只有流浪汉是个例外，乞丐出售的几乎是他本人，以引起路人的怜悯。但真正的
流浪汉不是乞丐。他们既不出售任何东西，也不需要从别人那儿得到任何东西，在追求独立自由的同时，他们并不牺牲
为人的尊严。流浪汉可能会向你讨钱，但他从来不要你可怜他。他是故意在选择过那种生活的，并完全清楚以这种
方式生活的后果。他可能从不知道下顿饭有无着落，但他不像有人那样被千万愁事所折磨。他几乎没有什么财产，
这使他能够轻松自如地在各地奔波。由于被迫在露天睡觉，他比我们中许多人都离大自然近得多。为了生存，他可能
会去打猎、乞讨，偶尔偷上一两回；确实需要的时候，他甚至可能干一点儿活，但他绝不会牺牲自由。说起流浪汉，
我们常常带有轻蔑并把他们与乞丐归为一类。但是，我们中有多少人能够坦率地说我们对流浪汉的简朴生活与无忧无虑
的情况不感到有些羡慕呢？

It has been said that everyone lives by selling something. In the light of this statement, teachers 
live by selling knowledge, philosophers by selling wisdom and priests by selling spiritual comfort. 
Though it may be possible to measure the value of material good in terms of money, it is extremely 
difficult to estimate the true value of the services which people perform for us. There are times when 
we would willingly give everything we possess to save our lives, yet we might grudge paying a 
surgeon a high fee for offering us precisely this service. The conditions of society are such that 
skills have to be paid for in the same way that goods are paid for at a shop. Everyone has something 
to sell.
Tramps seem to be the only exception to this general rule. Beggars almost sell themselves as 
human being 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 fell 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 possessions 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 scrifice 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?

Lesson 28
当一艘大型班船进港的时候，许多小船载着各种杂货快速向客轮驶来。大船还未下锚，小船上的人就纷纷爬上客轮。
一会儿工夫，甲板上就摆满了色彩斑斓的波斯地毯、印度丝绸、铜咖啡壶以及手工制作的漂亮的银器。要想不为这些
东西所动心是很困难的。船上许多游客开始同商贩讨价还价起来，但我打定主意上岸之前什么也不买。
我刚下船，就被一个人截住，他向我兜售一枚钻石戒指。我根本不想买，但我不能掩饰这样一个事实：其钻石之大给
我留下了深刻的印象。有的钻石像玻璃球那么大。那人竭力想证明那钻石是真货。我们路过一家商店时，他将一颗
钻石使劲往橱窗上一按，在玻璃上留下一道深痕。我花了半个多小时才摆脱了他的纠缠。
向我兜售的第二个人是卖名贵钢笔和手表的。我仔细查看了一支钢笔，那看上去确实不假。金笔帽下方整齐地刻有
美国制造字样。那人说那支笔值50英镑，作为特别优惠，他愿意让我出30英镑成交。我摇摇头，伸出5根手指表示
我只愿意出5磅钱。那人激动地打着手势，仿佛我的出价使他不能容忍。但他终于把价钱降到了10英镑。我耸耸肩膀
掉头走开了。一会儿，他突然从后追了上来，把笔塞到我手里。虽然他绝望地举起双手，但他毫不迟疑的收下了我付给
他的5磅钱。在回到船上之前，我一直为我的绝妙的讨价还价而洋洋得意。然而不管我如何摆弄，那支漂亮的钢笔
就是吸不进墨水来。直到今天，那支笔连一个字也没写过！

Small boats loaded with wares sped to the great liner as she was entering the harbour. 
Before she had anchored, the men from the boats had climbed on board and the decks were soon 
covered with colourful rugs from Persia, silks from India, cooper coffee pots, and beautiful 
handmade silverware. It was difficult not to be tempted. Many of the tourists on board had 
begun bargining with the tradesmen, but I decide 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 
had been neatly inscribed. The man said that the pen was worth 10, but as a special 
favour, he would let me have it for 8. I shook my head and held up a finger indicating that I was 
willing to pay a pound. Gesticulating wildly, the man acted as if he found my offer out-rageous, but 
he eventually reduced the price to 3. Shrugging my shoulders, I began to walk away when, a 
moment later, he ran after me and thrust the pen into my hands. Though he kept throwing up his 
arms in despair, he readily accepted the pound I gave him. I felt especially pleased with my 
wouderful bargain--until I got back to the ship. No matter how hard I tried, it was im-possible to fill 
this beautiful pen with ink and to this day it has never written a signle word.

Lesson 31
真正古怪的人从不有意引人注意。他们不顾社会习俗，意识不到自己所作所为有什么特殊之处。他们总能赢得别人
的喜爱与尊敬，因为他们给平淡单一的日常生活增添了色彩。
是我们镇上最有名望的人之一。他是个精明能干、有钱的商人，但镇上大部分人对他生活中的
这一个方面几乎一无所知。大家都管他叫。早在他去世前很久，他的古怪行为就成了传奇故事了。
痛恨势利小人。尽管他有一辆豪华小轿车，但却很少使用，常常喜欢以步代车。即使大雨倾盆，他也总是拒绝
带伞。一天，他遇上一场瓢泼大雨，淋得透湿。他走进一家高级商店，要为妻子买一块价值300英镑的手表，但店员
见他浑身泥水的样子，竟不肯接待他。二话没说就走了。一会儿，他带着一个大布口袋回到店里。布袋很沉，
他重重地把布袋扔在柜台上。店员让走开，他置之不理，并要求见经理。

True eccentrics never deliberately set out to draw attention to themselves. They disregard 
social conventions without being conscious that they are doing anything extraordinary. This 
invariably wins them the love and respect of others, for they add colour to the dull routine of 
everyday life.
Up to the time of his death, Richard was one of the most notable figures in our town. He 
was a shrewd and wealthy businessman, but most people in the town 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 watch 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 serverely. 
When Dickie was given the watch, 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 -- 30,000 pennies in all!
On another occasion, he invited a number of important critics to see his private collection of modern 
paintings. This exhibition received a great deal of attention in the press, for though the pictures were 
supposed to be the work of famous artists, they had in fact been painted by Dickie. It took him four 
years to stage this elaborate joke simply to prove that critics do not always know what they are 
talking about.

Lesson 33
我们大家都有过事事不顺心的日子。一天开始时，可能还不错，但突然间似乎一切都失去了控制。情况经常是这样的，
许许多多的事情都偏偏赶在同一时刻出问题，好像是一件无关紧要的小事引起了一连串的连锁反应。假设你在
做饭，同时又在照看孩子。这是电话铃响了。它预示着一连串意想不到的灾难的来临。就在你接电话时，孩子把桌布
从桌子上扯下来，将家中最好的陶瓷餐具半数摔碎，同时也弄伤了他自己。你急急忙忙挂上电话，赶去照看孩子和餐具。
这时，饭又烧糊了。好像这一切还不足以使你急得掉泪，你的丈夫接着回来了，事先没打招呼就带来3个客人吃饭。
就像许多人最近在悉尼郊区。。发现的那样，有时乱子会闹得很大。一天傍晚交通最拥挤时，一辆汽车撞上前面
一辆汽车，两个司机争吵起来。紧跟其后的一辆车的司机碰巧是个初学者，她一惊之下突然把车停了下来。她
这一停使得跟在后台的司机也来个急刹车。司机妻子正坐在他身边，手里托着块大蛋糕。她往前一冲，蛋糕从挡风玻璃
飞了出去掉到马路上。此时，一辆卡车正好从后边开到那辆汽车边上，司机看见一块蛋糕从天而降，紧急刹车。

We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but 
suddenly everything seems to get out of control. What invariably happens is that a great 
number of things choose to go wrong at precisely the same moment. It is as if a single 
unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal 
and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this marks the 
prelude to an unforeseen series of catastrophes. While you are on the phone, the baby 
pull the tablecloth off the table, smashing half your best crockery and cutting himself in 
the process. You hang up hurriedly and attend to baby, crockery, etc. Meanwhile, the meal gets 
burnt. As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly 
bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a big scale, as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a 
suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars collided and both drivers began 
to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got 
into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting 
beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the 
windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was 
drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer 
bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of 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!

Lesson 34
古玩店对许多人来说有一种特殊的魅力。高档一点的古玩店为了防尘，把文物漂亮地陈列在玻璃柜子里，那里往往
令人望而却步。而对不太装腔作势的古玩店，无论是谁都不用壮着胆子才敢往里进。人们还常常有希望在发霉、阴暗、
杂乱无章、迷宫般的店堂里，从杂乱地摆放在地面上的、一堆堆各式各样的破烂货里找到一件稀世珍品。
无论是谁都不会一下子就发现一件珍品。一个到处找便宜的人必须具有耐心，而且最重要的是看到珍品时要有鉴别
珍品的能力。要做到这一点，他至少要像古董商一样懂行。他必须像一个专心致志进行探索的科学家那样抱有这样的希望，
即终有一天，他的努力会取得丰硕的成果。
我的老朋友正是这样一个人。他多次向我详细讲他如何只花50英镑便买到一位名家的杰作。一个星期六
的上午，去了我家附近的一家古玩店。由于他从未去过那儿，结果他发现许多有趣的东西。上午很快过去了，
正准备离去，突然看见地板上放着一只体积很大的货箱。古董商告诉他那只货箱刚到不久，但他嫌麻烦不想
把它打开。经恳求，古董商才勉强把货箱撬开了。

Antique shops exert a peculiar fascination on a great many people. The more 
expensive kind of antique shop where rare objects are beautifully dispalyed in glass cases to keep 
them free from dust is usually a forbidding place. But no one had to muster up courage to enter 
a less pretentious antique shop. There is always hope that in its labyrinth of must, dark, 
disordered rooms a real rarity will be found amongst the piles of assorted junk that little the 
floors.
No one discovers a rarity by chance. A truly dedicated bargain hunter 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, is just such a person. He has often described to me how he picked 
up a masterpiece fore a mere $50. One Saturday morning, Frank visited an antique shop in my 
neighbourhood. As he had never been there before, he found a great deal to interest him. The 
morning passed rapidly and Frank was about to leave when he noticed a large packing case lying on 
the floor. The dealer told him that it had just come in but that he could not be bothered to 
open it. Frank begged him to do so and the dealer reluctantly prised it open. The contents were 
disappointing. Apart from an interesting-looking carved dagger, the box was full of crockery, 
much of it broken. Frank gently lifted the crockery out of the box an suddenly noticed a miniature 
painting at the bottom of the packing case. As its composition and line reminded him of an Italian 
painting he knew well, he decided to buy it. Glancing at it briefly, the dealer told him 
that it was worth $50. Frank could hardly conceal his excitement, for he knew that he had 
made a real discovery. The tiny painting proved to be an unknown masterpiece by Correggio and 
was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Lesson 53
各国实行开明的社会政策，受到全世界的推崇。在瑞典，已逐渐形成了一种完善的制度以保护
每个公民不受专横和不称职的政府官员的欺压。由于这种制度行之有效，已被其他国家采纳。
是瑞典人首先认识到政府工作人员如文职人员、警察、卫生稽查员、税务人员等等也会犯错误或者自以为在为公众服务
而把事情做过了头。早在1809年，瑞典论会就建立一个保护公民利益的制度。议会内有一个代表各政党利益
的委员会，由它委派一位称职的人选专门调查个人对国家的意见。此人官衔为 司法特派员， 但瑞典人一般管他
叫 J.O.，即 司法特派员。司法特派员不受任何政治压力的制约。他听取社会各阶层的各种大小意见，并进行调查。
由于意见均需用书面形式提出，司法特派员每年平均收到1，200封信。他有8位律师作为它的助手协助工作，每封信
都详细批阅。司法特派员的工作没什么秘密可言，他的信件是公开的，供公众监督。如果公民的意见正确，司法特派员
便为他伸张正义。司法特派员采取的行动因意见的性质不同而有所不同。他可以善意地批评某位官员，也可以甚至
向议会提议修改某项法律。下述事件是司法特派员工作的一个典型例子。


The Scandinavian countries are much admired all over the world for their enlightened social 
policies. Sweden has evolved an excellent system for protecting the individual citizen from 
highhanded or incompetent public officers. The system has worked so well, that it has been 
adopted in other countries too.
The Swedes were the first to recognize that public officail live civil servants, police officers, health 
inspectors or tax-collectors can make mistakes or act over-zealously in the belief that 
they are serving the public. As long as 1809, the Swedish Parliament introduced a scheme to 
safeguard the interest of the individual. A parliamentary committee representing all political parties 
appoints a person who is suitably qualified to iinvestigate private grievances against the State. 
The official title of the person is Justiteombudsman, but the Swedes commonly refer to him 
as the J.O. or Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is not subject to political pressure. He investigates 
complaints large and small that come to him from all levels of society. As complaints must be made 
in writing, the Ombudsman receives an average of 1,200 letters a year. He has eight lawyer 
assistants to help him and examines every single letter in detail. There is nothing secretive about 
the Ombudsman's work for his correspondence is open to public inspection. If a citizen's 
complaint is justified, the Ombudsman will act on his behalf. The action he takes varies 
according to the nature of the complaint. He may gently reprimand an official or even suggest to 
parliament that a law the altered. The following case is a typical example of the Ombudsman's work.
A foreigner living in a Swedish village wrote to the Ombudsman complaining that he had been illtreated 
by the police, simply because he was a foreigner. The Ombudsman immediately wrote to the 
Chief of Police in the district asking him to send a record of the case. There was nothing in the 
record to show that the foreigner's complaint was jstified and the Chief of Police strongly denied 
the accusation. It was impossible for the Ombudsman to take action, but when he received a 
similar complaint from another foreigner in the same willage, he immediately sent one of his layers 
to investigate the matter. The lawyer ascertained that a policeman had indeed dealt roughly 
with foeigners on serveral occasions. The fact that the policeman was prejudiced against foreigners 
could not be recorded in the official files. It was only possible for the Ombudsman to find this out by 
sending one of his representatives to check the facts. The policeman in question was severely 
reprimanded and was informed that if any further complaints were lodged against him, he 
would prosecuted. The Ombudsman's prompt action at once put an end to an unpleasant 
practice which might have gone unnoticed.

Lesson54 
我们自幼就在对昆虫的惧怕中长大。我们把昆虫当作害多益少的无用东西。人类不断同昆虫斗争，因为昆虫弄脏
我们的食物、传播疾病、吞噬庄稼。它们无缘无故地又叮又咬；夏天的晚上，它们未经邀请便飞到我们房间里，或者
对着露出亮光的窗户乱扑乱撞。我们在日常生活中，不但憎恶如蜘蛛、黄峰之类令人讨厌的昆虫，而且憎恶并无大害
的飞蛾等。阅读有关昆虫的书能增加我们对它们的了解，却不能消除我们的恐惧的心理。即使知道勤奋的蚂蚁甚或在具有
高度组织性的社会里，当看到大群蚂蚁在我们精心准备的午间野餐上爬行时，我们也无法抑制对它们的反感。不管
我们多么爱吃蜂蜜，或读过多少关于蜜蜂具有神秘的识别方向的灵感的书，我们仍然十分害怕被蜂蜇。我们的恐惧
大部分是没有道理的，但却无法消除。同时，不知为什么昆虫又是迷人的。我们喜欢看有关昆虫的书，尤其是当我们
了解螳螂等过着一种令人生畏的生活时，就更加爱读有关昆虫的书了。我们喜欢入迷地看它们做事，它们不知道
我们就在它们身边。当看到蜘蛛扑向一只苍蝇时，一队蚂蚁抬着一只巨大的死甲虫凯旋归时，谁能不感到敬畏呢？
去年夏天，我花了好几天时间站在花园里观察成千只蚂蚁爬上我那颗心爱的桃树的树干。那棵树是靠着房子又遮挡
的一面暖墙生长的。我为这颗树感到特别只好，不仅因为它度过几个寒冬终于活了下来，而且还因为它有时结出
些甘甜的桃子来。到了夏天，我发现树叶开始枯萎，结果在树叶背面找到成串的叫做蚜虫小虫子。蚜虫遭到一窝蚂蚁
的攻击，蚂蚁从它们身上可以获得一种蜜。我当即动手作了一项试验，这项试验尽管没有使我摆脱这些蚂蚁，却使我
着迷了24小时。我用一条胶带把桃树底部包上，不让蚂蚁接近蚜虫。胶带极粘，蚂蚁不敢从上面爬过。在很长一段
时间里，我看见蚂蚁围着大树底部来回转悠，不知所措。半夜，我还拿着电筒来到花园里，满意地发现
那些蚂蚁还围着胶带团团转。无能为力。第二天早上，我起床后希望看见蚂蚁已因无望而放弃了尝试，结果却发现
它们又找到一条新的路径。它们正在顺着房子的外墙往上爬，然后爬上树叶。我懊丧地感到败在足智多谋的蚂蚁的
手下。蚂蚁已很快找到了相应的对策，来对付我那套完全不科学的办法！

We have been brought up to fear insects. We regard them as unnecessary creatures that do more 
harm than good. We continually wage war on them, for they contaminate our food, carry diseases,
or devour our crops. They sting or bite without provocation; they fly uninvited into our 
rooms on summer nights, or beat ageist our lighted windows. We live in dread not only of 
unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless one like moths. Reading 
about them increases our understanding without dispelling our fears. Knowing that the 
industrious ant lives in a highly organized society does nothing to prevent us from being filled 
with revvlsion when we find hordes of them crawling over a carefully prepared picnic lunch. No 
matter how much we like honey, or how much we have read about the uncanny sense of direction 
which bees possess, we have a horror of being stung. Most of our fears are unreasonable, but 
they are impossible to erase. At the same time, however, insects are strangely fascinating. We 
enjoy reading about them, especially when we find that, like the praying mantis, they lead 
perfectly horrible lives. We enjoy staring at them, entranced as they go about their business, 
unaware of our presence. Who has not stood in awe at the sight of a spider 
pouncing on a fly, or a column of ants triumphantly bearing home an enormous dead 
beetle?
Last summer I spent days in the garden watching thousands of ants crawling up the trunk of my 
prize peach tree. The tree has grown against a warm wall on a sheltered side of the house. I am 
especially pround of it, not only because it has survived several severe winters, but because it 
occasionally produces luscious peaches. During the summer, I noticed that the leaves of the 
tree were beginning to wither. Cluster of tin insects called aphids were to be found on the 
underside of the leaves. They were visited by a large colony of ants which obtained a sort of honey 
from them. I immediately embarked on an experiment which, even though if failed to get rid 
of the ants, kept me fascinated for twenty-four hours. I bound the base of the tree with sticky tape, 
making it impossible for the ants to reach the aphids. The tape was so stick that they did not dare to 
cross it. For a long time, I watched them scurrying around the base of the tree in 
bewilderment. I even went out at midnight with a torch and noted with satisfaction 
that the ants were still swarming around the sticky tape without being able to do 
anything about it. I got up early next morning hoping to find that the ants had given up in despair.
Instead, I saw that they had discovered a new route. They were climbing up the wall of the house 
and then on to the leaves of the tree. I realized sadly that I had been completely defeated by their 
ingenuity. The ants had been quict to find an answer to my thoroughly unscientific 
methods!

Lesson 55
天文学方面最新发展使得我们能够在银河系和其他星系发现行星。这是一个重要的成就，因为相对来说，行星很小，
而且不发光。寻找行星证明相当困难，但是要在行星上发现生命会变得更难。第一个需要解答的问题是一颗
行星是否有能够维持生命的条件。举例来说，在我们的太阳系里，对于生命来说，金星的温度太高，而火星的温度
则太低。只有地球提供理想的条件，而即使在这里，植物和动物的进化也用了40亿年的时间。
一颗行星是否能够维持生命取决于它的恒星--即它的太阳--的大小和亮度。设想一下。一颗恒星比我们的太阳
还要大，还要亮，还要热20倍，那么一颗行星为了维持生命就要离它的恒星非常远。反之，如果恒星很小，
维持生命的行星就要在离恒星很近的轨道上运行，而且要有极好的条件才能使生命得以发展，但是，我们如何才能
找到这样一颗行星呢？现在，没有一台现存的望远镜可以发现生命的存在，而开发这样一台望远镜将会是21世纪
天文学的一个重要的研究课题。
使用放置在地球上的望远镜是无法观察到其他行星的生命的。地球周围温暖的大气层和望远镜散出的热量使得我们
根本不可能找到比行星更小的物体。即使是一台放置在围绕地球的轨道上的望远镜--如非常成功的哈勃望远镜
--也因为太阳系中的尘埃微粒而无法胜任。望远镜要放置在木星那样遥远的行星上才有可能在外层空间搜寻生命。
因为我们越是接近太阳系的边缘，尘埃就越稀薄。一旦我们找到这样一颗行星，我们就要想办法将他的恒星射过来的
光线遮暗，这样我们就能彻底看见这颗行星，并分析它的大气层。

Recent developments in astronomy have made it possible to detect planets in our won Milky Way 
and in other galaxies. This is a major achievement because, in relative terms, planets are 
very small and old not emit light. Finding planets is proving hard enough, but finding life on them 
will prove infinitely more difficult. The first question to answer is whether a planet can actually 
support life. In our won solar system, for example, Venus is far too hot and Mars is far too cold to 
support life. Only the Earth provides ideal conditions, and even here it has taken more than four 
billion years for plant and animal life to evolve.
Whether a planet can support life depends on the size and brightness of its star, that is its sun. 
Imagine a star up twenty times larger, brighter and hotter than our own sun. A planet 
would have to be a very long way from it to be capable of supporting liffe. Alternatively, if the star 
were small, the life-supporting planet would have to have a close orbit round it and also provide the 
perfect conditions for life forms to develop. But how would we find such a planet? At present, there 
is no telescope in existence that is capable of detecting the presence of life. The development of 
such a telescope will be one of the great astronomical projects of the twenty-first century.
It is impossible to look for life on another planet using earth-based telescopes. Our own warm 
atmosphere and the heat generated by the telescope would make it impossible to detect objects as 
small as planets. Even a telescope in orbit round the earth, like the very successful Hubble 
telescope, would not be suitable because of the dust particles iron solar system. A telescope would 
have to be as far away as the planet Jupiter to look for life in outer space, because the dust becomes 
thinner the further we travel towards the outer edges of our own solar system. Once we detected a 
planet, we would have to find a way of blotting out the light from its star, so that we would be 
albe to 'see' the planet properly and analyze its atmosphere. In the first instance, we would be 
looking for planet life, rather than little green men. The life forms most likely to develop on 
a planet would be bacteria. It is bacteria that have generated the oxygen we breathe on earth. For 
most of the earth's history they have been the only form of life on our planet. As Earth-dwellers, we 
always cherish the hope that we will be visited by little green men and that we will be able to 
communicate with them. But this hope is always in the realms of science fiction. If we were able to 
discover lowly forms of life like bacteria on another planet, it would completely change our view of 
ourselves. As Daniel Goldin of NASA observed, Finding life else would change everything. No 
human endeavor or though would be unchanged by it.

Lesson 56
形成我们农场东部边界的一条河流一直在我们生活中发挥着重要作用。要是没有这条河，我们就无法生存下去。
泉水只能满足家庭生活用水，因此我们必须从河里抽水用于农业生产。我们向那条河倾诉我们的秘密。我们本能地
懂得，就像养蜂人和他的蜜蜂那样，要是我们不把生活中的重大的事件告诉那条河，就可能大祸临头。
夏天，我们为这条河举办特殊的生日宴会。有时，我们溯流而上来到我们喜爱的回水河汊举办；有时在船坞举办。
那船坞是农场一位前辈在一块草地上盖的，草地紧挨着一个专供游泳、跳水的深水池。天气炎热时，我们便选择
在半夜举办生日聚会，这种聚会是最令人激动的。我们在河边迎接一年四季。春天在河边为最年轻的姑娘戴上花冠，
夏天在河边欢庆仲夏前夜，秋天在河边为丰收而感恩，冬天往河中抛撒一个冬表花环。

The river which forms the eastern boudary of our farm has always palyed an important part in 
our lives. Without it we could not make a living. There is only enough spring water to supply the 
needs of the houses, so we have to pump from the river for farm use. We tell river all our secrets. 
We know instinctively, just as beekeepers with their bees, that misfortune might overtake us if 
the important events of our lives were not related to it.





Lesson 57
我停下车，让汽车发动机冷却一下，同时查看一下地图。我本想离目的地已经不远，但周围一切对我仍很陌生。
我5岁那年，父亲就带我出了国，那是18年前的事了。当时我母亲在一次事故中惨死，父亲未能很快从悲痛与孤独中
恢复过来。他身边的一切都是母亲的影子不断勾起他的伤感。于是他决定移居他国。在这个新的国家里，父亲专心致志
地为我们俩开创一种新的生活，慢慢地不伤心了。父亲没有再娶，因此，我在没有母亲的环境里长大成人。但我却
什么也不缺，他既当父亲又当母亲。他总想将来回国看看，但却不愿长期住下去，因为他与我一样已经把根深深地扎在
异国的土地上。但是，他想看一看家乡的父老乡亲，为我的母亲扫墓。就在他计划回国的前几个月，他突然身患绝症。
他知道自己奄奄一息，于是他要我答应一定单独回故乡一趟。
我下了飞机后租了一辆车，并买了一本详尽的地图册。在乡间行车途中，我觉得它非常有用，但快到家了，我倒觉得
它没什么用了。这倒并非是我背熟了地图，而是父亲曾详细给我讲了，在过了离故乡最近的那个小镇后，在每一个
路标处可见到些什么。因此，我相信这段路对我来说会是很熟悉的。唉，实际我错了，我现在迷路了。
我看了看地图，又查了一下里程表。从小镇出来，我走了10英里。照父亲的说法，我面前应是一个山谷，有农场
与村舍，还可远远望见老家村子里的教堂的尖顶。可现在我却看不出山谷，看不见农舍，也看不见教堂尖顶，看见的只是
一片湖泊。我想一定是什么地方拐错了弯儿。于是我驾车返回小镇，重新按路线行驶。结果又来到刚才那个拐弯处。
奇怪的是那个湖没有在地图上标出。

I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map. I had expected to be near my objective by 
now, but everything still seemed alien to me. I was only five when my father had taken me abroad, 
and that we eighteen years ago. When my mother had died after a tragic accident, he did not 
quickly recover from the shock and loneliness. Everything around him was full of her presence, 
continually reopening the wound. So he decided to emigrate. In the new country he became 
absorbed in making a new life for the two of us, so that he gradually ceased to grieve. He did not 
marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care; but I lacked for nothing, for he was both 
father and mother to me. He always meant to go back on day, but not to stay. His roots and mine 
had become too firmly embedded in the new land. But he wanted to see the old folk again and 
to visit my mother's grave. He became mortally ill a few months before we had planned to go and, 
when he knew that he was dying, he made me promise to go on my own.
I hired a car the day after landing and bought a comprehensive book of maps, which I found most 
helpful on the cross-country journey, but which I did not think I should need on the last stage. It 
was not that I actually remembered anything at all. But my father had described over and over 
again what we should see at every milestone, after leaving the nearest town, so that I was 
positive I should recognize it as familiar territory. Well, I had been wrong, for I was now lost.
I looked at the map and then at the millimeter. I had come ten miles since leaving the town, and 
at this point, according to my father, I should be looking at farms and cottages in a valley, with the 
spire of the church of our village showing the far distance. I could see no valley, no farms, no 
cottages and no church spire -- only a lake. I decided that I must have taken a wrong turning 
somewhere. So I drove back to the town and began to retrace the route, taking frequent 
glances at the map. I landed up at the same corner. The The curious thing was that the lake was not 
marked on the map. I left as if I had stumbled into a nightmare country, as you sometimes do in dreams. 
And, as in a nightmare, there was nobody in sight to help me. Fortunately for me, as I was 
wondering what to do next, there appeared on the horizon a man on horseback, riding in my 
direction. I waited till he came near, then I asked him the way to our old village. He said that there 
was now no vilage. I though he must have misunderstood me, so I repeated its name. This time he 
pointed to the lake. The village no longer existed because it had been submerged, and all the 
valley too. The lake was not a natural one, but a man-made reservoior.

Lesson 35
正义这个词常常是同法庭连在一起的。当某人被证据确凿地证明无罪的时候，我们也许会说正义得到了伸张。
正义是复杂的法律机器组成部分。那些寻求正义的人走的是一条崎岖的道路，从来没有把握他们最终将得到正义。法官
无论如何聪明与有名，毕竟也是人，也会有差错的。

The word justice is usually associated with courts of law. We might say that justice has been done 
when a man's innocence or guilt has been proved beyond doubt. Justice is part of the 
complex machinery of the law. Those who seek it undertake an arduous journey and can 
never be sure that they will find it. Judges, however wise or eminent, are human and can make 
mistakes.
There are rare instances when justice almost ceases to be an abstract concept. Reward or 
punishment are meted out quite independent of human interference. At such times, justice acts 
like a living force. When we use a phrase like it serves him right, we are, in part, admitting that a 
certain set of circumstance has enabled justice to act of its own accord.











