2007年1月2日星期二

NewConceptEnglishIII_007:Mutilated ladies 

        Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever put your trousers in the washing machine and then remembered there was a large bank note in your back pocket? When you rescued your trousers, did you find the note was whiter than white? People who live in Britain needn’t despair when they make mistakes like this (and a lot of peole do)! Fortunately for them, the Bank of England has a team called Mutilated Ladies which deals with claims from people who fed their money to a machine or to their dog. Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money!
        A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fiance, John, runs a successful furniture business. John had a very good day and put his wallet containing £3,000 into the microwave oven for safekeeping. Then he and Jane went horse-riding. When they got home, Jane cooked their dinner in the microwave oven and without realizing it, cooked her fiancé’s wallet as well. Imagine their dismay when they found a beautufully-cooked wallet and notes turned to ash! John went to see his bank magnager who sent the remains of wallet and the money to the secial department of the Band of England in Newcastle: the Mutilated Ladies! They examined the remains and John got all his money back. ‘So long as there’s something to identify, we will give people their money back,’ said a spokeswoman for the Band. ‘Last year, we paid £1.5m on 21,000 claims.’

       这种事情在你身上出现过吗?你有没有把裤子塞洗衣机,然后又想在裤子的后兜有一张大面值的纸币?当你把裤子抢救出来时,你有没有发现那张纸币已经变得比白纸还白?当英国人犯这种错误时,他们不必感到绝忚(而许多国家的人都有这种绝忚的感觉)。对英国人来说,值得庆幸的是英国银行有一个残钞鉴别组,负责理那些把钱塞进机器或塞给狗的人提出的索赔要求。看起来,狗很喜欢咀嚼钱币。
       最近的一个案例与简.巴特林有关,她的未婚夫约翰拥有一家生意兴隆家具店。有一天约翰的生意很好,他把一只装有3,000 英镑的钱包放进微波炉内保存。然后,他和简一起去骑马。回家后,简用微波炉煮了晚饭,无意中之中把她未婚夫的钱包也一起煮了。可以想像他们发现一只煮得很好看的钱包,钞票已化成灰时的沮丧心情。约翰去找银行经理,经理把约翰的钱包和纸币的残留物送到英国银行在纽卡斯尔的一个专门部门——残钞鉴别组。他们鉴定了这些残留物。约翰拿回了他失的全部数额。“只要有东西可供识别,我们会把钱还给人家的,”银行的一位女发言人说。“去年,我们对21,000 起索赔要求支付了150万英镑。”

1. 单词
(1)trousers  
英[ˈtraʊzəz] 美[ˈtraʊzərz]
n.    裤子;
(2)mutilate   
英[ˈmju:tɪleɪt] 美[ˈmjutl:ˌet]
vt.    切断(手足等); 毁坏,毁伤; 使…残缺不全; 使…支离破碎;
(3)oven
英[ˈʌvn] 美[ˈʌvən]
n.    烤箱,烤炉,灶;

2. 短语
(1)hew up   充分咀嚼并咽下

       Children often have far more sense than their elders. This simple truth was demonstrated rather dramatically during a civil defence exercise 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!'

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