佳音

    First listen and then answer the question.
    听录音，然后回答以下问题。
    What was the good news?

    The secretary told me that Mr. Harmsworth would see me. I felt very nervous when I went into his office. He did not look up from his desk when I entered. After I had sat down, he said that business was very bad. He told me that the firm could not afford to pay such large salaries. Twenty people had already left. I knew that my turn had come.
    'Mr.Harmsworth,' I said in a weak voice.
    'Don't interrupt,' he said.
    Then he smiled and told me I would receive an extra thousand pounds a year!

New words and expressions 生词和短语

secretary  n. 秘书
nervous  adj. 精神紧张的
afford  v. 负担得起
weak  adj. 弱的
interrupt  v. 插话，打断

参考译文

    秘书告诉我说哈姆斯沃斯先生要见我。我走进他的办公室，感到非常紧张。我进去的时候，他连头也没抬。待我坐下后，他说生意非常不景气。他还告诉我，公司支付不起这么庞大的工资开支，有20个人已经离去。我知道这次该轮到我了。
    “哈姆斯沃斯先生，”我无力地说。
    “不要打断我的话，”他说。
     然后他微笑了一下告诉我说，我每年将得到1,000 英镑的额外收入。

                Lesson 16
            A polite request
             彬彬有礼的要求

    First listen and then answer the question.
    听录音，然后回答以下问题。
    What was the polite request?

    If you park your car in the wrong place, a traffic policeman will soon find it. You will be very lucky if he lets you go without a ticket. However, this does not always happen. Traffic police are sometimes very polite. During a holiday in Sweden, I found this note on my car: 'sir, we welcome you to our city. This is a "No Parking" area. You will enjoy your stay here if you pay attention to our street signs. This note is only a reminder.' If you receive a request like this, you cannot fail to obey it!

New words and expressions 生词和短语

park  v. 停放（汽车）
traffic  n. 交通
ticket)  n. 交通违规罚款单
note  n. 便条
area  n. 地段
sign  n. 指示牌
reminder  n. 提示
fail  v. 无视，忘记
obey  v. 服从

参考译文

    一旦你把汽车停错了地方，交通警很快就会发现。如果他没给你罚单就放你走了，算你走运。然而，情况并不都是这样，交通警有时也很客气。有一次在瑞典度假，我发现我的车上有这样一个字条：“先生，欢迎您光临我们的城市。此处是‘禁止停车’区。如果您对我们街上的标牌稍加注意，您在此会过得很愉快的。谨此提请注意。”如果你收到这样的恳求，你是不会不遵照执行的！