新概念英语第三册第37课-The Westhaven Express.docx

新概念英语第三册第37课:The Westhaven ExpressLesson 37 The Westhaven Express开往威斯特海温的快车 Listen to the tape then answer the question below. 听录音，然后回答以下问题。 What was the mistake the author made? We have learnt to expect that trains will be punctual. After years of conditioning, most of us have developed an unshakable faith in railway timetables. Ships may be delayed by storms; flights may be cancelled because of bad weather, but trains must be on time. Only an exceptionally heavy snowfall might temporarily dislocate railway services. It is all too easy to blame the railway authorities when something does go wrong. The truth is that when mistakes occur, they are more likely to be ours than theirs. After consulting my railway timetable, I noted with satisfaction that there was an express train to Westhaven. It went direct from my local station and the journey lasted mere hour and seventeen minutes. When I boarded the train, I could not help noticing that a great many local people got on as well. At the time, this did not strike me as odd. I reflected that there must be a great many local people besides myself who wished to take advantage of this excellent service. Neither was I surprise when the train stopped at Widley, a tiny station a few miles along the line. Even a mighty express train can be held up by signals. But when the train dawdled at station after station, I began to wonder, It suddenly dawned on me that this express was not roaring down the line at ninety miles an hour, but barely chugging along at thirty. One hour and seventeen minutes passed and we had not even covered half the distance. I asked a passenger if this was the Westhaven Express, but he had not even heard of it. I determined to lodge a complaint as soon as we arrived. Two hours later, I was talking angrily to the station master at Westhaven. When he denied the train's existence, I borrowed his copy of the timetable. There was a note of triumph in my voice when I told him that it was there in black and white. Glancing at it briefly, he told me to look again. A tiny asterisk conducted me to a footnote at the bottom of the page. It said: 'This service has been suspended.' 参考译文 我们已经习惯于信任火车总是准点的。经过多年的适应，大多数人对火车时刻表产生了一种不行动摇的信念。轮船船期可能因风暴而推延，飞机航班可能因恶劣天气而取消，唯有火车必定是准点的。只有非同寻常的大雪才可能短暂打乱铁路运行。因此，一旦铁路上真出了问题，人们便不加思索地责怪铁路当局。事实上，差错很可能是我们自己，而不是铁路当局的。 我查看了列车时刻表，满足地了解到有一趟去威斯特海温的快车。这是趟直达车，旅途总共才需1小时17分钟。上车后，我不禁留意到很多当地人也上了车。一开 始，我并不感到惊奇，我想除我之外，想利用快车之便的也肯定大有人在。火车开出几英里即在一个小站威德里停了下来。对此，我不觉得惊奇，因为即便是特殊快车也可能被信号挡住。但是，当火车一站接着一站往前蠕动时，我便产生了怀疑。我突然感到这趟快车并没以时速90英里的速度咆哮前进，而是卟哧卟哧地向前爬行，时速仅30英里。1小时17分过去了，走了还不到一半路程。我问一位乘客，这是不是开往威斯特海温的那趟快车，他说从未听说过有这么一趟快车。我确定到目的地就给铁路部门提看法。两小时后，我气呼呼地同威斯特海温站站长说起此事。他说根本没有这趟车。于是我借他本人的列车时刻表，我带着一种成功者的调 子告知他那趟车白纸黑字。明明白白印在时刻表上。他快速地扫视了一眼，让我再看一遍。一个小小的星形符号把我的目光引到了那页底部一个说明上。上面写着： “此趟列车暂停运行。” New words and expressions 生词和短语 express n. 快车；adj. 高速的 punctual adj. 准时的 condition v. 使习惯于 unshakable adj. 不行动摇的 faith n. 信任 cancel v. 取消 exceptionally adv. 例外地 dislocate v. 打乱（安排等） blame v. 指责 consult v. 请教，查阅 direct adv. 径直地 odd adj. 惊奇的，异样的 reflect v. 细想 advantage n. 优势 mighty adj. 强大的，有力的 dawdle v. 慢吞吞地动或做 chug v. 咔嚓咔嚓地响 lodge v. 提出 complaint n. 埋怨 triumph n. 成功 asterisk n. 星号（*） conduct v. 引向，引导 Notes on the text课文注释 1 they are more likely to be ours than theirs，这些错误往往是我们而不是铁路当局造成的。 they指mistakes; ours, theirs此处用斜体字表示强调，应当重读。 2 I could not help noticing that…，我不禁留意到.，can't help doing是“禁不住.”的意思。 3 strike me as odd，使我感到惊奇。 4 take advantage of,利用。 5 Neither was I surprised，这是以neither 开头的句子，要用倒装语序。 6 It suddenly dawned on me .，我突然明白了，……。 7 a note of triumph，成功者的调子。 8 in black and white，白纸黑字。Lesson 37 课后练习和答案Exercises and Answer本文来源：网络收集与整理，如有侵权，请联系作者删除，谢谢！第5页 共5页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页第 5 页 共 5 页