[00:00.00]308 Two Tramps and a Dog
[00:04.94]Two tramps were walking along a quiet road.
[00:08.28]A sorry-look-ing dog was following them.
[00:11.15]"I'm very hungry, but we have no money with us." said the first tramp.
[00:16.46]"We'll find something," the second tramp said cheerfully.
[00:20.30]Suddenly, the tramps saw a car in the distance.
[00:24.24]It was coming towards them very quickly.
[00:27.01]Both the tramps moved to one side but the dog stayed in the middle of the road.
[00:32.71]The driver tried to stop the car, but it was too late.
[00:36.62]The car hit the dog and killed it.
[00:39.50]The driver got out of the car and went towards the first tramp.
[00:43.70]"Poor little dog," the first tramp said sadly.
[00:47.96]"I'm pretty sorry," the driver said. "I tried to avoid your dog but I couldn't."
[00:54.02]He took out his wallet and gave five pounds to the tramp.
[00:58.20]"Will that be all right?" the driver asked. "Yes, sir, thank you, sir" the tramp said.
[01:05.12]The driver got into his car and drove away.
[01:08.39]"Poor little dog," the first tramp said and put the money in-to his pocket.
[01:13.98]"Whose dog was it?" the second tramp asked.
[01:19.41]309 Early One Morning
[01:23.85]On Sundays father takes us for a drive into the country.
[01:28.22]We enjoy this very much.
[01:30.07]Last Sunday we got up very early.
[01:32.76]We sat in the car and waited for father.
[01:35.32]At six-thirty mother and father were ready.
[01:39.11]Father sat behind the wheel and started the engine.
[01:42.11]The car didn't move. "That's funny," father said.
[01:46.16]"It was all right yesterday."
[01:47.81]He tried again, but the car didn't move.
[01:50.94]"There isn't any petrol in the tank!" my brother Jimmy said.
[01:55.54]"You are right, Jimmy!" father answered.
[01:58.67]"I'll go and get some petrol from the garage," Jimmy said.
[02:02.02]"It's half past six," my mother said. "The garage is shut."
[02:06.38]"What shall we do?" I asked.
[02:08.52]"We can go back to bed and get up at nine o'clock," fa-ther said.
[02:13.02]Mother and father went back to bed, but Jimmy and I stayed in the car.
[02:18.03]"We're not going to sleep," we said.
[02:21.06]Suddenly, father knocked at the window of the car.
[02:24.88]"Wake up, children," he said. "It's nine o'clock."
[02:28.14]310 Who Is the Killer
[02:33.65]More than seven hundred years ago, the Prince of Wales had a very big and brave dog, Gelert.
[02:40.78]One day the Prince want-ed to go hunting with his men.
[02:44.39]He told his dog to stay at home and look after his baby son.
[02:48.78]The baby was in a wooden cradle, which is like a small bed.
[02:52.83]When the Prince came back from hunting, Gelert ran out to meet his master.
[02:58.05]Then the Prince saw blood on Gelert's jaws and head.
[03:02.44]"What have you done?" the Prince said.
[03:05.26]He rushed into his home and looked for his baby son.
[03:08.71]The cradle was lying on its side on the floor.
[03:12.26]The clothes were tom and there was blood on them.
[03:15.29]"So you killed my son!" the Prince said angrily.
[03:19.68]"You un-faithful dog!" He took out his sword and killed the dog.
[03:24.70]Just as Gelert was dying, he managed to bark for a moment.
[03:29.45]Then the Prince heard a baby call to the dog.
[03:33.00]The Prince ran out of the house and saw his son lying on the ground unhurt.
[03:38.46]Near him was a dead wolf.
[03:40.53]Then the Prince knew that Gelert had defended the baby and killed the wolf.
[03:45.62]The Prince ran back into the house but he was too late.
[03:49.77]Gelert was dead. The Prince was very sad indeed.
[03:54.21]Tears ran down his face when he realized he had killed his faithful friend.
[03:59.46]After this, the Prince never smiled again.
[04:02.76]Every morning at dawn, he walked up the mountain so that he could stand by the dog's grave for a few minutes.
[04:12.03]311 Whose Handwriting Is It?
[04:16.52]There was a famous French writer who believed himself to be an authority on handwriting.
[04:22.66]He had spent much time on it,
[04:24.96]and he often told his friends that he could tell a person's charac-ter from that person's handwriting.
[04:30.11]One day, a woman friend brought him a page of a boy's handwriting.
[04:35.10]She said she wanted to know what he thought of the boy's character.
[04:39.12]He studied the handwriting carefully for a few minutes.
[04:43.09]Then he looked at the woman strangely.
[04:45.70]The woman, however, told him that the boy was not in her family and that he did not have to worry.
[04:52.15]"Well", said the writer, "then I can tell you".
[04:55.76]He then went on to say that he thought the boy was a stupid and lazy person.
[05:00.93]He added that the boy should be watched carefully, if not, he could grow up to bring harm to his family.
[05:07.98]"Isn't that strange?" said the woman, smiling.
[05:11.90]"Because this is a page from your own exercise-book, which you yourself
used when you were a boy."
[05:18.46]312 Ready Money
[05:23.66]A young man went to a car showroom.
[05:26.53]"How much does this car cost?" he asked.
[05:29.56]"One thousand two hundred and eighteen pounds," the salesman said.
[05:33.87]"I'll have sixteen of them," the young man said.
[05:37.48]The salesman smiled. He found it hard to be polite.
[05:41.66]"You are joking, of course," he said. "I'm afraid we can't help you. This car is not for sale."
[05:49.10]The salesman showed his customer the door and the young man left the shop without a word.
[05:55.27]He went to a showroom on the other side of the street and asked for sixteen cars,
[06:01.22]the second salesman was polite and helpful.
[06:04.77]The young man took a bundle of notes out of his pocket and paid for the cars in cash.
[06:10.57]He ex-plained that the cars were for himself and his fifteen colleagues.
[06:15.69]He said that he and his colleagues worked on a Norwegian fishing-boat.
[06:20.47]"We have all earned a lot of money this season," the man said, "and we want to buy cars."
[06:26.51]Naturally, the second salesman was delighted.
[06:32.59]313 Old Arthur
[06:36.75]Everyone knows him as old Arthur.
[06:40.38]He lives in a little hut in the middle of a small wood, about a mile from the village.
[06:45.42]He visits the village store twice a week to buy food and paraffin,
[06:49.55]and occasionally he collects letters and his pension from the post of-fice.
[06:53.75]A few weeks ago, a reporter from the local newspaper in-terviewed him.
[06:58.90]This is what he said.
[07:01.38]I get up every morning with the birds.
[07:03.71]There is a stream near my hut and I fetch water from there.
[07:07.76]It's good, clear, fresh water, better than you get in the city.
[07:11.96]Occasionally, in the win-ter, I have to break the ice.
[07:15.80]I cook simple food on my old paraf-fin stove: mostly stews and things like that.
[07:21.65]Sometimes I go to the pub and have a drink, but I don't see many people.
[07:26.51]I don't feel lonely.
[07:28.47]I know this wood very well, you see.
[07:30.53]I know all the little birds and animals that lived here and they know me.
[07:35.05]I don't have much money, but I don't need much. I think I'm a lucky man.
[07:40.67]314 The Lost Ambition
[07:45.66]When I was at school, my ambition was to be a pilot in the airspace.
[07:52.11]But my eyesight wasn't good enough.
[07:54.72]So I had to give up that idea.
[07:56.58]I went to university and studied physics.
[07:59.53]I wanted to stay on there and do research.
[08:02.53]But my father died at about that time.
[08:05.09]I thought I had better get a job and earn my living.
[08:08.25]I start-ed working in an engineering firm.
[08:11.36]I expected to stay in that job for a long time.
[08:14.84]But then, they appointed a new managing direc-tor.
[08:18.86]I didn't get on with him.
[08:21.08]So I resigned and applied for a job with another engineering company.
[08:25.57]I would certainly have ac-cepted the job if they had offered it to me.
[08:29.44]But on my way to the interview, I met a friend who was working for a travel agency.
[08:35.03]He offered me a job in Spain.
[08:37.36]And I had always liked Spain, So I took it.
[08:40.59]I worked in the travel agency for two years and then they wanted to send me to South America.
[08:46.45]But I had just get married.
[08:48.69]So I decided to stay here.
[08:50.86]Then we had a baby and I wasn't earning enough to support the family.
[08:55.33]So I started giving English lessons at a school in the evenings.
[08:59.12]I liked the English teaching more than working for the travel agency,
[09:03.50]and then the owner of the school offered me a full time job as a teacher.
[09:07.50]So I resigned from the agency.
[09:10.82]Two years later, the owner of the school wanted to retire, so he asked me to take over as the di-rector.
[09:17.90]And here I am.
[09:20.54]315 Shakespeare, A Drink or Cheese
[09:27.07]Two businessmen were invited to dinner at the home of a college professor.
[09:32.76]One of them did not have much education and was worried that he might make a fool of himself,
[09:38.51]but another friend said, "Don't worry.
[09:41.43]Just do what I do, and don't talk about anything that you don't really understand."
[09:46.37]The first man managed to get through the dinner carefully,
[09:50.26]but by the end of the evening he had a lot of drink, and began to get careless.
[09:55.54]A guest asked him whether he liked Shakespeare, and he answered confidently,
[10:00.79]"It's very pleasant, but I prefer scotch."
[10:03.98]There was an unpleasant silence in the room, and soon people began to leave.
[10:09.28]When the two friends were out of the house, the second man said to his friend,
[10:14.32]"You certainly made a fool of yourself making that silly remark about scotch."
[10:19.57]"What do you mean?" asked the other man. "What was wrong with that?"
[10:24.01]"Everybody knows that Shakespeare isn't a drink," his friend replied. "It's a kind of cheese."
[10:31.93]316 A Cold Swimming
[10:37.36]While walking through the park, we stopped by the pond to watch some children sailing model boats.
[10:43.74]There were so many boats in that pond that morning that quite a few people had gath-ered at the bank to see them.
[10:50.24]Suddenly, someone shouted, "There is a man in the pond!"
[10:54.79]We looked up and sure enough, a man's head could just be seen on the other side of the pond.
[11:00.87]The man appeared to be swimming vigorously and was swimming straight towards us.
[11:06.17]"He must be crazy", a young man said, "I wouldn't dive into the pond for a fortune.
[11:12.13]And anyway, it must be freezingly cold."
[11:15.66]The blackish water of the pond was certainly not inviting.
[11:20.15]As it was still early March, the water must certainly have been very cold.
[11:25.19]After a short time, the man approached the bank.
[11:29.74]The wa-ter was very shallow, so he walked the last few yards.
[11:33.53]We were astonished to see that he was fully dressed.
[11:37.00]"Nice swim?" the young man asked.
[11:40.63]"Nice swim." the man remarkeed irritably. "It's freezing. I did it for a bet."
[11:47.55]317 A Hungry Traveller
[11:53.09]When an English traveller was to return home from Sweden,
[11:57.06]he found that he had only enough money left to get a ticket back to England.
[12:01.87]He decided that as it was only a two days' voyage he could get home without eating anything.
[12:08.42]So he bought a tick-et with the little money he had and went on board the ship.
[12:13.70]He closed his ears to the sound of the lunch bell,
[12:16.99]and when dinner time came, he refused to go down to the dining room, saying that he did not feel well.
[12:23.52]The following day he did not get up until breakfast was over, pretending that he had overslept.
[12:29.95]At lunch time, too, he kept out of the way.
[12:33.40]By dinner time, however, he was extreme-ly hungry.
[12:37.53]"I can't stand this any longer," he said to himself. "I must have something to eat."
[12:43.56]At the dinner table he ate everything put in front of him.
[12:47.82]When he was quite satisfied, he felt stronger and called the waiter.
[12:52.57]"Bring me the bill." he said to the waiter.
[12:55.89]"The bill?", said the waiter in surprise.
[12:58.81]"Yes," answered the traveller.
[13:01.45]"There isn't any bill here", said the waiter. "On this ship meals are already included in the ticket."
[13:10.28]318 Was She Late?
[13:16.00]Mary did not like getting up early in the morning.
[13:20.86]If her sis-ter did not wake her, she would often be late for her classes.
[13:25.36]One day a lecture was going to be given by a famous artist at nine o'clock.
[13:30.84]Her sister and brother-in-law were away. She set her alarm at half past seven.
[13:36.51]This should give her plenty of time to get ready and arrive early enough for a good seat.
[13:41.89]She was determined to be there in time.
[13:44.74]She would never forgive herself for missing the lecture.
[13:48.13]She had been admiring the artist's work since she was a child.
[13:51.92]The next morning, she slept through the alarm bell and woke up at half past eight.
[13:58.32]She was not used to rushing and ev-erything went wrong.
[14:02.03]At last, she was ready, and rushed out to catch a bus.
[14:06.05]She jumped on the first one.
[14:08.43]She looked at her watch, but it was not there.
[14:11.41]She must have forgotten to put it on in her rush.
[14:14.70]When she arrived at the university, she hurried to the lecture hall,
[14:19.72]she was astonished to find that the doors were locked.
[14:23.14]She looked around to find someone, and saw a clock which said half past seven.
[14:28.78]"I can't understand it", she cried out. "Nobody is here and the clock is slow!"
[14:35.08]Then she suddenly remembered.
[14:37.79]Her alarm clock had stopped the day before and she must have forgotten to reset the hands.
[14:44.14]"This is the first time I'll hear the beginning of a lecture," she said to herself, laugh-ing.
[14:51.64]319 An Examination of Twenty Years Old
[14:57.05]When David Williams left the university, he went to Aus-tralia.
[15:02.03]When he returned to England for a visit twenty years later, he decided to go back to his old university.
[15:09.01]David was delighted when he discovered that his old profes-sor was still teaching there.
[15:14.63]He went to visit the old man, and after they had had an interesting talk, the professor went out to get something.
[15:21.97]While he was away, David saw an examination paper on the desk.
[15:26.93]He looked at the date on it and saw that it had been given to the students the week before.
[15:32.78]David picked up the paper and read it through.
[15:35.94]When the professor came back, David said to him.
[15:39.44]"Pro-fessor, I'm certain that these are exactly the same questions that you asked us
[15:44.93]in our examinations twenty years ago!
[15:48.14]How is that possible?"
[15:49.97]"Yes, that's right," agreed the professor calmly.
[15:54.04]"The questions are the same, but the answers have changed."
[16:00.00]320 A Heave Smoker
[16:03.08]Joe Bloggs always had a cigarette on his lips.
[16:07.55]He smoked while he read, while he looked at the television, and while he drank a cup of coffee.
[16:13.14]He smoked forty cigarettes a day, but he was happy.
[16:17.01]Joe's friend, Fred Brown, said to him, "It is very bad to smoke."
[16:22.28]When Joe heard this, he started to worry and became thin.
[16:26.88]So he did not buy any more cigarettes. He became so thin that he went to Fred for help.
[16:33.52]Fred said, "You must eat more." So Joe did not smoke, but he ate chocolate, and he became very fat.
[16:41.30]Again he went to Fred for help.
[16:43.70]Fred said, "You must not eat chocolate."
[16:46.99]So Joe stopped eating chocolate, but he went back to smoking cigarettes.
[16:51.98]He became thin again but he was not happy, because he still smoked.
[16:57.13]Sometimes Joe Bloggs wished Fred Brown was not his friend!
[17:03.11]321 A Young Female Car Owner and a Repairman
[17:10.11]The engine of Margaret's car was not running smoothly.
[17:13.85]The spark plugs needed cleaning.
[17:15.94]Margaret could have done the job herself, but garages have special equipment that does such things very thoroughly.
[17:23.46]Margaret took after her father; she did not like being over-charged.
[17:28.40]She knew that garages do this sometimes.
[17:31.19]Sometimes they even charge for work they have never done.
[17:35.14]She told the repairman at the garage not to do any extra work, she wanted the spark plugs cleaned, and nothing more.
[17:43.73]Then she left, say-ing she would be back in a little while.
[17:47.52]When Margaret came back, the repairman gave her a bill for one pound.
[17:52.77]Margaret knew this was more than it should cost to have the spark plugs cleaned.
[17:58.10]Then the repairman said he had put new ones in.
[18:01.16]Margaret decided she was not going to stand for this, and began to get angry.
[18:06.62]"But the plugs were worn out; what else could I do?" the repairman protested.
[18:11.97]"How long should these new spark plugs last? More than a few months?" Margaret demanded.
[18:17.80]"Of course! Much longer than that!'' The repairman said with great emphasis.
[18:23.18]"Well, then, put the old ones back in.
[18:26.31]I had new spark plugs put in only a few months ago, and I had the job done here!" Margaret said.
[18:34.54]322 The Great Titanic
[18:41.05]The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912.
[18:47.76]She was carrying 1316 passen-gers and a crew of 891.
[18:54.18]Even by modern standards, the 46000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship.
[19:00.09]At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built,
[19:05.39]but was re-garded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen watertight compart-ments.
[19:10.90]Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float.
[19:15.40]The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be re-membered,
[19:19.86]for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life.
[19:23.44]Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy waters of the North Atlantic,
[19:31.10]a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a lookout.
[19:34.49]After the alarm had been given the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct collision.
[19:40.81]The Ti-tanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall of iceberg over lO0 feet out of the water beside her.
[19:49.41]Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened.
[19:56.88]The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had been damaged.
[20:01.42]Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly,
[20:06.88]for five of her sixteen water-tight compartments had already been flooded!
[20:11.90]The order to aban-don the ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icy water.
[20:17.96]As there were not enough lifeboats for everybody, 1500 lives were lost. |