$课文74  舞台之外

784. An ancient bus stopped by a dry river bed and a party of famous actors and actresses got off.

一辆古旧的汽车停在一条干涸的河床边，一群著名男女演员下了车。

785. Dressed in dark glasses and old clothes, they had taken special precautions so that no one should recognize them.

他们戴着墨镜，穿着旧衣裳，特别小心以防别人认出他们。

786. But as they soon discovered, disguises can sometimes be too perfect.

但他们很快就发觉，化装的效果有时过分完美了。

787. 'This is a wonderful place for a picnic,' said Gloria Gleam.

“在这个地方野餐简直太妙了，”格格利亚.格利姆说。

788. 'It couldn't be better, Gloria,' Brinksley Meers agreed.

是再好不过的了，格格利亚。”布林克斯利.米尔斯表示同意，

789. No newspaper men, no film fans! Why don't we come more often?

没有记者，没有影迷！我们为什么不经常来这里呢？”

790. Meanwhile, two other actors, Rockwall Slinger and Merlin Greeves, had carried two large food baskets to a shady spot under some trees.

此时，另外两位演员，罗克沃尔.斯林格和默林.格里夫斯，已经把两个大食品篮子提到了一片树荫下。

791. When they had all made themselves comfortable, a stranger appeared.

当他们都已安排舒适时，一个陌生人出现了。

792. He looked very angry.

他看上去非常气愤。

793. 'Now you get out of here, all of you!' he shouted.

你们都从这里走开，全都走开！”他大叫着，

794. I'm sheriff here. Do you see that notice? It says "No Camping" -- in case you can't read!

我是这里的司法长官。你们看到那个布告牌了吗？上面写着‘禁止野营’－－除非你们不识字！”

795. 'Look, sheriff,' said Rockwall, 'don't be too hard on us.

好了，好了，司法官，”罗克沃尔说， 别使我们难堪。

796. I'm Rockwall Slinger and this is Merlin Greeves.

我是罗克沃尔.斯林格，这位是默林.格里夫斯。”

797. 'Oh, is it?' said the sheriff with a sneer.

噢，是吗？”那位司法长官冷笑一声说道，

798. Well, I'm Brinksley Meers, and my other name is Gloria Gleam.

好，我就是布林克斯利.米尔斯。我还有一个名字叫格格利亚.格利姆。

799. Now you get out of here fast!

现在你们赶快滚吧！”

$课文75  呼救信号

800. When a light passenger plane flew off course some time ago,

不久前，一架轻型客机偏离了航线，

801. it crashed in the mountains and its pilot was killed.

在山区坠毁，飞行员丧生。

802. The only passengers, a young woman and her two baby daughters, were unhurt.

机上仅有的乘客，一位年轻的妇女和她的两个女婴却平安无事。

803. It was the middle of winter.

此时正值隆冬季节，

804. Snow lay thick on the ground.

地上积着厚厚的雪。

805. The woman knew that the nearest village was miles away.

这位妇女知道，即使最近的村庄也有数英里远。

806. When it grew dark, she turned a suitcase into a bed and put the children inside it,

天黑下来的时候，她把提箱当作小床，把两个孩子放了进去，

807. covering them with all the clothes she could find.

又把所有能找到的衣服都盖在了孩子们身上。

808. During the night, it got terribly cold.

夜里，天冷得厉害。

809. The woman kept as near as she could to the children and even tried to get into the case herself,

这位妇女尽可能地靠近孩子，甚至自己也想钻进箱子里去，

810. but it was too small.

只是箱子太小了。

811. Early next morning, she heard planes passing overhead and wondered how she could send a signal.

第二天一大早，她听到头顶上有飞机飞过，但不知道怎样才能发个信号。

812. Then she had an idea.

后来她有了一个主意。

813. She stamped out the letters 'SOS' in the snow.

她在雪地上踩出了 SOS”这3个字母。

814. Fortunately, a pilot saw the signal and sent a message by radio to the nearest town.

幸运得很，一位飞行员看到这个信号，用无线电给最近的城镇发了报。

815. It was not long before a helicopter arrived on the scene to rescue the survivors of the plane crash.

不久，一架直升飞机飞抵飞机失事现场，来搭救这几个幸存者。

$课文76  愚人节

816. 'To end our special news bulletin,' said the voice of the television announcer,

作为我们专题新闻节目的结尾，”电视广播员说，

817. we're going over to the macaroni fields of Calabria.

我们现在到克拉布利亚的通心粉田里。

818. Macaroni has been grown in this area for over six hundred years.

通心粉在这个地区已经种植了600多年了。

819. Two of the leading growers, Giuseppe Moldova and Riccardo Brabante,

两个主要种植者，朱塞皮.莫尔道瓦和里卡多.布拉班特告诉我，

820. tell me that they have been expecting a splendid crop this year and harvesting has begun earlier than usual.

他们一直期待着今年获得一个大丰收，收割工作比往年开始要早些。

821. Here you can see two workers who, between them, have just finished cutting three cartloads of golden brown macaroni stalks.

这里您可以看到两个工人，他们协力割下了3车金黄色的通心粉秸。

822. The whole village has been working day and night gathering and threshing this year's crop before the September rains.

全村的人都日夜奋战，要赶在9月的雨季之前把今年的庄稼收获上来，打完场。

823. On the right, you can see Mrs. Brabante herself. She has been helping her husband for thirty years now.

在屏幕的右侧，您可以看到布拉班特太太本人，她已经帮了她的丈夫30年了。

824. Mrs. Brabante is talking to the manager of the local factory where the crop is processed.

布拉班特太太现在正和负责通心粉加工的当地加工厂的经理交谈。

825. This last scene shows you what will happen at the end of the harvest: the famous Calabrian macaroni-eating competition!

这最后一个镜头向您展示了收获之后将发生的事情：著名的克拉布利亚人吃通心粉大赛！

826. Signor Fratelli, the present champion, has won it every year since 1991.

目前的冠军弗拉特里先生，自1991年以来，年年获胜。

827. And that ends our special bulletin for today, Thursday, April lst.

今天 -- 4月1日，星期四--的专题新闻节目到此结束。

828. We're now going back to the studio.

现在我们回到电视演播室。