新概念英語第三冊第7課:Mutilated ladies
Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
Why did Jane cook John's wallet?
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 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 made mistakes like this (and a lot of people 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 fiancé, John, runs a successful furniture business. John had 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 beautifully-cooked wallet and notes turned to ash! John went to see his bank manager who sent the remains of wallet and the money to the special department of the Bank of England in Newcastle: the Mutilate Ladies! They examined the remain 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 Bank. 'Last year, we paid $1.5m on 21,000 claims. Damaged bank notes. The Queen's head appears on English bank notes, and 'lady' refers to this.
參考譯文
這種事情在你身上出現(xiàn)過嗎？你有沒有把褲子塞洗衣機，然后又想在褲子的后兜有一張大面值的紙幣？當你把褲子搶救出來時，你有沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)那張紙幣已經(jīng)變得比白 紙還白？當英國人犯這種錯誤時，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。對英國人來說，值得慶幸的是英國銀行有一個殘鈔鑒別組，負責理那 些把錢塞進機器或塞給狗的人提出的索賠要求。看起來，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢幣。
最近的一個案例與簡.巴特林有關，她的未婚夫約翰擁有一家生意興隆家具店。有一天約翰的生意很好，他把一只裝有3,000 英鎊的錢包放進微波爐內(nèi)保存。然后，他和簡一起去騎馬。回家后，簡用微波爐煮了晚飯，無意中之中把她未婚夫的錢包也一起煮了。可以想像他們發(fā)現(xiàn)一只煮得很 好看的錢包，鈔票已化成灰時的沮喪心情。約翰去找銀行經(jīng)理，經(jīng)理把約翰的錢包和紙幣的殘留物送到英國銀行在紐卡斯爾的一個專門部門——殘鈔鑒別組。他們鑒 定了這些殘留物。約翰拿回了他損失的全部數(shù)額。“只要有東西可供識別，我們會把錢還給人家的，”銀行的一位女發(fā)言人說。“去年，我們對21，000 起索賠要求支付了150萬英鎊。”
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
mutilate
v. 使殘缺不全
chew
v. 咀嚼
microwave
n. 微波，微波爐
oven
n. 爐灶
safekeeping
n. 妥善保管
Newcastle
n. 紐卡斯爾（英國港市）
identify
v. 鑒定，識別
spokeswoman
n. 女發(fā)言人
Notes on the text課文注釋
1 Mutilated ladies，這是英國銀行專門負責識別和鑒定殘缺或被毀紙幣的小組，其中的lady是指英國紙幣上印的女王頭像。
2 a large bank note，面額很大的紙幣。
3 whiter than white，這是英國有關洗衣粉的電視廣告中常用的一句話。這里的意思是紙幣上的字跡、圖案均被洗掉了，可以譯為“比白紙還白”。
4 they found a beautifully-cooked wallet and notes turned to ash，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)一只煮得很好看的錢包，鈔票已燒成了灰。后半句they found ... notes turned to ash中過去分詞短語turned to ash作賓語notes的補足語，這后半句話可以看成they found…that notes had been turned to ash 。
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