英语口语教程(中级) UNIT 1-5

Oral Workshop    Discussion    Lesson 1-5 ;

[01:01.44]Lesson 1 Too Clever ;

[01:05.71] Text A ;

[01:09.10]A farmer who lived in a small village ;

[01:12.42]suffered from a severe pain in the chest. ;

[01:14.92]This never seemed to get any better. ;

[01:17.28]The farmer eventually decided ;

[01:19.88]that he would consult a doctor in the nearest town. ;

[01:22.48]But as he was a miserly person ;

[01:24.65]he thought he would find out what he would have to pay this doctor. ;

[01:27.64]He was told that a patient had to pay three pounds for the first visit ;

[01:32.11]and one pound for the second visit. ;

[01:34.22]The farmer thought about this for a long time, ;

[01:37.00]and then he decided to go and consult the doctor in the town. ;

[01:41.17]As he came into the doctor's consulting room, ;

[01:44.00]he said causally, "Good morning doctor.Here I am again." ;

[01:48.08]The doctor was a little surprised. ;

[01:50.38]He asked him a few questions,examined his chest ;

[01:53.87]and then took the pound which the farmer insisted on giving him. ;

[01:57.36]Then the doctor said with a smile,"Well, sir.There's nothing new. ;

[02:02.27]Please continue to take ;

[02:03.55]the same medicine I gave you the first time you came to see me." ;

[02:07.21]    Text B ;

[02:10.89]A man went to see his doctor one day ;

[02:13.84]because he was suffering from pains in his stomach. ;

[02:16.54]After the doctor had examined him carefully,he said to him, ;

[02:20.32]"Well,there's nothing really wrong with you,I'm glad to say. ;

[02:24.05]Your only trouble is that you worry too much. ;

[02:27.00]Do you know,I had a man with the same trouble as you in here a few weeks ago ;

[02:31.62]and I gave him the same advice as I'm going to give you. ;

[02:34.91]He was worried because he couldn't pay his tailor's bills. ;

[02:38.10]I told him not to worry his head about the bills any more. ;

[02:41.34]He followed my advice,and when he came to see me again two days ago, ;

[02:45.22]he told me that he now feels quite all right again." ;

[02:48.41]"Yes,I know all about that,"answered the patient sadly. ;

[02:52.74]"You see,I'm that man's tailor." ;

[02:55.49]  Additional   Information ;

[02:58.24]Doctor:Good mooring.   How are you? Patient:I'm very   worried,doctor. ;

[03:02.80]Doctor:Oh? what are   you worried   about? ;

[03:05.19]Patient:I'm afraid   that I'm very ill. ;

[03:07.37]Doctor:I'm sorry to   hear that. Why do you think so? ;

[03:09.97]Patient:Because I   feel tired all the   time. ;

[03:12.58]even when I wake up in the morning. ;

[03:14.49]I find it very difficult to do any work. ;

[03:17.15]I have no appetite. ;

[03:18.63]My wife cooks me delicious meals but I can only eat a little. ;

[03:22.06]Doctor:How do you     sleep? Patient:Very badly,     doctor. ;

[03:25.45]Doctor:Do you find it difficult to get to sleep,or do you wake up early? ;

[03:28.98]Patient:Both,   doctor. ;

[03:30.55]I never get to sleep until 2 o'clock and I always wake at 5. ;

[03:34.93]Doctor:Are you   worried about   anything? ;

[03:36.94]Patient:Well,yes.     I am. ;

[03:39.20]I'm worried about my work.I've just taken a new job. ;

[03:43.13]I earn a lot of money but it's difficult work. ;

[03:45.73]I'm always afraid of making a mistake. ;

[03:47.84]Doctor:I see.Please take off your shirt and lie down on the couch. ;

[03:52.80]Patient:Yes,doctor.   (The Doctor   examines the   patient) ;

[03:54.67]Doctor:Well,there's nothing very much wrong with you,I'm glad to say. ;

[03:58.16]You're working too hard and worrying too much. ;

[04:00.86]Do you take much exercise? ;

[04:02.92]Patient:No,doctor.   I never have   enough time for   exercise. ;

[04:06.61]I start work very early in the morning and finish late in the evening ;

[04:10.24]Then I can't get to sleep. ;

[04:11.81]Can you give me some medicine to help me to sleep? ;

[04:14.32]Doctor:I can,but   I'm not going to. ;

[04:16.68]You don't need medicine.You need advice.Don't work so hard. ;

[04:21.49]Too much work is bad for you. ;

[04:23.35]Don't worry about your work.It's silly to worry. ;

[04:26.20]Take regular exercise. ;

[04:28.22]Patient:But I may  lose my job,doctor! ;

[04:30.92]It's hard to get a job like mine. ;

[04:33.37]Doctor:Then get an   easier one,even   if you earn less   money. ;

[04:37.25]Which would you rather have,health or wealth? ;

[04:40.79]Patient:You're   right,doctor. ;

[04:42.46]It's more important to be healthy than wealthy. ;

[04:45.60]I'll change my job. I'm grateful for your advice. ;

[04:49.48]Doctor:Come and see   me again in a   month's time. ;

[04:51.89]I think you'll be a different man! ;

[05:31.48]Lesson 2   Au Pair Girl ;

[05:35.90]   Text A ;

[05:38.35]Gretel comes from Austria.She is eighteen years old. ;

[05:43.22]She is going to stay with the Clark family for a year. ;

[05:46.51]Gretel has come to England because she wants to improve her English. ;

[05:50.73]She works as an au pair girl.She helps Mrs Clark in the house ;

[05:56.13]and attends English classes regularly in her spare time. ;

[05:59.92]Gretel hasn't been in England long and everything is strange to her. ;

[06:04.29]She often compares life in London with life in Vienna. ;

[06:08.17]Some things are nicer in London; other things are not so nice. ;

[06:13.18]For instance,the shops are bigger in London than in Vienna ;

[06:16.76]and there is greater variety. ;

[06:18.78]But it's more expensive to enjoy yourself in London. ;

[06:22.02]It's expensive to have a meal at a restaurant or to go to a theatre. ;

[06:26.59]Gretel has got used to many things already, ;

[06:29.53]but she can't get used to breakfast in England. ;

[06:32.72]"You English eat so much in the morning,"she often says. ;

[06:36.90]"Fruit juice, porridge,bacon and gee,tea,toast and marmalade! ;

[06:42.11]How can you face all that food so early in the day?" ;

[06:46.23]    Text B ;

[06:49.77]Maria had decided that as soon as she had finished school ;

[06:54.09]she would become an au pair girl in London. ;

[06:57.09]Two of her friends had already spent a year with a family in Kensington, ;

[07:01.02]and told her they had had an interesting time ;

[07:03.86]and had managed to learn a lot of English. ;

[07:06.22]She was advised by her Head Teacher to get her parents' consent ;

[07:10.35]and to make all the necessary arrangements prior to her departure: ;

[07:13.88]have enough money for her return fare, ;

[07:16.19]know exactly what kind of a family she was going to live with ;

[07:19.24]and what they expected of her. Shortly after her eighteenth birthday ;

[07:24.39]Maria received a letter from Mrs Hutchinson, ;

[07:27.05]the wife of an advertising executive, ;

[07:29.26]stating the terms on which she would be employed. ;

[07:32.06]The Hutchinsons lived in a house in Chelsea. ;

[07:35.20]They had three children:two boys, aged fourteen and ten, ;

[07:39.43]both at boarding school,the elder at a Public School in the Midlands ;

[07:43.21]and the younger at a Preparatory School in Surrey; ;

[07:46.20]the youngest child was a girl aged eight, ;

[07:49.35]and she went to the French Lycee in South Kensington. ;

[07:53.13]During term time Maria would have to take the girl to school in the morning ;

[07:57.65]and fetch her in the afternoon. ;

[07:59.46]She would have to help Mrs Hutchinson in the house-- washing up, ;

[08:03.29]making the beds, laying the table, dusting the rooms, answering the door, ;

[08:08.01]taking telephone messages,shopping and running errands. ;

[08:11.74]She would be guaranteed three evenings a week free ;

[08:15.38]and could attend En- glish classes either from eleven till one ;

[08:19.45]in the morning or from half past one till four in the afternoon. ;

[08:22.70]She would receive 3 pounds a week pocket money. ;

[08:26.09]Maria was delighted with the conditions and thought that they were fair. ;

[08:30.31]She also liked the look of the family, ;

[08:32.62]as Mrs Hutchinson had thoughtfully enclosed a photograph with her letter. ;

[08:36.50]   Additional    Information ;

[08:39.10]It was nothing for a girl to be sent away to service ;

[08:42.49]when she was eleven years old. ;

[08:44.26]That meant leaving the family as she had never been ;

[08:47.22]parted from for a day in her life before, ;

[08:49.50]and going to some place miles away to be treated like a dog. ;

[08:53.43]I've got nothing against girls going into good service. ;

[08:57.01]In my opinion, good service in a properly run big house ;

[09:01.43]was a wonderful training for a lot of girls ;

[09:03.84]who never would have seen anything different ;

[09:05.99]all the days of their lives if they hadn't gone. ;

[09:09.02]It was better than working on the land, then,and if it still existed now. ;

[09:14.13]I reckon I'd rather see any of my daughters be a good housemaid ;

[09:18.01]or a well-trained parlour maid ;

[09:19.92]than a dolled-up shop- assistant up  a factory worker. ;

[09:23.26]But folks are too proud to work for other folks,now, ;

[09:26.55]even if it's to their own advantage, ;

[09:28.67]though as far as I can see you are still working for other folks, ;

[09:32.94]whatever you're doing. ;

[09:34.66]Big houses didn't want little girls of eleven,even as kitchen maids, ;

[09:39.57]so the first few years had to be put in somewhere else, ;

[09:42.91]before you got even that amount of promotion. ;

[09:45.71]Big houses expected good service, ;

[09:48.61]but you got good treatment in return. ;

[09:51.01]It wasn't like that at the sort of place my friends had to go. ;

[09:54.21]Mostly they went to the farmers' houses ;

[09:56.66]within ten or twenty miles from where they'd been born. ;

[09:59.56]These farmers were a jumped up,proud lot ;

[10:02.60]who didn't know how to treat the people who worked for them. ;

[10:05.31]They took advantage of the poor people's need ;

[10:08.25]to get their girls off their hands ;

[10:10.44]to get little slaves for nearly nothing. The conditions were terrible. ;

[10:53.17]Lesson 3 Who Took the Money? ;

[10:58.18]  Text A ;

[11:01.18]Mr Smith gave his wife ten pounds for her birthday -- ten pretty pound notes. ;

[11:07.86]So the day after her birthday,Mrs Smith went shopping. ;

[11:11.98]She queued for a bus,got on and sat down next to an old lady. ;

[11:16.75]After a while,she noticed that the old lady's handbag was open. ;

[11:21.61]Inside it,she saw a wad of pound notes ;

[11:25.02]exactly like the one her husband had given her. ;

[11:27.72]So she quickly looked into her own bag--the notes had gone! ;

[11:32.49]Mrs Smith was sure that the old lady who was sitting next to her had stolen them ;

[11:37.55]She thought she would have to call the police; ;

[11:40.25]but,as she disliked making a fuss and getting people into trouble, ;

[11:44.32]she decided to take back the money from the old lady's handbag ;

[11:47.71]and say nothing more about it. ;

[11:49.83]She looked round the bus to make sure nobody was watching, ;

[11:53.12]then she carefully put her hand into the old lady's bag, ;

[11:56.50]took the notes and put them in her own bag.When she got home that evening, ;

[12:02.15]she showed her husband the beautiful hat she had bought. ;

[12:05.40]"How did you pay for it?" he asked. ;

[12:08.39]"With the money you gave me for my birthday,of course," she replied. ;

[12:12.68]"Oh? What's that, then?" ;

[12:15.19]he asked,as he pointed to a wad of ten pound notes on the table. ;

[12:20.20]    Text B ;

[12:23.88]"Goodbye,darling," said Mr Mackin. "I'll be late tonight." ;

[12:29.04]Poor George,she thought.He was always in a hurry in the morning, ;

[12:33.68]and it wasn't unusual for him to come home late at night. ;

[12:36.78]He worked for a shoe company in Leeds,and there was such a lot of work ;

[12:40.88]that he normally stayed in the office till seven or eight. ;

[12:44.04]When George had left the house ;

[12:46.21]Mrs Mackin sat down in an armchair and turned on the radio. ;

[12:50.09]It was a few minutes past eight, ;

[12:52.10]and she heard the last words of the news: ;

[12:54.56]"...man who escaped from Leeds prison yesterday is still free. ;

[12:58.44]The police warn you not to open your door to strangers." ;

[13:02.12]She turned off the radio.The housework was waiting for her. ;

[13:06.74]She made the beds and washed the dishes.There wasn't any shopping to do, ;

[13:11.06]and so the thought for a moment of all the work in the garden. ;

[13:14.50]The Mackins lived in a house with a large garden in a suburb of Leeds. ;

[13:19.51]Behind the garden there were some trees,and then the open fields. ;

[13:23.93]Suddenly Mrs Mackin remembered the news. She laughed uneasily. ;

[13:29.57]That prison is only 15 miles away,she thought. ;

[13:33.26]She didn't work in the garden,she mended her husband's shirts instead. ;

[13:37.68]And she carefully locked the front door and closed all the windows. ;

[13:42.10]It was getting dark. She turned on the lights in the living-room. ;

[13:46.86]Then she noticed that she had turned on the lights in most of the rooms in the house. ;

[13:52.32]"How silly I am!" she said nervously ;

[13:55.36]and went into the other rooms and turned the lights on. ;

[13:58.26]The person at the door said something loudly, ;

[14:01.21]but she was so frightened that she didn't understand a word. ;

[14:05.09]    Additional    Information ;

[14:08.52]Do you believe in ghosts? I don't either-or at least ;

[14:13.98]I didn't until I heard a strange story the other day ;

[14:16.92]from Mr Mike Paton, of 19 Marlborough Hill. ;

[14:20.80]It all began on November 28. when Mr Paton's eight-year-old son,Bob, ;

[14:26.16]was playing in the big back garden of his parents' house. ;

[14:29.55]He met an old man with a long white beard. ;

[14:32.64]The old man told Bob he was building the underground railway there, ;

[14:36.67]but Bob didn't believe him. ;

[14:38.53]Bob told me afterwards ;

[14:40.35]that he knew the underground ran under Marlborough Hill itself. ;

[14:43.84]The old man said there had been an accident the day before. ;

[14:46.88]Then he went away. At first the Patons didn't believe Bob's story. ;

[14:52.48]Mrs Paton told me that Bob often made up stories about ghosts and monsters, ;

[14:56.71]like other children of his age. ;

[14:58.38]But Mr Paton was curious ;

[15:00.93]and decided that he would go to the library to check up on the facts. ;

[15:04.81]He found that the railway company ;

[15:07.02]had started to build the line to the west of Marlbouroung Hill in 1881, ;

[15:11.74]but they had run into an underground river. ;

[15:14.44]Ten workmen had died in an accident ;

[15:17.19]and the Company had changed the direction of the line ;

[15:19.60]and built the present tunnel under Marlborough Hill. ;

[15:22.59]At first I didn't believe Mr Paton's story either, ;

[15:26.52]so I did some research myself. ;

[15:29.32]Inspector Bright of the Merropolitan Police ;

[15:32.71]said it was natural to find tramps in the district in winter, ;

[15:36.00]but no one had reported one answering the description ;

[15:38.68]I had given him since last August. ;

[15:41.43]Mr Joseph Griffiths of London Transport checked the files on the accident for me. ;

[15:46.78]He told me that the accident had apparently taken place ;

[15:50.05]on or very near the junction of Marlborough Hill ;

[15:52.80]and Woodstock Avenue on 27 November 1881. ;

[15:57.32]Mr Paton's house stands on the corner! ;

[16:01.64]The source of this extraordinary story was not affected by the news. ;

[16:06.26]"I told Mummy it was true,"young Bob Paton told me yesterday. ;

[16:10.18]When I left the house he was playing happily with his toy cars-in the garden! ;

[16:53.11]Lesson 4  Musical Half-Notes ;

[16:58.12]   Text A ;

[17:01.22]A musician who played Pop Music in a Club ;

[17:04.70]lived in a boardinghouse in the centre of London. ;

[17:07.31]He always used to get back to his room very late at night ;

[17:10.65]and sometimes in the early hours of the morning. ;

[17:13.35]He was so tired when he got back that he would sit on the edge of his bed, ;

[17:17.32]take off his shoes and throw them on the floor and say, ;

[17:20.86]"Thank goodness, another day is over." ;

[17:23.46]He would then get into bed and fall fast asleep. ;

[17:27.27]But the poor lodger who had the room under the musician's was woken up each night, ;

[17:32.80]or early in the morning,by the two thuds ;

[17:35.55]that the two shoes made as they landed on his ceiling. ;

[17:38.59]Finally,he could not stand it any more ;

[17:41.44]and went and complained to the musician. ;

[17:43.60]Naturally the musician was very upset and promised that, ;

[17:47.29]in future,after taking off his shoes, ;

[17:49.94]he would put them down as quietly as possible on the carpet. ;

[17:53.62]The next day,he got back from his club at about one o'clock in the morning, ;

[17:58.14]went up to his room, sat on the edge of his bed, ;

[18:00.99]took off one shoe and threw it on the floor. ;

[18:03.69]He was just about to do the same with the other ;

[18:06.34]when he suddenly remembered the promise he had made the day before. ;

[18:09.59]So with great care he put the second shoe down silently on the carpet. ;

[18:14.84]Then be got into bed and fell fast asleep. ;

[18:18.38]An hour later,he was woken up by a violent knocking on his door. ;

[18:23.19]It was the lodger who slept in the room just under his. ;

[18:26.82]"Please,please, please," the lodger pleaded,"drop the other shoe. ;

[18:31.74]I have been waiting for a whole hour for you to drop it. ;

[18:34.73]As soon as you do I can go to sleep." ;

[18:37.97]    Text B ;

[18:41.90]Of all the men who ever liked fresh air, ;

[18:45.44]not one liked it more than James Wilson. ;

[18:48.29]He took long walks in the fresh air.He ran long distances in the fresh air. ;

[18:53.49]He played football and other games in the fresh air. ;

[18:56.59]He liked to climb mountains and breathe the fresh air at the top. ;

[19:00.42]He used to go to sit by the sea and watch the great waves in the fresh air. ;

[19:04.94]He always slept with his windows wide open. ;

[19:08.03]He had an open car with no roof,and he drove it madly through the fresh air. ;

[19:13.63]If Wilson entered a room where the windows were shut, ;

[19:17.22]he immediately opened them. ;

[19:18.98]He did this even when snow was falling outside. ;

[19:22.72]If someone else shut the windows again, ;

[19:25.22]he walked out of the room in a manner which showed his opinions without any doubt. ;

[19:29.40]When he travelled by sea,he could usually be found in a place on board ;

[19:33.57]where the wild wind was blowing through his hair. ;

[19:36.77]One winter Wilson went to Finland on business. ;

[19:40.94]Good hotels in Finland are heated during the cold winter, ;

[19:44.72]and this winter was even colder than usual. ;

[19:47.82]When Wilson reached his room in the hotel, ;

[19:50.62]he found that the windows were closed to keep the icy air out. ;

[19:54.25]He did his best to open one,but failed. ;

[19:57.39]It was absolutely impossible to open it: ;

[20:00.63]the manager had very wisely arranged that. ;

[20:03.53]Wilson undressed and got into bed.He was a very angry man. ;

[20:08.64]The bedroom was very pleasant. ;

[20:11.04]Two or three pictures on the walls ;

[20:13.48]showed views of some beautiful parts of Finland. ;

[20:15.79]There was no noise at all. ;

[20:17.85]The bed was really excellent,but Wilson could not sleep. ;

[20:22.22]He could not forget the closed window. ;

[20:24.97]No fresh air! It was terrible to think of! ;

[20:28.31]He got out of bed and tried once more to open the window; ;

[20:32.14]but it was useless, and he sadly got back into bed. ;

[20:36.02]At about one o'clock in the morning he was still awake, ;

[20:39.41]worrying about the air in the bedroom. ;

[20:41.67]He had turned over in bed two hundred and thirty-six times. He was very hot. ;

[20:47.57]As he turned over for the two hundred and thirty-seventh time, ;

[20:51.10]one arm came out of the bedclothes and hung down beside the bed. ;

[20:55.42]His hand touched the floor.It also touched something on the floor. ;

[21:00.68]This thing was a shoe.An idea came into his worried mind. ;

[21:06.72]Angry men act quickly,and the shoe was in his hand in less than a second. ;

[21:10.90]Where was the window? ;

[21:12.12]He could see something that looked like glass over there. ;

[21:14.68]He threw the shoe through the darkness with all the force of his strong right arm. ;

[21:19.44]The shoe flew straight through the air and hit the glass in the middle. ;

[21:23.62]A terrible sound of breaking glass filled the bedroom, ;

[21:27.05]but to Wilson's sad heart it seemed like the sound of sweet and beautiful music. ;

[21:32.31]"Now I have some fresh air in the room," he thought."Now I need not die." ;

[21:38.06]Five minutes later he was peacefully asleep. ;

[21:41.64]He did not move for many hours. ;

[21:44.59]When daylight came gently through the window, ;

[21:47.63]he awoke and lay with his eyes closed.Where was he? Oh,yes! ;

[21:52.64]He was in Finland; but what was the matter?Was anything wrong? ;

[21:57.95]There was something to worry about.What was it?Oh,the broken window! Yes,indeed. ;

[22:06.15]He would have to pay for that.How much? Was it a big piece of glass? ;

[22:11.21]He could not remember.He opened his eyes to look. ;

[22:14.84]Slowly he turned them towards the window, ;

[22:18.33]and then he sat up suddenly in bed. ;

[22:20.84]He was very surprised:the window was not broken at all. ;

[22:24.57]The glass was all in one piece,just as good as it had been the night before. ;

[22:28.79]No fresh air was entering the room through that window. ;

[22:31.59]What,then,had happened when he threw the shoe? ;

[22:34.69]He turned his eyes to the side and saw a broken picture hanging on the wall. ;

[22:39.35]There was a shoe on the floor below it. ;

[22:41.76]He could see a lot of broken glass round the shoe, ;

[22:44.61]and there was more inside it. ;

[22:47.80]   Additional    Information ;

[22:52.56]Here is what happened to Adrian Fox on the train one day: ;

[22:57.38]Adrian Fox lives in Devon and he is travelling home from London by train. ;

[23:02.63]He decides to have a cup of tea,and goes to the train buffet. ;

[23:06.81]While he is drinking his tea, ;

[23:09.27]an attractive girl comes and sits at the same table. ;

[23:12.51]They begin talking and the girl tells Adrian she is going to Devon on holiday. ;

[23:17.17]They are soon very friendly. ;

[23:19.48]Adrian finds out that the girl hasn't found a hotel to stay in. ;

[23:23.26]Adrian's mother has a spare room in her house, ;

[23:26.65]and Adrian invites the girl to stay there. ;

[23:29.06]He knows his mother won't mind.The girl accepts. ;

[23:33.13]A few minutes later a man comes and sits beside the girl, ;

[23:37.56]who introduces him to Adrian.He is her husband. ;

[23:42.27]Adrian didn't know the girl was married,and he is a little angry. ;

[23:45.90]His mother won't like to have two people staying in her house. ;

[23:49.25]Then three children arrive. ;

[23:51.45]Two of them are carrying cats, and one has a small dog. ;

[23:54.70]They are the girl's children. ;

[23:56.47]They are all very happy,the girl says, ;

[23:58.77]to be staying in Adrian's mother's house. ;

[24:01.03]But Adrian isn't so happy. ;

[24:02.95]When he reaches the station he phones his mother... ;

[24:44.45]Lesson 5   Is He a Hero? ;

[24:49.68]   Text A ;

[24:52.33]"Fire! Fire!" What terrible words ;

[24:55.78]to hear when one wakes up in a strange house in the middle of the night! ;

[24:59.19]It was a large,old, wooden house ;

[25:01.58]--the sort that burns beautifully-- and my room was on the top floor. ;

[25:05.26]I jumped out of bed, opened the door and stepped out into the passage. ;

[25:09.63]It was full of thick smoke. ;

[25:11.64]I began to run but as I was still only half- awake,instead of going towards the stairs. ;

[25:17.00]I went in the opposite direction. ;

[25:18.82]The smoke grew thicker and I could see flames all around. ;

[25:22.25]The floor became hot under my bare feet. ;

[25:23.58]I found an open door and ran into a room to get to the window. ;

[25:28.20]But before I could reach it, ;

[25:29.77]one of my feet caught in something soft and I fell down. ;

[25:32.86]The thing I had fallen over felt like a bundle of clothes, ;

[25:35.81]and I picked it up to protect my face from the smoke and heat. ;

[25:38.95]Just then the floor gave way under me ;

[25:41.26]and I crashed to the floor below with pieces of burning wood all around me. ;

[25:45.24]I saw a flaming doorway in front, put the bundle over my fact and ran. ;

[25:49.71]My feet burned me terribly,but I got through. ;

[25:52.51]As I reached the cold air outside,my bundle of clothes gave a thin cry. ;

[25:57.13]I nearly dropped it in my surprise. ;

[25:59.31]Then I saw a crowd gathered in the street. ;

[26:01.64]A woman in a night-dress and a borrowed man's coat screamed ;

[26:04.74]as the saw me and came running madly. "My baby! My baby!" she cried. ;

[26:10.19]The crowd cheered wildly as she took the smoke-blackened bundle out of my arms. ;

[26:15.55]I had some difficulty in recognizing her. ;

[26:18.29]She was the Mayor's wife,and I had saved her baby. I was hero! ;

[26:23.85]    Text B ;

[26:27.48]Teresa went up to Mrs Webster's room, two stairs at a time. ;

[26:32.83]She was nearly at the top when she stopped and sniffed. ;

[26:36.27]A strong smell of gas was coming from that direction. ;

[26:39.95]Teresa ran up the remaining stairs and threw open the door. ;

[26:43.64]She put her hands over her mouth to stop a scream. ;

[26:46.73]Mrs Webster was lying on the floor near the sink. ;

[26:49.78]Her skin and lips had a pinkish colour and she appeared to be unconscious. ;

[26:54.74]The room was full of gas. ;

[26:57.24]   Additional    Information ;

[27:00.24]Who doesn't love sitting beside a cosy fire on a cold winter's night ;

[27:05.20]Who doesn't love to watch flames curling up a chimney? ;

[27:08.69]Frie is one of man's greatest friends, but also one of his greatest enemies. ;

[27:13.55]Many big fires are caused by carelessness. ;

[27:16.69]A lighted cigarette thrown out of a car or train window ;

[27:19.84]or a broken bottle lying on dry grass can start a fire. ;

[27:23.52]Sometimes,though,a fire can start on its own. ;

[27:27.30]Wet hay can begin burning by itself. ;

[27:30.94]This is how it happens:the hay starts to rot ;

[27:34.57]and begins to give off heat which is trapped inside it. ;

[27:37.42]Finally,it bursts into flames. ;

[27:39.97]That's why farmers cut and store their hay when it's dry. ;

[27:44.44]Fires have destroyed whole cities. ;

[27:48.42]In the 17th century, a small fire which began in a baker's shop ;

[27:52.75]burnt down nearly every building in London. ;

[27:55.40]Moscow was set on fire during the war against Napoleon. ;

[27:59.02]This fire continued burning for seven days. ;

[28:02.27]And,of course,in 64 A.D.Nero fiddled while Rome burned! ;

[28:07.54]Even today,in spite of modern fire- fighting methods, ;

[28:11.31]fire causes millions of pounds' worth of damage each year ;

[28:14.52]both in our cities and in the countryside. ;

[28:17.14]It has been wisely said that fire is a good servant but a bad master. ;