英语口语教程(中级) UNIT 28-30

Oral Workshop:    Discussion    Lesson28-30 ;

[00:04.99]    Lesson 28 ;

[00:09.98]     Text B ;

[00:16.54]Mum's first attempt at match-making ended in dismal failure. ;

[00:21.86]People say as a woman approaches middle age, ;

[00:24.46]she interests herself in young people's love affairs and likes match-making. ;

[00:28.64]If this is true, ;

[00:30.20]I hope this first failure would discourage Mum from acquiring ;

[00:33.13]such an interest. ;

[00:34.44]I really don't know why she should have gone to such lengths ;

[00:38.08]to try to bring those two young people together. ;

[00:41.53]It was a fruitless and thankless job, ;

[00:44.78]doomed from the start ;

[00:45.94]because both parties put impossible demands on the opposite side. ;

[00:50.26]The man,Xiao Liu, is about thirty and works in Mum's office, ;

[00:55.09]apparently a very promising young man with an M.A.degree. ;

[00:58.30]Because he is very choosy he has never been able to find a wife ;

[01:01.77]and is beginning to get worried as he will soon be over thirty. ;

[01:05.18]The girl works in Dad's office and is twenty-eight. ;

[01:08.28]She is also a college graduate and very good at her work. ;

[01:11.32]She is quite pretty and has a very strong character. ;

[01:14.37]She too has not been able to find a husband because she is too choosy. ;

[01:18.71]Mum had thought innocently that however choosy they might have been, ;

[01:22.44]they would surely be satisfied this time. ;

[01:24.62]So she invited them over to meet in our house. ;

[01:27.43]She even went to the trouble of cooking them a delicious dinner. ;

[01:31.03]But Mum's pains were not rewarded. ;

[01:34.06]I don't know how they appreciated Mum's dinner, ;

[01:36.52]but they certainly didn't appreciate each other. ;

[01:38.84]Xiao Wu could only meet two of Xiao Liu's numerous demands. ;

[01:42.79]she is pretty and she has a college degree. ;

[01:45.51]But besides that he also wants the girl to be under twenty-five, ;

[01:49.21]to be gentle and docile, a perfect housewife. ;

[01:52.45]He thought Xiao Wu had too strong a character ;

[01:55.36]and that he wouldn't be able to"control her". ;

[01:58.15]On the other hand he fared even worse in Xiao Wu's eyes, ;

[02:01.46]having met only one of her demands. ;

[02:03.83]He is a post-graduate student which is one of her prerequisites for a future husband, ;

[02:08.65]and this seems to be the only thing in his favour. ;

[02:11.43]She wants her future husband to be an overseas Chinese, ;

[02:14.85]or at least to have relatives overseas, so that she could go abroad someday. ;

[02:19.02]Also she wants the man to be around 1.75m in height ;

[02:23.81]and Xiao Liu is only 1.68m.I've heard people say that nowadays, ;

[02:28.76]girls consider any young man under1.7m as a semi-handicapped! ;

[02:33.30]Thank God,I'm already 1.73m and with any luck I can grow another 5cm- ;

[02:39.37]a most respectable height.But I don't have any relatives abroad though! ;

[02:44.06]Mum was most annoyed,and put all the blame on the girl. ;

[02:48.05]"What more does she want? ;

[02:49.60]She should realize that she's already 28 ;

[02:51.72]and she'll never find such an eligible young an again." ;

[02:54.79]Mum never mentioned a word about Xiao Liu's own objections ;

[02:58.47]"Who told you to help such an arrogant young man? ;

[03:01.86]Xiao Wu is hundred times better than he is. ;

[03:04.47]Any sensible young man would have jumped at the chance." ;

[03:07.30]"Jump at the chance! I bet you wish you could jump at the chance yourself!" ;

[03:11.61]Dad didn't know whether to laugh or to be angry. ;

[03:15.41]    Additional     Information ;

[03:18.49]A 50-year-old woman could not help crying when she heard a story ;

[03:22.92]written by her husband ver the radio, ;

[03:25.28]recalling the early days of their marriage ;

[03:28.17]The story by Shen Lijun, ;

[03:30.88]a senior lecturer at the Commercial School in this capital of Hunan Province, ;

[03:35.44]depicted how he,then a college graduate, met and married his wife,Long Huilan, ;

[03:40.49]when he was labelled a right-winger ;

[03:42.69]and forced to work in a neingbourhood factory in the 1960s. ;

[03:46.09]Shen said, "In those days,I dared not fall in love with any girls ;

[03:51.33]because of my inferior olitical status, ;

[03:53.68]and married the first girl who was willing. ;

[03:56.25]"The couple confessed they did have differences of interests. ;

[04:00.48]After Shen became a lecturer, ;

[04:02.66]most of his visitors were intellectusla, Long said. ;

[04:06.15]"After serving them a cup of tea, I had nothing to say and sat aside. ;

[04:10.81]Because of their cultural background, ;

[04:12.83]I could not get a word in edgeways during the chats. ;

[04:15.26]By and by,I came to see a gap between us."According to Shen, ;

[04:20.12]he and his wife also had different ways to teach their children. ;

[04:23.55]"I did not like the way she treated our children: ;

[04:26.29]spoiling them and then eating them if they did not study well or listen to her. ;

[04:30.34]"But whenever I come across contradictions with my wife in daily life," ;

[04:34.10]Shen explained,"I like to recall those days of hardship we shared together, ;

[04:38.45]and this has become a spiritual support to us. ;

[04:41.13]"Shen is a typical example among the middle-aged people in China, ;

[04:45.01]an official of the Changsha City Rodis said. ;

[04:47.59]The radio has opened a special programme to help middle-aged couples ;

[04:51.58]deepen their love by reviewing the past and exchanging experiences. ;

[04:55.90]The programme has become popular with listeners ;

[04:58.19]and has received hundreds of letters from people from all walks of life. ;

[05:01.73]He Yingcai,a judge of the Human Provincial Higher People's Court, ;

[05:06.14]said middle-aged couples account for ;

[05:07.81]one third of those marride in the province. ;

[05:09.90]Traditionally, the marriage of young people was arranged by their parents ;

[05:13.93]and couples paid more attention ot each other's family background ;

[05:16.79]and political frriliation than their own feelings. ;

[05:20.21]As a result, many couples have no feelings for each other, ;

[05:24.32]though they have been married for years. ;

[05:27.05]According to statistics, ;

[05:29.09]about one quarter of the 27,000 coupoes divorced last year were middle-aged. ;

[05:34.00]Rong Xiuqin, an official of the Hunan Provincial Woen's Federation, ;

[05:38.82]said although the divorce rate among middle-aged people ;

[05:41.12]is lower than among people of other ages, ;

[05:43.44]this does not mean that their faily lives are harmonious. ;

[05:46.54]For the sake of their choldren,many people try to make the best of it. ;

[05:50.57]"It is our duty to help them from harmonius familes ;

[05:54.20]because social stability depends on the stability of families,"she said. ;

[05:58.36]Tang Xiying, a sociologist specializing in marriage and women, ;

[06:02.70]noted that Chinese families may not be formed on the basis of feelings, ;

[06:06.47]but feelings for each other are the key to stabilizing a family. ;

[06:11.30]    Lesson 29 ;

[06:51.27] The Voices of Time     Text A ;

[06:55.77]Time talks.It speaks more plainly than words. ;

[07:02.24]Time communicates in many ways. ;

[07:05.94]Consider the different parts of the day,for example. ;

[07:09.44]The time of the day when something is done ;

[07:11.77]can give a special meaning to the event. ;

[07:13.96]Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance ;

[07:17.61]of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon ;

[07:20.90]that takes everyone away from his work. ;

[07:22.99]Whenever they want to make an important announcement, they ask: ;

[07:26.37]"When shall we let them know?" In the United  States, ;

[07:30.57]it is not customary to telephone someone very early in the morning. ;

[07:34.10]If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, ;

[07:38.69]the time of the call shows that the matter is very important ;

[07:42.06]and requires immediate attention. ;

[07:44.21]The same meaning is attached to telephone call after 11.00P.M. ;

[07:48.59]If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, ;

[07:51.54]he assumes it is a matter of life or death. ;

[07:54.04]The time chosen for the call communicates its importance. ;

[07:57.86]In social life,time plays a very important part. ;

[08:02.32]In the United States,guests tend to feel they are not highly regarded ;

[08:06.53]if the invitation to a dinner party is extended only three or four days ;

[08:09.98]before the party date. ;

[08:11.39]But this is not true in all countries. ;

[08:13.64]In other areas of the world,it may be considered ;

[08:15.75]foolish to make an appointment too far in advance ;

[08:18.23]because plans which are made for a date ;

[08:20.00]more than a week away tend to be forgotten. ;

[08:22.46]The meanings of time differ in different parts of the world. ;

[08:26.20]Thus, misunderstanding arise between people from cultures ;

[08:29.74]that treat time differently. ;

[08:31.46]Promptness is valued highly in American life,for example. ;

[08:35.10]If people are not prompt, ;

[08:36.71]they may be regarded as impolite or not fully responsible. In the U.S., ;

[08:41.63]no one would think of keeping a business associate waiting for an hour, ;

[08:44.97]it would be too impolite.When equals meet, ;

[08:48.25]a person who is five minutes late will say a few words of explanation, ;

[08:51.95]though perhaps he may not complete the sentence. ;

[08:54.39]Americans look ahead and are concerned almost entirely with the future. ;

[08:59.13]The American idea of the future is limited,however. ;

[09:01.89]It is the foreseeable future and not the future of the South Asian, ;

[09:06.45]which may involve centuries. ;

[09:08.46]Someone has said of the South Asian idea of time: ;

[09:11.46]"Time is like a museum with endless halls and rooms. You,the viewer, ;

[09:16.63]are walking through the museum in the dark, ;

[09:18.79]holding a light to each scene as you pass it. ;

[09:21.40]God is in charge of the museum and only he knows all that is in it. ;

[09:25.47]One lifetime represents one room." ;

[09:28.62]Since time has such different meanings in different cultures, ;

[09:32.50]communication is often difficult. ;

[09:34.65]We will understand each other a little better ;

[09:36.90]if we can keep this fact in mind. ;

[09:39.43]    Text B ;

[09:42.58]I am a member of a small,nearly extinct minority group who insist, ;

[09:47.73]even though it seems to be out of date, on the sanctity of being on time. ;

[09:52.34]Which is to say that we On-timers are compulsively, ;

[09:56.14]unfashionably prompt,that there are only handfuls of us left,and, ;

[10:00.40]unfortunately,we never seem to have appointments with each other. ;

[10:04.03]The fact is that being on time has become a social mistake. ;

[10:07.98]The fact is that generally speaking, ;

[10:10.01]the time that the Late-people set as the oment of Rendezvous is a code. ;

[10:14.71]It is a code meaning at least one half- hour later. ;

[10:18.23]The fact is that we On-timers can't get that into our heads. ;

[10:21.77]We arrive invariably at the appointed hour at people's houses, ;

[10:25.36]which means that we have occasionally eaten all the sandwiches ;

[10:27.87]before the other guests arrive.Which means that we are rude.Let me explain. ;

[10:33.48]We are,for example, invited for dinner at eight o'clock at ;

[10:37.35]the home of friends who live exactly twenty minutes away. ;

[10:40.97]We leave our house at ten to eight ;

[10:43.46]so that for once we will be a comfortable ten minutes late. ;

[10:46.79]Then even the traffic defeats us. ;

[10:49.36]We meet only green lights and arrive at four minutes to eight. ;

[10:52.99]We drive about for a while and then enter at one minute past, ;

[10:57.01]to the astonishment of the host and hostess. ;

[10:59.58]She is at an important stage of preparation with the saucepans. ;

[11:03.52]He is thinking about taking a shower. ;

[11:05.65]We end up helping with the first course and putting the baby to bed ;

[11:09.57]and mixing the drinks and are still left with enough time to analyse ;

[11:12.93]what kind of people our hosts are from the magazines on the coffee table. ;

[11:16.62]As for meeting in restaurants, ;

[11:19.14]you can immediately recognise us On-timers. ;

[11:22.06]We are the only non- alcoholics standing in restaurant doorways in December ;

[11:26.42]If not,we can always be found killing time in the cloakroom ;

[11:29.88]or trying to look as if we are not alone at the bar. ;

[11:32.41]Now,we all know that these very same Late-people ;

[11:35.95]do not routinely miss planes or the beginnings of films. ;

[11:39.09]But,as I told a Late-person recently, "If I were a train, I'd be gone..." ;

[11:44.54]With regard to meetings there are two kinds of people. ;

[11:48.12]Those who hate to wait and those who hate to make others wait. ;

[11:52.58]The sadists and the masochists?I hope not. ;

[11:56.10]There was a New York magazine piece once about ;

[11:59.14]the power struggle involved in business lunches. ;

[12:01.63]It intimated that you could always tell the powerless and the powerful. ;

[12:05.86]The Indians were waiting, ;

[12:07.22]while the Chiefs arrived half an hour or an hour later. ;

[12:10.44]If you are an On- timer,you cannot make an entrance. ;

[12:14.02]The Late-people, of course,are always terribly sorry, ;

[12:18.05]"but something important came up" (in contrast to us, for instance). ;

[12:22.55]Besides,as they say, their minds are always so full of  big questions ;

[12:27.17](like The Bomb)that they never know what time it is. ;

[12:30.47]In comparison with the On-timers,they suggest, ;

[12:33.43]who have their little brains filled with stupid details like ;

[12:36.39]the big hand and the little hand on the clock.The problem is getting worse. ;

[12:41.54]If you adjust to the Late-people ;

[12:43.95]and accept the fact that they're half an hour behind the time you arranged to meet ;

[12:48.10]they arrive an hour late.Fewer and fewer of us On-timers remain. ;

[12:53.15]We are now surprised when anyone else is on time. ;

[12:55.91]We have begun to make certain adjustments like setting our clocks ;

[12:58.83]and watches back or bringing the novel we're working on to dinner parties. ;

[13:02.22]How late we are to recognise that being on time is out of date, ;

[13:06.37]that in fact,our time has passed. ;

[13:09.84]    Additional     Information   How Aericans See     Time ;

[13:16.68]Americans recognise that there is a past on which the present rests. ;

[13:22.41]But they have not developed their sense of the depth of time ;

[13:25.26]to the extent that this has been done in the Middle East and South Asia. ;

[13:28.48]The Arab looks back two to six thousand years for his own origins. ;

[13:33.57]History is used as the basis for almost any modern action. ;

[13:37.54]The chances are that an Arb won't start a talk or a speech or analyse a problem ;

[13:42.74]without first developing the historical aspects of his subject. ;

[13:46.42]The American assumes that time has depth, but he takes this for granted. ;

[13:51.41]The American never questions the fact ;

[13:54.55]that time should be planned and furure events fitted into a schedule. ;

[13:59.18]He thinks that people should look forward to the future ;

[14:02.56]and not dwell too much on the past. ;

[14:05.00]His future is not vrey far ahead of him. ;

[14:07.83]Results must be obtained in the foreseeable future ;

[14:11.65]one or two years or, at the most,five or ten. ;

[14:15.63]Promises to meet deadlines and appointments are taken ery seriously. ;

[14:20.11]There are real penalties for being late ;

[14:22.38]and for not keeping commitments in time. ;

[14:24.89]The American thinks it is natural to quantify time. ;

[14:29.08]To fail to do so is unthinkable. ;

[14:32.10]The American specifies how much time is equired to do everything. ;

[14:36.16]"I'll be there in ten minutes." "It will take six months to finish that job." ;

[14:40.17]"I was in the Army for four and a half years. ;

[14:43.04]"The Americans, like so many other people, ;

[14:46.12]also use time as a link that chains events together, ;

[14:49.46]If one event occurs on the heels of another, ;

[14:52.01]we inevitably try to find a causal relationship between them. ;

[14:55.61]If A is seen in the vicinity of B's murder ;

[14:59.66]shortly after the crime has been committed ;

[15:01.77]we automatically from a connection between A and B. ;

[15:05.38]Conversely, events which are separated by too much time ;

[15:09.24]are difficult for us to connect in our minds. ;

[15:11.83]This makes it almost impossible ;

[15:14.01]for us as a nation to engage in long-range planning. ;

[15:18.03]   Lesson 30 ;

[15:57.27]    Who Did It?     Text A ;

[16:02.12]Inspector Chester of Scotland Yard soon arrived on the scene of the crime. ;

[16:07.39]When the newspapermen saw him getting out of the car ;

[16:10.58]they immediately realised that matters were serious. ;

[16:13.54]Inspector Chester had a fine reputation. ;

[16:16.55]He had solved many difficult and compl- icated crimes during the last few years. ;

[16:21.27]Most of them were robberies. ;

[16:23.53]This one concerned the theft of jewels belonging to a famous film actress. ;

[16:28.30]She was reputed to be a millionairess. So it was not surprising that ;

[16:32.30]the missing jewels were valued at a quarter of a million pounds. ;

[16:35.59]The newspapermen were eager to question the detective. ;

[16:39.20]He stood on the pavement outside the house and smiled at the photographers. ;

[16:43.65]"Have you a statement to make" somebody asked. ;

[16:46.68]The detective-tall, thick-set.Middle- aged, ;

[16:50.84]clean-shaven-pushed his way through the crowd, ;

[16:53.63]climbed a few steps to the front door, turned round and said in a cool,clear voice: ;

[16:59.58]"I have no statement to make. ;

[17:02.49]As soon as there is anything fresh to tell you,I'll let you know." ;

[17:07.02]He beckoned to a policeman,whispered a few words in his ear ;

[17:10.73]and went into the house.After a "Move along,please" from the policeman, ;

[17:15.88]the crowd gradually dispersed. ;

[17:18.19]Upstairs,Inspector Chester walked over to the French windows. ;

[17:22.90]It was probably through these that the thieves had come. ;

[17:26.36]They had left no clues,no finger- prints. ;

[17:30.01]It had apparently not been difficult for them to break into the safe. ;

[17:33.58]Just as the detective was about to examine this once again, ;

[17:36.91]the telephone rang. "Hullo,Inspector", a soft,monotonous voice said. ;

[17:43.47]"If you want a clue, why don't you talk to the servant? ;

[17:47.45]The one with a small scar on the right cheek."Was this a trick? ;

[17:52.30]Would it put the Inspector on the right track? ;

[17:55.49]    Text B ;

[17:59.37]Inspector Robinson was swearing aloud when he arrived at the fine, ;

[18:04.23]old house at the top of the hill.The past few weeks had been rough for him, ;

[18:08.51]and it looked as if there was more trouble ahead. ;

[18:10.88]It was raining hard, and Carruthers,his assistant, ;

[18:14.34]who was waiting for him at the gate,was wet to the skin. ;

[18:17.16]As they walked up the path together, Carruthers explained what had happened. ;

[18:21.05]The woman,Sylvia Fortagne,a daughter of Lord Arthrington, ;

[18:25.07]had been found dead in the sitting-room by one of the servants hat evening. ;

[18:28.58]The police doctor, who had examined the body, ;

[18:31.17]was sure that it was a clear case of poisoning.They had not moved the body; ;

[18:35.60]it still lay face upwards,where it had fallen. ;

[18:38.74]Underneath her body they had found the photograph of an unknown young man. ;

[18:43.45]There had been no signs of a struggle. ;

[18:45.86]The woman's husband had not been seen since lunchtime. ;

[18:49.35]According to the cook he had left the house"in anger", ;

[18:52.85]as she put it,after a quarrel with his wife, ;

[18:55.54]and had gone for a ride on one of his favourite horses. ;

[18:58.52]Carruthers pushed open the front door, and the two men entered the hall. ;

[19:02.78]Inspector Robinson took off his hat and went into the sitting-room. ;

[19:06.71]-We'll have to wait, said Carruthers wiping his glasses. ;

[19:10.23]-It's no use waiting,said the Inspector. ;

[19:13.18]I don't think he'll dare to come back. It's pretty obvious he did it. ;

[19:16.50]Saying this,he put on his hat. ;

[19:18.91]They were about to leave the house when they saw a dark ;

[19:21.80]figure approaching them from out of the shadows. ;

[19:24.27]It was Nigel Fortagne.Nigel Fortagne's story ;

[19:30.79]-Yes,it's true that I knew that my wife was in love with another man, ;

[19:35.34]but I trusted her and ;

[19:37.12]believed that she would forget about him sooner or later. ;

[19:40.05]But when she returned from a weekend in Paris this morning, ;

[19:42.57]she told me that she wanted a divorce and threatened to do something terrible ;

[19:45.80]if I didn't agree to it.I refused,of course. ;

[19:48.80]She drank heavily at lunchtime and even opened the bottle ;

[19:51.42]which she had brought as a present for me. ;

[19:53.47]She insisted that I should join her for a drink,but I didn't, ;

[19:56.38]because I had taken my medicine.I'm not supposed to take it with alcohol. ;

[20:00.37]I suffer from a weak heart,you see.She was in a terrible state, ;

[20:04.11]so I put some of my pills into my glass when she wasn't looking. ;

[20:07.21]Then I exchanged the glasses.It was not really much,but, ;

[20:10.69]of course, I should have known how dangerous these pills can be. ;

[20:13.53]But at that moment I was so angry that I didn't care. ;

[20:17.01]I was sick and tired of the argument and left the house. ;

[20:20.06]She was so drunk she wouldn't have noticed any difference in the taste of the sherry. ;

[20:23.77]I came back to see how she was.And, besides, ;

[20:26.37]there's no point in running away ;

[20:27.48]because life doesn't mean anything to me without her. ;

[20:30.58]James Highsmith's story Afterwards, James Highsmith, ;

[20:36.99]the young man in the photograph,was questioned by Inspector Robinson. ;

[20:40.59]When he was told what had happened he broke down. ;

[20:43.67]-Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that we were in love. ;

[20:47.18]We had a wonderful time in Paris, but I was afraid of losing her. ;

[20:50.90]Sylvia often talked about killing him because he would never gree to a divorce. ;

[20:55.00]I begged her not to do it,but she said that one of us had to. ;

[20:58.80]Then I found one of his prescriptions in her hand-bag. ;

[21:01.73]I bought the medicine,put some of it into a bottle of sherry ;

[21:04.80]and told Sylvia to give it to him as a present.It was him to me. ;

[21:09.00]I was anxious about her drinking from the bottle because I was fairly  sure ;

[21:12.87]that it wasn't really enough to kill a normal, healthy grown-up. ;

[21:15.53]I must have killed her,though,and the only comfort I can find in her death is ;

[21:20.82]that I don't have to share her with him any longer. ;

[21:24.84]Sylvia Fortagne's story James Highsmith ;

[21:30.35]did not know that the police had found a message on a slip of ;

[21:33.20]paper in Sylvia Fortagne's hand-bag. ;

[21:36.76]Dear James,Please forgive me for the terrible thing I am going to do, ;

[21:43.70]but it's the only way out way out. ;

[21:45.92]I have considered everything carefully, ;

[21:48.72]and I know it's very selfish,but W.has destroyed my life ;

[21:53.47]and made me thoroughly unhappy. ;

[21:55.85]When you receive this letter he will have been found dead after a heart attack ;

[22:02.32]with a glass of sherry in his hand. ;

[22:04.64]I tried to phone you earlier this morning,but couldn't reach you. ;

[22:09.63]In case they examine the body ;

[22:12.03]they will think that he took an overdose of his medicine by mistake. ;

[22:15.31]His family will come over to comfort me and will probably stay or a few weeks so, ;

[22:19.98]please,don't try to get in touch.It will all be worth it in the end. ;

[22:26.01]All my love,Yours ever,S. ;

[22:32.32]    Additional     Information Crime and Punishment ;

[22:38.01]From the court notes of a local reporter In court at 9 o'clock. ;

[22:44.93]Apart from me there are a few old ladies who have come to sit in the warm ;

[22:49.31]and a class of 14-15-year-old with their teacher. ;

[22:52.98]9:05 Court starts, First case:Henry P., 47,divorced, charged with being drunk. ;

[23:04.54]He refused to leave a pub at closing time ;

[23:07.44]and caused a bit of damage when the police tried to arrest him. ;

[23:10.41]P.said had had an argument with his boss ;

[23:13.49]and could not face going home to an empty flat. ;

[23:16.60]9:20 Mrs f.,72, shoplifting. Apparently Mrs F. ;

[23:24.83]had stolen a frozen chicken, which she had hidden under her hat ;

[23:28.68](At this the school children burst out laughing and even ;

[23:31.29]the magistrates have difficulty keeping a straight face). ;

[23:34.07]The chicken was so cold that she fell unconscious, ;

[23:37.28]otherwise she would probaly not have been caught. ;

[23:39.85]Mrs F, in tears, says she had not eaten meat for three weeks. ;

[23:45.12]It turns out that, although she has the old-age pension, ;

[23:48.57]she does not know about other forms of support.9:40 James S.,42, a teacher, ;

[23:59.08]charged with beating his wife and two young children. ;

[24:02.31]Mrs S.is in hipital in bad shape; ;

[24:05.55]the mother-in-law is taking care of the children. ;

[24:08.05]The neighbours sent for the police-one case, ;

[24:11.17]thank heavents,where neighbours did not "mind their own business". ;

[24:15.07]Mrs S.had already run away twice, ;

[24:17.46]but S.had promised to change and she had gone home again. ;

[24:20.90]S.said that he was ashamed of what he had done, ;

[24:24.36]but that he often lost his temper with his wife, ;

[24:27.29]who was quarrelsome and had no sense of duty. ;

[24:30.14]The school children looked thoughtful; ;

[24:32.76]they probably thought that teachers do not do that sort of thing. ;

[24:36.98]10:30 Peter D.,19.D. stole,or ratehr "borrowed" a motorcycle, ;

[24:46.64]intending, he said, to give it back to the owner after trying it out. ;

[24:50.71]D.'s father is at sea and the mother is left to bring up four children, ;

[24:55.41]of whom peter is the eldest,by herself. 11:00 Mrs A.,45, a doctor's wife, ;

[25:03.70]president of a local ladies' club, ;

[25:05.77]was caught leaving a fashion shop wearing two dresses, ;

[25:09.29]only one of which belonged to her. ;

[25:11.20]Admitting that she had wanted to steal the dress, she could not explain why. ;