Lesson 5 The facts 確切數字
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What was the consequence of the editor's insistence on facts and statistics?
Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their reader with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president's palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refuse to publish it. The article began: 'Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace'. The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.
The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. He sent the journalist two more faxes, but received no reply. He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist. Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor that the he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.
參考譯文
報刊雜志的編輯常常為了向讀者提供成立一些關緊要的事實和統計數字而走向極端。去年，一位記者受一家有名的雜志的委托寫一篇關于非洲某個新成立共和國總統 府的文章。稿子寄來后，編輯看第一句話就拒絕予以發表。文章的開頭是這樣的：“幾百級臺階通向環繞總統的高墻?！本庉嬃⒓唇o那位記者發去傳真，要求他核實 一下臺階的確切數字和圍墻的高度。
記者立即出發去核實這些重要的事實，但過了好長時間不見他把數字寄來，在此期間，編輯等得不耐煩了，因為雜志馬上要復印。他給記者先后發去兩份傳真，但對 方毫無反應。于是他又發了一份傳真，通知那位記者說，若再不迅速答復，將被解雇。但記者還是沒有回復。編輯無奈，勉強按原樣發稿了。一周之后，編輯終于接 到記者的傳真。那個可憐的記者不僅被捕了，而且還被送進了監獄。不過，他終于獲準發回了一份傳真。在傳真中他告訴編輯，就在他數通向15英尺高的總統府圍 墻的1，084級臺階時，被抓了起來。
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
editor
n. 編輯
extreme
n. 極端
statistics
n. 統計數字
journalist
n. 新聞記者
president
n. 總統
palace
n. 王宮；宏偉的住宅
publish
v. 出版
fax
n. 傳真
impatient
adj. 不耐煩的
fire
v. 解雇
originally
adv. 起初，原先，從前
Notes on the text課文注釋
1 go to extremes，走極端。
2 provide ...with…作“向...提供…”解。
3 to write an article on，寫一篇有關……的報道。
4 lead to…作“通往…”、‘導致...”解釋。
5 go to press，付印。
6 Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well.這是not only ...but...as well 引導的并列句子，如果將not only置于句首，后面主謂語應采取倒裝結構。
Lesson 5 課后練習和答案Exercises and Answer
