Lesson 11 Not guilty無罪
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What was the Customs Officer looking for?
Customs Officers are quite tolerant these days, but they can still stop you when you are going through the Green Channel and have nothing to declare. Even really honest people are often made to feel guilty. The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never troubled by such feelings, even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase. When I returned form abroad recently, a particularly officious young Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler.
'Have you anything to declare?' he asked, looking me in the eye.
'No', I answered confidently.
'Would you mind unlocking this suitcase please?'
'Not at all,' I answered.
The Officer went through the case with great care. All the thing I had packed so carefully were soon in a dreadful mess. I felt sure I would never be able to close the case again. Suddenly, I saw the Officer's face light up. He had spotted a tiny bottle at the bottom of my case and he pounced on it with delight.
'Perfume, eh?' he asked sarcastically. 'You should have declared that. Perfume is not exempt from import duty.'
'But it isn't perfume,' I said. 'It's hair gel.' Then I added with a smile, 'It's a strange mixture I make myself.'
As I expected, he did not believe me.
'Try it!' I said encouragingly.
The officer unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to his nostrils. He was greeted by an unpleasant smell which convinced him that I was telling the truth. A few minutes later, I was able to hurry away with precious chalk marks on my baggage.
參考譯文
現(xiàn)在的海關(guān)官員往往相當(dāng)寬容。但是，當(dāng)你通過綠色通道，沒有任何東西需要申報時，他們?nèi)钥梢詳r住你。甚至是最誠實的人也常弄得覺得有罪似的，而老練的職業(yè) 走私犯卻使手提箱里藏著500只金表，卻也處之泰然。最近一次，我也出國歸來，碰上一位特別好管閑事的年輕海關(guān)官員，他顯然把我當(dāng)成走私犯。
“您有什么需要申報的嗎？”他直盯著我的眼睛問。
“沒有。”我自信地回答說。
“請打開這只手提箱好嗎？”
“好的。”我回答說。
那位官員十分仔細(xì)地把箱子檢查了一遍。所有細(xì)心包裝好的東西一會兒工夫就亂成一團(tuán)。我相信那箱子再也關(guān)不上了。突然，我看到官員臉上露出了得意的神色。他在我的箱底發(fā)現(xiàn)了一只小瓶，高興地一把抓了起來。
“香水，嗯？”他譏諷地說道，“你剛才應(yīng)該申報，香水要上進(jìn)口稅的。”
“不，這不是香水，”我說，“是發(fā)膠。”接著我臉帶微笑補(bǔ)充說：“這是一種我自己配制的奇特的混合物。”
“你就聞一聞吧！”我催促說。
海關(guān)官員擰開瓶蓋，把瓶子放到鼻子底下。一股怪味襲來，使他相信了我說的真話。幾分鐘后，我終于被放行，手提劃著寶貴的粉筆記號的行李，匆匆離去。
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
guilty
adj. 犯罪的，違法的
tolerant
adj. 寬容的
declare
v. 申報
hardened
adj. 有經(jīng)驗的
professional
adj. 職業(yè)的，專業(yè)的
smuggler
n. 走私者
officious
adj. 愛管閑事的
confidently
adv. 自信地
dreadful
adj. 可怕的，一團(tuán)糟的
pounce
v. 猛抓，撲住
perfume
n. 香水
sarcastically
adv. 諷刺地
exempt
adj. 被免除的
duty
n. 稅
gel
n. 凝膠
mixture
n. 混合物
unscrew
v. 擰開
nostril
n. 鼻孔
chalk
n. 粉筆
baggage
n. 行李
Notes on the text課文注釋
1 the Green Channel，綠色通道，指海關(guān)專供沒有攜帶征稅物品進(jìn)關(guān)的旅客所走的通道。
2 hidden in his suitcase是過去分詞短語作定語，修飾watches。它相當(dāng)于一個定語從句:which were hidden in his suitcase.
3 looking me in the eye，直盯著我的眼睛，這是分詞短語作狀語，表示方式，修飾asked。
4 The officer went through，這里go through作“檢查”講。
5 in a dreadful mess(或in a mess)，亂七八糟，混亂透了。
6 I saw the Officer's face light up.我看到那位官員的臉上露出了得意的神色。
7 You should have declared that，你早該申報了。"should+不定式的完成式”表示本該做而未做之事。
8 he exempt from作“免除”、“豁免，’解。
Lesson 11 課后練習(xí)和答案Exercises and Answer
