本課程突破傳統教學模式，將單詞還原到真實文章場景里進行講解，能有效幫助學員成為熟練的英語運用者；

大幅度增加英語授課比例，全方位提升英語語感。

新增口語能力模塊，讓你從此英語脫口而出！

經典的新概念教材，全新的學習體驗，幫助你逐步提高英語水平！

大幅度提高英語授課比例，全語境教學效果佳特色口語訓練課，從此英語脫口而出

配套階段性測試，明確自己的進步和繼續努力的方向全程授課的網校明星老師，反復校對的課程內容以及精選習題足不出戶即可學習，安卓，蘋果系統手機以及平板隨時學習，學習更有效率專職的班主任以及助教團隊24小時之內解決學習提問精彩的班級活動讓你學習不再枯燥

配套開心詞場背單詞，讓你輕松掌握單詞，為以后打下良好的基礎

Lesson1 A puma at large

Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild puma had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the puma were extraordinarily similar.

The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 'a large cat' only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered（adj.被困得走投無路的）. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of 'cat-like noises' at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from ? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.

美洲獅是一種體形似貓的大動物，產于美洲。當倫敦動物園接到報告說，在倫敦以南45英里處發現一只美洲獅時，這些報告并沒有受到重視�？墒�，隨著證據越來越多，動物園的專家們感到有必要進行一番調查，因為凡是聲稱見到過美洲獅的人們所描述的情況竟是出奇地相似。

搜尋美洲獅的工作是從一座小村莊開始的。那里的一位婦女在采摘黑莓時的看見“一只大貓”，離她僅5碼遠，她剛看見它，它就立刻逃走了。專家證實，美洲獅非被逼得走投無路，是決不會傷人的。事實上搜尋工作很困難，因為常常是早晨在甲地發現那只美洲獅，晚上卻在20英里外的乙地發現它的蹤跡。無論它走哪兒，一路上總會留下一串死鹿及死兔子之類的小動物，在許多地方看見爪印，灌木叢中發現了粘在上面的美洲獅毛。有人抱怨說夜里聽見“像貓一樣的叫聲”；一位商人去釣魚，看見那只美洲獅在樹上。專家們如今已經完全肯定那只動物就是美洲獅，但它是從哪兒來的呢？由于全國動物園沒有一家報告丟了美洲獅，因此那只美洲獅一定是某位私人收藏豢養的，不知怎么設法逃出來了。搜尋工作進行了好幾個星期，但始終未能逮住那只美洲獅。想到在寧靜的鄉村里有一頭危險的野獸繼續逍遙流竄，真令人擔心。

Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one

Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but he has never managed to get enough money to have the church clock repaired. The big clock which used to strike the hours day and night was damaged many years ago and has been silent ever since.

One night, however, our vicar woke up with a start: the clock was striking the hours! Looking at his watch, he saw that it was one o'clock, but the bell struck thirteen times before it stopped. Armed with a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on. In the torchlight, he caught sight of a figure whom he immediately recognized as Bill Wilkins, our local grocer. 'Whatever are you doing up here Bill ?' asked the vicar in surprise.

'I'm trying to repair the bell,' answered Bill.' I've been coming up here night after night for weeks now. You see, I was hoping to give you a surprise.'

'You certainly did give me a surprise!' said the vicar. 'You've probably woken up everyone in the village as well. Still, I'm glad the bell is working again.'

'That's the trouble, vicar,' answered Bill. 'It's working all right, but I'm afraid that at one o'clock it will strike thirteen times and there's nothing I can do about it.'

'We'll get used to that Bill,' said the vicar. 'Thirteen is not as good as one but it's better than nothing. Now let's go downstairs and have a cup of tea.'

我們教區的牧師總是為各種各樣的事籌集資金。但始終未能籌足資金把教堂的鐘修好。教堂的鐘很大，以前不分晝夜打點報時，但很多年前遭到毀壞，從此便無聲無息了。

一天夜里，我們的牧師突然被驚醒了，大鐘又在“打點”報時了！他一看表，才1點鐘，可是那鐘一邊敲了13下才停。牧師拿著一支電筒走上鐘樓想去看看究竟發生了什么事情。借著電筒光。他看見一個人，馬上認出那是本地雜貨店主經比爾.威爾金斯。

“你究竟在這上面干什么，比爾？”牧師驚訝地問。

“我想把這口鐘修好，”比爾回答說�！昂脦讉�星期了，我天天夜里到鐘樓上來。嗯，我是想讓你大吃一驚�！�

“你確實使我大吃了一驚！”牧師說，“也許同時你把村里所有的人都吵醒了。不過，鐘又能報時了，我還是很高興的�！�

“問題就在這里，牧師，”比爾回答說�！安诲e，鐘能報時了，但是，恐怕每到1點鐘，它總要敲13下，對此我已無能為力了�！�

“大家慢慢就習慣了，比爾，”牧師說�！�13下是不如1下好，但總比1下也不敲強。來，咱們下樓去喝杯茶吧�！�

Lesson 3 An unknown goddess

Some time ago，an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean（adj.愛琴海的；n.）island of Kea．An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini．The city at one time must have been prosperous，for it enjoyed a high level of civilization．Houses--often three storeys high--were built of stone．They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls．The city was even equipped with a drainage system，for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets．

The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of the temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century B.C. Its missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hip. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.

不久之前，在愛琴海的基亞島上，考古工作者有一項有趣的發現。一個美國考古隊在阿伊亞.依里尼海角的一座古城里考察了一座廟宇。這座古城肯定一度很繁榮，因為它曾享有高度的文明，房子一般有3層樓高，用石塊修建。里面房間很大，墻壁裝飾華麗。城里甚至還敷設了排水系統，因為在狹窄的街道底下發現了許許多多陶土制作的排水管道。

考古工作者考察的這座廟宇從公元前15世紀直到羅馬時代一直是祭祀祈禱的場所。在廟中最神圣的一間殿堂里發現了15尊陶雕像的碎片。每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上過色。其中有一尊雕像，她的軀體是在公元前15世紀的歷史文物中發現的，而她那身異處的腦袋卻碰巧是在公元前5世紀的文物中找到的。她的腦袋一定是在古希臘羅馬時代就為人所發現，并受到精心的保護。卻使在當時，它也屬歷史悠久的珍奇之物�？脊殴ぷ髡甙堰@些碎片重新拼裝起來后，驚奇地發現那位女神原來是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。她身高3英尺，雙手叉腰。身穿一條拖地長裙，盡管上了年紀，但體態確實優美。不過，考古工作者至今未能確定這位女神的身份。

Lesson4 The double life of Alfred Bloggs

These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than clerks who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as' white collar workers' for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.

When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls (n.工作服) and spent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at night, he took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret. Alf's wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she never will, for Alf has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office as a junior clerk. He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him 'Mr. Bloggs', not 'Alf'.

如今，從事體力勞動的人的收入一般要比坐辦公室的人高出許多。坐辦公室的之所以常常被稱作“白領工人”，就是因為他們通常是穿著硬領白襯衫，系著領帶去上班。許多人常常情愿放棄較高的薪水以換取做白領工人的殊榮，此乃人之常情。而這常常會引起種種奇怪的現象，在埃爾斯米爾公司當清潔工的艾爾弗雷德.布洛斯就是一個例子。

艾爾弗結婚時，感到非常難為情，而沒有將自己的職業告訴妻子。他只說在埃爾斯米爾公司上班。每天早晨，他穿上一身漂亮的黑色西裝離家上班，然后換上工作服，當8個小時清潔工。晚上回家前，他洗個淋浴，重新換上那身黑色西服。兩年多以來，艾爾弗一直這樣，他的同事也為他保守秘密。艾爾弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁給了一個清潔工，而且她永遠也不會知道了，因為艾爾弗已找到薪職，不久就要坐辦公室里工作了。他將來掙的錢只有他現在的一半。不過他覺得，地位升高了，損失點兒錢也值得。從此，艾爾弗可以一天到晚穿西服了。別人將稱呼他為“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾爾弗”了。

Lesson 5 The facts

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their readers 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 refused 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 to 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 urgent telegrams, but received no reply. He sent yet another telegram 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 telegram 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 cable in which he informed the editor that he had been arrested while counting the 1084 steps leading to the 15-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.

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，因為雜志馬上要付印。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。