Lesson 39 Nothing to worry about
The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from. Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed. Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away. It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. He simply had no sense of danger at all. No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders. The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine. Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes. But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure. In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped. Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car. We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep. Even this had no effect. Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course. Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again. Bruce consulted the map once more and
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told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away. Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across. Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt. A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine! 1 Why did the writer try to get Bruce to drive back to the village? (Because the road became so bad.)
2 What was the road littered with? (Boulders.) 3 What was it pitted with? (Holes.) 4 Was Bruce perturbed? (No, he wasn't.)
5 How far away was the next village? ([A mere] twenty miles.) 6 Did Bruce underestimate difficulties? (No, he didn't.) 7 Did he have any sense of danger at all? (No, he didn't.)
8 What did he believe? (That a car should be driven as fast as it could go.) 9 Why did they swerve? (To avoid large boulders.)
10 What did they think would happen sooner or later? (That a stone would rip a hole in the petrol tank or damage the engine.)
11 Why did they keep looking back? (To see if they were leaving a trail of oil or petrol.)
12 Did the boulders give way to a stretch of plain? (Yes, they did.) 13 But what was ahead? (A huge fissure.)
14 When the others got out to examine the fissure, what did Bruce do? (He remained in the car.)
15 What was the size of the fissure? (It was fifty yards long, two feet wide and four
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feet deep.)
16 Did Bruce avoid it or did he drive along it? (He drove along it.)
17 When Bruce consulted the map, how far away was the village? (Fifteen miles.) 18 What was the next obstacle? (A shallow pool of water about half a mile across.) 19 What happened to the car in the middle of the pool? (It came to a grinding halt.) 20 How did Bruce know that there was no oil in the engine? (A yellow light flashed on the dashboard.)
●rough adj. 崎岖不平的 ●boulder n. 大石块
●pit v. 使......变得坑坑洼洼 ●perturb v. 使不安 ●underestimate v. 低估 ●swerve v. 急转向 ●scoop v. 挖出
●hammer v. （用锤）击打，锤打 ●ominously adv. 有预兆地，不祥地 ●rip v. 划破，撕，扯 ●petrol n. 汽油
●stretch n. 一大片（平地或水） ●obstacle n. 障碍 ●clump n. 丛，簇
●fissure n. （石、地的）深缝 ●renew v. 重复
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新概念第三册第39课笔记
