新概念第二册

Lesson 61 Trouble with the Hubble

The Hubble telescope was launched into space by NASA on April 20, 1990  at a cost of over a billion dollars. Right from the start there was trouble with the Hubble. The pictures it sent us were very disappointing because its main mirror was faulty! NASA is now 5  going to put the telescope right, so it will soon be sending up four astronauts to repair it. The shuttle Endeavour will be taking the astronauts to the Hubble. A robot-arm from the Endeavour will grab the telescope and hold it while the astronauts make the necessary repairs. Of course, the Hubble is above the earth's atmosphere, so it will soon be sending us the clearest 10  pictures of the stars and distant galaxies that we have ever seen. The Hubble will tell us a great deal about the age and size of the universe. By the time you read this, the Hubble's eagle eye will have sent us thousands and thousands of wonderful pictures.

Lesson 62 After the fire 

Firemen had been fighting the forest fire for nearly three weeks before they could get it under control. A short time before, great trees had covered the countryside for miles around. Now, smoke still rose up from the warm ground over the desolate hills. Winter was coming 5  on and the hills threatened the surrounding villages with destruction, for heavy rain would not only wash away the soil but would cause serious floods as well. When the fire had at last been put out, the forest authorities ordered several tons of a special type of grassseed which would grow quickly. The seed was sprayed over the ground in huge quantities by aeroplanes. The 10  planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it began to rain. By then, however,in many places the grass had already taken root. In place of the great trees which had been growing there for centuries, patches of green had begun to appear in the blackened soil.

Lesson 63 She was not amused

Jeremy Hampden has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his great sense of humour----everybody, that is, except his six－year－old daughter, Jenny. Recently, one of Jeremy's closest friends asked him to make a speech at a 5  wedding reception. This is the sort of thing that Jeremy loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the wedding with Jenny.He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course, it was a great success As soon as he had finished,Jenny told him she wanted to go home. Jeremy was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On 10  the way home, he asked Jenny if she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she hadn't. Jeremy asked her why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him!