2024年5月11日发(作者：word去掉最后空白页)

新概念第三册课文翻译及学习笔记：Lesson5

【课文】

　　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

telegram 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 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 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 fax in which he informed the editor that he had been arrested while

counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the

president's palace.

　　【课文翻译】

　　报刊杂志的编辑常常为了向读者提供成立一些无关紧要的事实和统计数字而走向

极端。去年，一位记者受一家有名的杂志的委托写一篇关于非洲某个新成立共和国总

统 府的文章。稿子寄来后，编辑看了第一句话就拒绝予以发表。文章的开头是这样的

：“几百级台阶通向环绕总统府的高墙。”编辑立即给那位记者发去传真，要求他核实

一下台阶的确切数字和围墙的高度。

　　记者立即出发去核实这些重要的事实，但过了好长时间不见他把数字寄来。在此

期间，编辑等得不耐烦了，因为杂志马上要付印。他给记者先后发去两份传真，但对

方毫无反应。于是他又发了一份传真。通知那位记者说，若再不迅速答复，将被解

雇。但记者还是没有回复。编辑无奈，勉强按原样发稿了。一周之后，编辑终于接到

了记者的传真。那个可怜的记者不仅被捕了。而且还被送进了监狱。不过，他终于获

准发回了一份传真。在传真中他告诉编辑，就在他数通向15英尺高的总统府围墙的l，

084级台阶时，被抓了起来。

　　【生词和短语】

　　editor n.编辑

　　extremen.极端

　　statistics n.统计数字

　　journalistn.新闻记者

　　presidentn.总统

　　palacen.王宫;宏伟的住宅

　　publishv.出版

　　faxn.传真

　　impatient adj.不耐烦的

　　fire v.解雇

　　originallyadv.起初，原先，从前

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