(单词翻译:单击)
课文
Lesson 43 Fully insured 全保险
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
Who owned the pie and why?
Insurance companies are normally willing to insure anything. Insuring public or private property is a standard practice in most countries in the world. If, however, you were holding an open air garden party or a fete it would be equally possible to insure yourself in the event of bad weather. Needless to say, the bigger the risk an insurance company takes, the higher the premium you will have to pay. It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has made a claim for cost of salvaging a sunken ship. But the claim made by a local authority to recover the cost of salvaging a sunken pie dish must surely be unique.
Admittedly it was an unusual pie dish, for it was eighteen feet long and six feet wide. It had been purchased by a local authority so that an enormous pie could be baked for an annual fair. The pie committee decided that the best way to transport the dish would be by canal, so they insured it for the trip. Shortly after it was launched, the pie committee went to a local inn to celebrate. At the same time, a number of teenagers climbed on to the dish and held a little party of their own. Dancing proved to be more than the dish could bear, for during the party it capsized and sank in seven feet of water.
The pie committee telephoned a local garage owner who arrived in a recovery truck to salvage the pie dish. Shivering in their wet clothes, the teenagers looked on while three men dived repeatedly into the water to locate the dish. They had little difficulty in finding it, but hauling it out of the water proved to be a serious problem. The sides of the dish were so smooth that it was almost impossible to attach hawsers and chains to the rim without damaging it. Eventually chains were fixed to one end of the dish and a powerful winch was put into operation. The dish rose to the surface and was gently drawn towards the canal bank. For one agonizing moment, the dish was perched precariously on the bank of the canal, but it suddenly overbalanced and slid back into the water. The men were now obliged to try once more. This time they fixed heavy metal clamps to both sides of the dish so that they could fasten the chains. The dish now had to be lifted vertically because one edge was resting against the side of the canal. The winch was again put into operation and one of the men started up the truck. Several minutes later, the dish was again put into operation and one of the water. Water streamed in torrents over its sides with such force that it set up a huge wave in the canal. There was danger that the wave would rebound off the other side of the bank and send the dish plunging into the water again. By working at tremendous speed, the men managed to get the dish on to dry land before the wave returned.
参考译文
【参考译文】
保险公司一般说来愿意承保一切东西。承办公共财产或私人财产保险是世界上大部分国家的正常业务。如果你要举办一次露天游园会或盛宴，为避免碰上不好的天气而遭受损失也同样可以保险，不用说，保险公司承担风险越大，你付的保险费也就越高。航运公司为打捞沉船而提出索赔，这是常有的事，但某地当局为打捞一只焙制馅饼的盘子提出索赔，倒是件新鲜的事儿。
这个馅饼盘子确实少见，有18英尺长，6英尺宽。某地方当局买下它用来焙制一个巨大的馅饼为一年一度交易会助兴。馅饼委员会确认运输这只盘子的最佳方案是通过运河水运。于是，他们对这只盘子的运输安全投了保。盘子下水后不久，馅饼委员会成员们来到当地一家小酒店庆贺。就在这个时候，许多十几岁的孩子爬盘子举行他们自己的集会。他们跳起了舞，盘子难以承受。舞会进行过程中，盘子倾覆，沉入了7英尺深的水中。
馅饼委员会给当地汽车修理库老板打电话，他闻讯后开着一辆急修车前来打捞盘子。那些孩子们穿着湿衣服哆嗦，看着3个工人轮潜入水中以确定盘子的位置。他们没费多大事儿就找到了盘子。可是把盘子捞出却是一个很大的难题。盘子四边十分光滑，要在盘边拴上绳索或链条而同时又不损坏它是很难办到的。不过，他们终于将链条固定在盘子的一端，一台大功率的绞车开动起来。盘子慢慢浮出水面，被轻轻地拽向运河岸边。在令人忐忑不安的瞬间，盘子晃晃悠悠地上了岸，但它突然失去了平衡，又跌回水中。工人们只得再来一次。这次，他们用沉重的金属夹子把盘子夹住，以便往盘子上安装铁链。这次，盘子必须垂直吊出水面，因为盘子的一边紧靠着运河河岸。绞盘机再次启动，一位工人发动了急修车的引擎。几分钟后，盘子被成功地拽出了水面。波浪从盘子两侧急涌而出，在运河里掀起一股大浪。但是当波浪从河对岸折回来时，就有再次把盘子拖进水里的危险。工人们动作迅速，终于赶在那股大浪返回之前把盘子拽到了岸上。
词汇讲解
1.admittedly adv. 公认地
例句：Admittedly there are many difficulties, but we are confident of overcoming them.
困难诚然很多，但我们有信心克服。
2.purchase v.买
例句：The next time you take a trip overseas, you will need only to purchase a SIM card for that destination to once again take advantage of that country's local rates.
下次出国旅游时，只需购买当地的识别卡，这样就可以享受当地的电话资费了。
3.annual adj. 一年一度的
例句：She put aside a small sum every week to pay for her annual holiday.
她每星期存一点钱用于每年的度假。
4.teenager n.（13至19岁的）青少年
例句：I wish I could be as active as your grandfather, he looks like a teenager.
我希望我能够像你祖父那样充满活力，他看起来就像十几岁的年轻人。
5.capsize v.（船）翻
例句：The boat will capsize if you do not sit down.
你要是不坐下，船就要翻了。
6.shiver v.打颤，发抖
7.dive v.（头向下）跳水
8.haul v.拖曳
例句：I must get the cart ready to haul back the pesticide.
我得套车去拉农药。
9.hawser n.粗缆绳
10.rim n.（圆形物品的）外沿，边
11.winch n.绞车
12.agonizing adj. 精神紧张的，提心吊胆的
例句：All the Chinese people are yearning for an early end to this agonizing situation.
所有中国人无不殷切盼望早日结束这种令人痛心的局面。
13.perch v.处于（高处）
14.precariously adv. 危险地，不稳固地
例句：They live precariously on the income from a few small investment.
他们依靠些微投资中的收入，过著朝不保夕的生活。
15.overbalance v.失去平衡
例句：His good qualities overbalance his shortcomings.
他的优点多於缺点。
16.clamp n.夹钳，夹板
17.vertically adv.垂直地
例句：An airplane built to fly vertically as well as forward.
垂直升降飞机一种既可向前飞亦可垂直飞行的飞机
18.torrent n.激流，洪流
19.rebound v.弹回
例句：His evil doings will rebound upon himself.
他干坏事将受到报应。
课文讲解
1.Insurance companies are normally willing to insure anything.
参考翻译：保险公司一般说来愿意承保一切东西。
讲解：(1)be willing to愿意(做)...
例句：To get ahead, one must work hard and be willing to make certain sacrifices.
一个人要有所进步，就必每努力工作，而且甘愿做出某些牺牲。
表示愿意做某事的还有would like to do sth。feel like doing sth。前两个后面跟的都是动词不定式，而feel like后要跟动名词形式。
(2)anything主要用于否定句，疑问句及条件句中，用以代替 something，有时也用于肯定句中，表示任何东西都可以。修饰anything的形容词应置于其后。如：
Did you hear anythinginteresting there? 你在那儿听到什么有趣的事了吗?
2.If, however, you were holding an open air garden party or a fete it would be equally possible to insure yourself in the event of bad weather.
参考翻译：如果你要举办一次露天游园会或盛宴，为避免碰上不好的天气而遭受损失也同样可以保险。
讲解：insure against 给...保险
例句：They concentrated a superior force to insure against defeat.
他们为保证不致失败，集中了优势兵力。
in the event of=in case of假设, 万一
例句：insurance benefits paid in case of disability.
付给残疾人的保险福利款。
3.Needless to say, the bigger the risk an insurance company takes, the higher the premium you will have to pay.
参考翻译：不用说，保险公司承担风险越大，你付的保险费也就越高。
讲解：the+比较级,the+比较级表示越……越……
例句：The harder you work, the more you will get.
工作越努力，得到的越多。
4.It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has made a claim for cost of salvaging a sunken ship.
参考翻译：航运公司为打捞沉船而提出索赔，这是常有的事。
讲解：not uncommon。uncommon表达的是否定的意思，两个词连在一起是双重否定句，表达的是肯定的意思，加强语气。
5.But the claim made by a local authority to recover the cost of salvaging a sunken pie dish must surely be unique.
参考翻译：但某地当局为打捞一只焙制馅饼的盘子提出索赔，倒是件新鲜的事儿。
讲解：to recover the cost是不定式做后置定语，修饰claim。而这个成分在这里是表示目的的，相当于in order to。
6.The men were now obliged to try once more.
参考翻译：工人们只得再来一次。
讲解：be obliged to 不得不
例句：We were obliged to strike back.
我们被迫还击。
once more再一次.once again也是再一次的意思。
例句：I'll tell you once again and not once more.
我再告诉你一次，也是最后一次。
It would have to last AT least until the morrow, when he would once again shuffle through the cold.
这一刻似乎至少要持续到明天，那时他会再一次踏入寒风之中。
7.This time they fixed heavy metal clamps to both sides of the dish so that they could fasten the chains.
参考翻译：这次，他们用沉重的金属夹子把盘子夹住，以便往盘子上安装铁链。
讲解：so that引导目的状语从句
that（以便），so that（以便），so as to（以便） in order that（为了；以便），Lest（免得；唯恐）， for fear that（生怕；以免）。
8.By working at tremendous speed, the men managed to get the dish on to dry land before the wave returned.
参考翻译：工人们动作迅速，终于赶在那股大浪返回之前把盘子拽到了岸上。
讲解：manage to达成，设法做到
例句：You'd be surprised at how much you can manage to get done if you just concentrate.
如果你专心去做，就会惊异地发现自己能够完成多大的工作量。
经典句子
1.Needless tosay, the biggerthe risk an insurance company takes, the higherthe premium you will have to pay.
不用说，保险公司承担风险越大，你付的保险费也就越高。
2.Modern dances proved to be more than the dish could bear, forof their own.
盘子承受不了在它上面跳现代舞的负担。
