完整版新概念英语第三册课文及详解第2课

Lesson 2 Thirteen equals one 十三等于一 Our vicar is always raising money for one cause or another, but h

十三等于一 Lesson 2Thirteen 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 astart: 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 atorch, 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, Iwas hoping to give you asurprise.' 'You certainly did give me asurprise!' 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 Ican 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 acup of tea.' Language points