---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/05-the-facts.md
description: 新概念英语第三册：The Facts。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 事实

## 课文学习台 {#study}

### 第1段

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 fax instructing him to find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.

中文理解：报刊杂志的编辑为了向读者提供一些无关紧要的事实和统计数字常常走向极端。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。稿子发来后，编辑看了第一句话就拒绝发表。文章的开头这样写道：“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，要求他计算一下台阶的确切级数和围墙的高度。

* **at once**：起初 / 终于 / 马上 / 首次 / 再一次；这些时间词不能随意互换，先看原文把哪两个阶段接起来。

* **find out**：查明；弄清；用于发现信息或原因；寻找具体物品通常用 look for。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①journalist = reporter/correspondent。②well-known = famous。③instructed = ordered, commissioned；instruct sb. to do sth.=tell sb. formally to do sth.。④publish = print, issue。⑤surrounds = encircles。

### 第2段

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 fax 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.

中文理解：记者立即动身去获取这些重要的数据，但过了好长时间不见他把数据寄来。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，但石沉大海。于是他又发了一份传真，警告那位记者，他要再不迅速回复，将被解雇。但记者还是没有回复，编辑无奈地按原样发稿了。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，而且还被关进了监狱。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1,084级台阶时，被抓了起来。

* **set out**：出发 / 着手 / 建立；回到原句判断是旅程、目标还是建立某物，不把三个词组当成同义词。

* **a long time**：形容词与名词一起理解；先结合这句确定是在评价位置、距离还是经历，不把 good 一律换成中文“好”。

* **failed to**：未能做到；可以客观交代未完成的事，不必总理解为能力不足。

* **at last**：起初 / 终于 / 马上 / 首次 / 再一次；这些时间词不能随意互换，先看原文把哪两个阶段接起来。

* **Not only**：不仅 / 两者都不 / 是否；找齐成对结构的两端；不是看见 not only 就一律倒装。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①set out to do sth.= decide and try to do sth. ②fired = sacked, dismissed。 ③reluctantly = unwillingly。④本句 not only 放在句首，强调“被捕”这一谓语内容，因此助动词 had 提到主语前，形成部分倒装；表示否定的状语置于句首时也常如此，比如 never had I…。若 not only 只连接并修饰主语，则不因此倒装，不能仅凭句首出现这些词就判断。⑤allow sb. to do sth.不定式作sb.的补语，但此句被动，所以作主语he 的补语。⑥in which 引导的定语从句属于“介词+关系代词”，这种结构只能which 指物，whom 指人。⑦while+doing sth.现在分词短语作时间状语相当于状语从句。

\[语法符号讲解] \[1]本句that 引导的从句作inform 的宾语，这里属于状语中的细分。与此同时，该宾语从句中还包括一个if 引导的条件状语从句。我们在soon 后面画了两个“]]”，第一个表示soon 本身作为状语，第二个则对应if，表示条件状语从句到此结束。

\[2]本句in which 引导的定语从句直至句末，这个从句中包括一个that 引导的宾语从句，也是到句末，在这个宾语从句中，又含有一个which 引导的定语从句，这就要求我们在最后palace 上进行标记，两个右括号都要放在点句号右边，然后单词的最后一两个字母要跟点句号一起予以标记，表示宾语从句到此结束，因为该宾语从句中只含有一个定语从句，故只能标记一个右括号，即“e.))”，第二个括号不加下划线了。

#### Summary 摘要

Though the journalist immediately set out to get the facts after receiving instructions from his editor, he did not send them at once. Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, so he sent three faxes, finally threatening to fire the journalist(威胁炒这名记者的鱿鱼). When the last fax was unanswered, the article was published in its original form. The journalist sent the editor a fax a week later explaining he had been imprisoned after counting the steps and measuring the height of the wall. (80 words)

#### Composition 作文

The journalist counted the number of steps as he wearily climbed up to the high wall surrounding the president's palace. On arriving at the main gate, he sat down to get his breath back(缓口气). He then produced a tape measure(卷尺) in order to measure the wall. While he was busy measuring the wall, a policeman approached him and asked him what he was doing. Though the journalist explained he was a reporter and his editor had asked him to find out the exact height of the wall, the policeman refused to believe him. He was arrested and sent to prison because the police thought that he might be a spy or might even want to assassinate(v.暗杀) the president. When the journalist insisted he was innocent, he made things worse for himself. This proved to the police that the man certainly was guilty and deserved to stay in prison indefinitely. (149 words)

## 学完这一课

保留原段的推进关系，换成自己的经历，写或说一段四五句的话。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文与解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第23—25页，2022年2月第3版。*