新概念英语是我们好多人学习英语的时候都想要学习的一本书，但是，这本书的难度不小，需要我们自己下很大的功夫才能学会。里面有好多的课文都是很难的，我们大家要想学好，学的出色，就要把课文都翻译一遍，然后按照汉语再去学习，这样就能轻松的掌握了。下面就是一些课文的翻译，大家学习一下。

Lesson 5 The facts

Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes toprovide their readers with unimportant facts and statistics. Lastyear a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine towrite an article on the president's palace in a new Africanrepublic. When the article arrived, the editor read the firstsentence and then refused to publish it. The article began:'Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds thepresident's palace.' The editor at once

sent the journalist a fax instructing him to find out the exactnumber of steps and the height of the wall.

The journalist immediately set out to obtain these importantfacts, but he took a long time to send them. Meanwhile, the editorwas getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. Hesent the journalist two urgent telegrams, but received no reply. Hesent yet another telegram informing the journalist that if he didnot reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failedto reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it hadoriginally been written. A week later, the editor at last receiveda telegram from the journalist. Not only had the poor man beenarrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he hadat last been allowed to send a cable in which he informed theeditor that he had been arrested while counting the 1084 stepsleading to the 15-foot wall which surrounded the president'spalace.

报刊杂志的编辑常常为了向读者提供成立一些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1，084级台阶时，被抓了起来。

Lesson 6 Smash-and-grab

The expensive shops in a famous arcade near Piccadilly were justopening. At this time of the morning, the arcade was almost empty.Mr Taylor, the owner of a jewellery shop was admiring a new windowdisplay. Two of his assistants had been working busily since 8o'clock and had only just finished. Diamond necklaces and rings hadbeen beautifully arranged on a background of black velvet. Aftergazing at the display for several minutes, Mr Taylor went back intohis shop.

The silence was suddenly broken when a large car, with itsheadlights on and its horn blaring, roared down the arcade. It cameto a stop outside the jeweler's. One man stayed at the wheel whiletwo others with black stockings over their faces jumped out andsmashed the window of the shop with iron bars. While this was goingon, Mr Taylor was upstairs. He and his staff began throwingfurniture out of the window. Chairs and tables went flying into thearcade. One of the thieves was struck by a heavy statue, but he wastoo busy helping himself to diamonds to notice any pain. The raidwas all over in three minutes, for the men scrambled back into thecar and it moved off at a fantastic speed. Just as it was leaving,Mr Taylor rushed out and ran after it throwing ashtrays and vases,but it was impossible to stop the thieves. They had got away withthousands of pounds worth of diamonds.

皮卡迪利大街附近的一条著名拱廊街道上，几家高档商店刚刚开始营业。在早晨的这个时候，拱廊街上几乎空无一人。珠宝店主泰勒先生正在欣赏新布置的橱窗。他手下两名店员从早上8点就开始忙碌，这时刚刚布置完毕。钻石项链、戒指漂亮地陈列在黑色丝绒上面。泰勒先生站在橱窗外凝神欣赏了几分钟就回到了店里。

宁静突然被打破，一辆大轿车亮着前灯，响着喇叭，呼啸着冲进了拱廊街，在珠宝店门口停了下来。一人留在驾驶座上，另外两个用黑色长筒丝袜蒙面的人跳下车来。他们用铁棒把商店橱窗的玻璃砸碎。这开始发生时，泰勒先生正在楼上。他与店员动手向窗外投掷家具，椅子，桌子飞落花流水在拱廊街上。一个窃贼被一尊很重的雕像击中，但由于他忙着抢钻石首饰，竟连疼痛都顾不上了。这场抢劫只持续了3分钟，因为窃贼争先恐后地爬上轿车，以惊人的速度开跑了。就在轿车离开的时候，泰勒先生从店里冲了出来，跟在车后追赶，一边还往车上扔烟灰缸、花瓶。但他已无法抓住那些窃贼了。他们已带着价值数千镑的首饰逃之夭夭了。