英语口语教程(中级) UNIT 28-30

Oral Workshop:    Discussion    Lesson28-30 ;
[00:04.99]    Lesson 28 ;
[00:09.98]     Text B ;
[00:16.54]Mum's first attempt at match-making ended in dismal failure. ;
[00:21.86]People say as a woman approaches middle age, ;
[00:24.46]she interests herself in young people's love affairs and likes match-making. ;
[00:28.64]If this is true, ;
[00:30.20]I hope this first failure would discourage Mum from acquiring ;
[00:33.13]such an interest. ;
[00:34.44]I really don't know why she should have gone to such lengths ;
[00:38.08]to try to bring those two young people together. ;
[00:41.53]It was a fruitless and thankless job, ;
[00:44.78]doomed from the start ;
[00:45.94]because both parties put impossible demands on the opposite side. ;
[00:50.26]The man,Xiao Liu, is about thirty and works in Mum's office, ;
[00:55.09]apparently a very promising young man with an M.A.degree. ;
[00:58.30]Because he is very choosy he has never been able to find a wife ;
[01:01.77]and is beginning to get worried as he will soon be over thirty. ;
[01:05.18]The girl works in Dad's office and is twenty-eight. ;
[01:08.28]She is also a college graduate and very good at her work. ;
[01:11.32]She is quite pretty and has a very strong character. ;
[01:14.37]She too has not been able to find a husband because she is too choosy. ;
[01:18.71]Mum had thought innocently that however choosy they might have been, ;
[01:22.44]they would surely be satisfied this time. ;
[01:24.62]So she invited them over to meet in our house. ;
[01:27.43]She even went to the trouble of cooking them a delicious dinner. ;
[01:31.03]But Mum's pains were not rewarded. ;
[01:34.06]I don't know how they appreciated Mum's dinner, ;
[01:36.52]but they certainly didn't appreciate each other. ;
[01:38.84]Xiao Wu could only meet two of Xiao Liu's numerous demands. ;
[01:42.79]she is pretty and she has a college degree. ;
[01:45.51]But besides that he also wants the girl to be under twenty-five, ;
[01:49.21]to be gentle and docile, a perfect housewife. ;
[01:52.45]He thought Xiao Wu had too strong a character ;
[01:55.36]and that he wouldn't be able to"control her". ;
[01:58.15]On the other hand he fared even worse in Xiao Wu's eyes, ;
[02:01.46]having met only one of her demands. ;
[02:03.83]He is a post-graduate student which is one of her prerequisites for a future husband, ;
[02:08.65]and this seems to be the only thing in his favour. ;
[02:11.43]She wants her future husband to be an overseas Chinese, ;
[02:14.85]or at least to have relatives overseas, so that she could go abroad someday. ;
[02:19.02]Also she wants the man to be around 1.75m in height ;
[02:23.81]and Xiao Liu is only 1.68m.I've heard people say that nowadays, ;
[02:28.76]girls consider any young man under1.7m as a semi-handicapped! ;
[02:33.30]Thank God,I'm already 1.73m and with any luck I can grow another 5cm- ;
[02:39.37]a most respectable height.But I don't have any relatives abroad though! ;
[02:44.06]Mum was most annoyed,and put all the blame on the girl. ;
[02:48.05]"What more does she want? ;
[02:49.60]She should realize that she's already 28 ;
[02:51.72]and she'll never find such an eligible young an again." ;
[02:54.79]Mum never mentioned a word about Xiao Liu's own objections ;
[02:58.47]"Who told you to help such an arrogant young man? ;
[03:01.86]Xiao Wu is hundred times better than he is. ;
[03:04.47]Any sensible young man would have jumped at the chance." ;
[03:07.30]"Jump at the chance! I bet you wish you could jump at the chance yourself!" ;
[03:11.61]Dad didn't know whether to laugh or to be angry. ;
[03:15.41]    Additional     Information ;
[03:18.49]A 50-year-old woman could not help crying when she heard a story ;
[03:22.92]written by her husband ver the radio, ;
[03:25.28]recalling the early days of their marriage ;
[03:28.17]The story by Shen Lijun, ;
[03:30.88]a senior lecturer at the Commercial School in this capital of Hunan Province, ;
[03:35.44]depicted how he,then a college graduate, met and married his wife,Long Huilan, ;
[03:40.49]when he was labelled a right-winger ;
[03:42.69]and forced to work in a neingbourhood factory in the 1960s. ;
[03:46.09]Shen said, "In those days,I dared not fall in love with any girls ;
[03:51.33]because of my inferior olitical status, ;
[03:53.68]and married the first girl who was willing. ;
[03:56.25]"The couple confessed they did have differences of interests. ;
[04:00.48]After Shen became a lecturer, ;
[04:02.66]most of his visitors were intellectusla, Long said. ;
[04:06.15]"After serving them a cup of tea, I had nothing to say and sat aside. ;
[04:10.81]Because of their cultural background, ;
[04:12.83]I could not get a word in edgeways during the chats. ;
[04:15.26]By and by,I came to see a gap between us."According to Shen, ;
[04:20.12]he and his wife also had different ways to teach their children. ;
[04:23.55]"I did not like the way she treated our children: ;
[04:26.29]spoiling them and then eating them if they did not study well or listen to her. ;
[04:30.34]"But whenever I come across contradictions with my wife in daily life," ;
[04:34.10]Shen explained,"I like to recall those days of hardship we shared together, ;
[04:38.45]and this has become a spiritual support to us. ;
[04:41.13]"Shen is a typical example among the middle-aged people in China, ;
[04:45.01]an official of the Changsha City Rodis said. ;
[04:47.59]The radio has opened a special programme to help middle-aged couples ;
[04:51.58]deepen their love by reviewing the past and exchanging experiences. ;
[04:55.90]The programme has become popular with listeners ;
[04:58.19]and has received hundreds of letters from people from all walks of life. ;
[05:01.73]He Yingcai,a judge of the Human Provincial Higher People's Court, ;
[05:06.14]said middle-aged couples account for ;
[05:07.81]one third of those marride in the province. ;
[05:09.90]Traditionally, the marriage of young people was arranged by their parents ;
[05:13.93]and couples paid more attention ot each other's family background ;
[05:16.79]and political frriliation than their own feelings. ;
[05:20.21]As a result, many couples have no feelings for each other, ;
[05:24.32]though they have been married for years. ;
[05:27.05]According to statistics, ;
[05:29.09]about one quarter of the 27,000 coupoes divorced last year were middle-aged. ;
[05:34.00]Rong Xiuqin, an official of the Hunan Provincial Woen's Federation, ;
[05:38.82]said although the divorce rate among middle-aged people ;
[05:41.12]is lower than among people of other ages, ;
[05:43.44]this does not mean that their faily lives are harmonious. ;
[05:46.54]For the sake of their choldren,many people try to make the best of it. ;
[05:50.57]"It is our duty to help them from harmonius familes ;
[05:54.20]because social stability depends on the stability of families,"she said. ;
[05:58.36]Tang Xiying, a sociologist specializing in marriage and women, ;
[06:02.70]noted that Chinese families may not be formed on the basis of feelings, ;
[06:06.47]but feelings for each other are the key to stabilizing a family. ;
[06:11.30]    Lesson 29 ;
[06:51.27] The Voices of Time     Text A ;
[06:55.77]Time talks.It speaks more plainly than words. ;
[07:02.24]Time communicates in many ways. ;
[07:05.94]Consider the different parts of the day,for example. ;
[07:09.44]The time of the day when something is done ;
[07:11.77]can give a special meaning to the event. ;
[07:13.96]Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance ;
[07:17.61]of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon ;
[07:20.90]that takes everyone away from his work. ;
[07:22.99]Whenever they want to make an important announcement, they ask: ;
[07:26.37]"When shall we let them know?" In the United  States, ;
[07:30.57]it is not customary to telephone someone very early in the morning. ;
[07:34.10]If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, ;
[07:38.69]the time of the call shows that the matter is very important ;
[07:42.06]and requires immediate attention. ;
[07:44.21]The same meaning is attached to telephone call after 11.00P.M. ;
[07:48.59]If someone receives a call during sleeping hours, ;
[07:51.54]he assumes it is a matter of life or death. ;
[07:54.04]The time chosen for the call communicates its importance. ;
[07:57.86]In social life,time plays a very important part. ;
[08:02.32]In the United States,guests tend to feel they are not highly regarded ;
[08:06.53]if the invitation to a dinner party is extended only three or four days ;
[08:09.98]before the party date. ;
[08:11.39]But this is not true in all countries. ;
[08:13.64]In other areas of the world,it may be considered ;
[08:15.75]foolish to make an appointment too far in advance ;
[08:18.23]because plans which are made for a date ;
[08:20.00]more than a week away tend to be forgotten. ;
[08:22.46]The meanings of time differ in different parts of the world. ;
[08:26.20]Thus, misunderstanding arise between people from cultures ;
[08:29.74]that treat time differently. ;
[08:31.46]Promptness is valued highly in American life,for example. ;
[08:35.10]If people are not prompt, ;
[08:36.71]they may be regarded as impolite or not fully responsible. In the U.S., ;
[08:41.63]no one would think of keeping a business associate waiting for an hour, ;
[08:44.97]it would be too impolite.When equals meet, ;
[08:48.25]a person who is five minutes late will say a few words of explanation, ;
[08:51.95]though perhaps he may not complete the sentence. ;
[08:54.39]Americans look ahead and are concerned almost entirely with the future. ;
[08:59.13]The American idea of the future is limited,however. ;
[09:01.89]It is the foreseeable future and not the future of the South Asian, ;
[09:06.45]which may involve centuries. ;
[09:08.46]Someone has said of the South Asian idea of time: ;
[09:11.46]"Time is like a museum with endless halls and rooms. You,the viewer, ;
[09:16.63]are walking through the museum in the dark, ;
[09:18.79]holding a light to each scene as you pass it. ;
[09:21.40]God is in charge of the museum and only he knows all that is in it. ;
[09:25.47]One lifetime represents one room." ;
[09:28.62]Since time has such different meanings in different cultures, ;
[09:32.50]communication is often difficult. ;
[09:34.65]We will understand each other a little better ;
[09:36.90]if we can keep this fact in mind. ;
[09:39.43]    Text B ;
[09:42.58]I am a member of a small,nearly extinct minority group who insist, ;
[09:47.73]even though it seems to be out of date, on the sanctity of being on time. ;
[09:52.34]Which is to say that we On-timers are compulsively, ;
[09:56.14]unfashionably prompt,that there are only handfuls of us left,and, ;
[10:00.40]unfortunately,we never seem to have appointments with each other. ;
[10:04.03]The fact is that being on time has become a social mistake. ;
[10:07.98]The fact is that generally speaking, ;
[10:10.01]the time that the Late-people set as the oment of Rendezvous is a code. ;
[10:14.71]It is a code meaning at least one half- hour later. ;
[10:18.23]The fact is that we On-timers can't get that into our heads. ;
[10:21.77]We arrive invariably at the appointed hour at people's houses, ;
[10:25.36]which means that we have occasionally eaten all the sandwiches ;
[10:27.87]before the other guests arrive.Which means that we are rude.Let me explain. ;
[10:33.48]We are,for example, invited for dinner at eight o'clock at ;
[10:37.35]the home of friends who live exactly twenty minutes away. ;
[10:40.97]We leave our house at ten to eight ;
[10:43.46]so that for once we will be a comfortable ten minutes late. ;
[10:46.79]Then even the traffic defeats us. ;
[10:49.36]We meet only green lights and arrive at four minutes to eight. ;
[10:52.99]We drive about for a while and then enter at one minute past, ;
[10:57.01]to the astonishment of the host and hostess. ;
[10:59.58]She is at an important stage of preparation with the saucepans. ;
[11:03.52]He is thinking about taking a shower. ;
[11:05.65]We end up helping with the first course and putting the baby to bed ;
[11:09.57]and mixing the drinks and are still left with enough time to analyse ;
[11:12.93]what kind of people our hosts are from the magazines on the coffee table. ;
[11:16.62]As for meeting in restaurants, ;
[11:19.14]you can immediately recognise us On-timers. ;
[11:22.06]We are the only non- alcoholics standing in restaurant doorways in December ;
[11:26.42]If not,we can always be found killing time in the cloakroom ;
[11:29.88]or trying to look as if we are not alone at the bar. ;
[11:32.41]Now,we all know that these very same Late-people ;
[11:35.95]do not routinely miss planes or the beginnings of films. ;
[11:39.09]But,as I told a Late-person recently, "If I were a train, I'd be gone..." ;
[11:44.54]With regard to meetings there are two kinds of people. ;
[11:48.12]Those who hate to wait and those who hate to make others wait. ;
[11:52.58]The sadists and the masochists?I hope not. ;
[11:56.10]There was a New York magazine piece once about ;
[11:59.14]the power struggle involved in business lunches. ;
[12:01.63]It intimated that you could always tell the powerless and the powerful. ;
[12:05.86]The Indians were waiting, ;
[12:07.22]while the Chiefs arrived half an hour or an hour later. ;
[12:10.44]If you are an On- timer,you cannot make an entrance. ;
[12:14.02]The Late-people, of course,are always terribly sorry, ;
[12:18.05]"but something important came up" (in contrast to us, for instance). ;
[12:22.55]Besides,as they say, their minds are always so full of  big questions ;
[12:27.17](like The Bomb)that they never know what time it is. ;
[12:30.47]In comparison with the On-timers,they suggest, ;
[12:33.43]who have their little brains filled with stupid details like ;
[12:36.39]the big hand and the little hand on the clock.The problem is getting worse. ;
[12:41.54]If you adjust to the Late-people ;
[12:43.95]and accept the fact that they're half an hour behind the time you arranged to meet ;
[12:48.10]they arrive an hour late.Fewer and fewer of us On-timers remain. ;
[12:53.15]We are now surprised when anyone else is on time. ;
[12:55.91]We have begun to make certain adjustments like setting our clocks ;
[12:58.83]and watches back or bringing the novel we're working on to dinner parties. ;
[13:02.22]How late we are to recognise that being on time is out of date, ;
[13:06.37]that in fact,our time has passed. ;
[13:09.84]    Additional     Information   How Aericans See     Time ;
[13:16.68]Americans recognise that there is a past on which the present rests. ;
[13:22.41]But they have not developed their sense of the depth of time ;
[13:25.26]to the extent that this has been done in the Middle East and South Asia. ;
[13:28.48]The Arab looks back two to six thousand years for his own origins. ;
[13:33.57]History is used as the basis for almost any modern action. ;
[13:37.54]The chances are that an Arb won't start a talk or a speech or analyse a problem ;
[13:42.74]without first developing the historical aspects of his subject. ;
[13:46.42]The American assumes that time has depth, but he takes this for granted. ;
[13:51.41]The American never questions the fact ;
[13:54.55]that time should be planned and furure events fitted into a schedule. ;
[13:59.18]He thinks that people should look forward to the future ;
[14:02.56]and not dwell too much on the past. ;
[14:05.00]His future is not vrey far ahead of him. ;
[14:07.83]Results must be obtained in the foreseeable future ;
[14:11.65]one or two years or, at the most,five or ten. ;
[14:15.63]Promises to meet deadlines and appointments are taken ery seriously. ;
[14:20.11]There are real penalties for being late ;
[14:22.38]and for not keeping commitments in time. ;
[14:24.89]The American thinks it is natural to quantify time. ;
[14:29.08]To fail to do so is unthinkable. ;
[14:32.10]The American specifies how much time is equired to do everything. ;
[14:36.16]"I'll be there in ten minutes." "It will take six months to finish that job." ;
[14:40.17]"I was in the Army for four and a half years. ;
[14:43.04]"The Americans, like so many other people, ;
[14:46.12]also use time as a link that chains events together, ;
[14:49.46]If one event occurs on the heels of another, ;
[14:52.01]we inevitably try to find a causal relationship between them. ;
[14:55.61]If A is seen in the vicinity of B's murder ;
[14:59.66]shortly after the crime has been committed ;
[15:01.77]we automatically from a connection between A and B. ;
[15:05.38]Conversely, events which are separated by too much time ;
[15:09.24]are difficult for us to connect in our minds. ;
[15:11.83]This makes it almost impossible ;
[15:14.01]for us as a nation to engage in long-range planning. ;
[15:18.03]   Lesson 30 ;
[15:57.27]    Who Did It?     Text A ;
[16:02.12]Inspector Chester of Scotland Yard soon arrived on the scene of the crime. ;
[16:07.39]When the newspapermen saw him getting out of the car ;
[16:10.58]they immediately realised that matters were serious. ;
[16:13.54]Inspector Chester had a fine reputation. ;
[16:16.55]He had solved many difficult and compl- icated crimes during the last few years. ;
[16:21.27]Most of them were robberies. ;
[16:23.53]This one concerned the theft of jewels belonging to a famous film actress. ;
[16:28.30]She was reputed to be a millionairess. So it was not surprising that ;
[16:32.30]the missing jewels were valued at a quarter of a million pounds. ;
[16:35.59]The newspapermen were eager to question the detective. ;
[16:39.20]He stood on the pavement outside the house and smiled at the photographers. ;
[16:43.65]"Have you a statement to make" somebody asked. ;
[16:46.68]The detective-tall, thick-set.Middle- aged, ;
[16:50.84]clean-shaven-pushed his way through the crowd, ;
[16:53.63]climbed a few steps to the front door, turned round and said in a cool,clear voice: ;
[16:59.58]"I have no statement to make. ;
[17:02.49]As soon as there is anything fresh to tell you,I'll let you know." ;
[17:07.02]He beckoned to a policeman,whispered a few words in his ear ;
[17:10.73]and went into the house.After a "Move along,please" from the policeman, ;
[17:15.88]the crowd gradually dispersed. ;
[17:18.19]Upstairs,Inspector Chester walked over to the French windows. ;
[17:22.90]It was probably through these that the thieves had come. ;
[17:26.36]They had left no clues,no finger- prints. ;
[17:30.01]It had apparently not been difficult for them to break into the safe. ;
[17:33.58]Just as the detective was about to examine this once again, ;
[17:36.91]the telephone rang. "Hullo,Inspector", a soft,monotonous voice said. ;
[17:43.47]"If you want a clue, why don't you talk to the servant? ;
[17:47.45]The one with a small scar on the right cheek."Was this a trick? ;
[17:52.30]Would it put the Inspector on the right track? ;
[17:55.49]    Text B ;
[17:59.37]Inspector Robinson was swearing aloud when he arrived at the fine, ;
[18:04.23]old house at the top of the hill.The past few weeks had been rough for him, ;
[18:08.51]and it looked as if there was more trouble ahead. ;
[18:10.88]It was raining hard, and Carruthers,his assistant, ;
[18:14.34]who was waiting for him at the gate,was wet to the skin. ;
[18:17.16]As they walked up the path together, Carruthers explained what had happened. ;
[18:21.05]The woman,Sylvia Fortagne,a daughter of Lord Arthrington, ;
[18:25.07]had been found dead in the sitting-room by one of the servants hat evening. ;
[18:28.58]The police doctor, who had examined the body, ;
[18:31.17]was sure that it was a clear case of poisoning.They had not moved the body; ;
[18:35.60]it still lay face upwards,where it had fallen. ;
[18:38.74]Underneath her body they had found the photograph of an unknown young man. ;
[18:43.45]There had been no signs of a struggle. ;
[18:45.86]The woman's husband had not been seen since lunchtime. ;
[18:49.35]According to the cook he had left the house"in anger", ;
[18:52.85]as she put it,after a quarrel with his wife, ;
[18:55.54]and had gone for a ride on one of his favourite horses. ;
[18:58.52]Carruthers pushed open the front door, and the two men entered the hall. ;
[19:02.78]Inspector Robinson took off his hat and went into the sitting-room. ;
[19:06.71]-We'll have to wait, said Carruthers wiping his glasses. ;
[19:10.23]-It's no use waiting,said the Inspector. ;
[19:13.18]I don't think he'll dare to come back. It's pretty obvious he did it. ;
[19:16.50]Saying this,he put on his hat. ;
[19:18.91]They were about to leave the house when they saw a dark ;
[19:21.80]figure approaching them from out of the shadows. ;
[19:24.27]It was Nigel Fortagne.Nigel Fortagne's story ;
[19:30.79]-Yes,it's true that I knew that my wife was in love with another man, ;
[19:35.34]but I trusted her and ;
[19:37.12]believed that she would forget about him sooner or later. ;
[19:40.05]But when she returned from a weekend in Paris this morning, ;
[19:42.57]she told me that she wanted a divorce and threatened to do something terrible ;
[19:45.80]if I didn't agree to it.I refused,of course. ;
[19:48.80]She drank heavily at lunchtime and even opened the bottle ;
[19:51.42]which she had brought as a present for me. ;
[19:53.47]She insisted that I should join her for a drink,but I didn't, ;
[19:56.38]because I had taken my medicine.I'm not supposed to take it with alcohol. ;
[20:00.37]I suffer from a weak heart,you see.She was in a terrible state, ;
[20:04.11]so I put some of my pills into my glass when she wasn't looking. ;
[20:07.21]Then I exchanged the glasses.It was not really much,but, ;
[20:10.69]of course, I should have known how dangerous these pills can be. ;
[20:13.53]But at that moment I was so angry that I didn't care. ;
[20:17.01]I was sick and tired of the argument and left the house. ;
[20:20.06]She was so drunk she wouldn't have noticed any difference in the taste of the sherry. ;
[20:23.77]I came back to see how she was.And, besides, ;
[20:26.37]there's no point in running away ;
[20:27.48]because life doesn't mean anything to me without her. ;
[20:30.58]James Highsmith's story Afterwards, James Highsmith, ;
[20:36.99]the young man in the photograph,was questioned by Inspector Robinson. ;
[20:40.59]When he was told what had happened he broke down. ;
[20:43.67]-Yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that we were in love. ;
[20:47.18]We had a wonderful time in Paris, but I was afraid of losing her. ;
[20:50.90]Sylvia often talked about killing him because he would never gree to a divorce. ;
[20:55.00]I begged her not to do it,but she said that one of us had to. ;
[20:58.80]Then I found one of his prescriptions in her hand-bag. ;
[21:01.73]I bought the medicine,put some of it into a bottle of sherry ;
[21:04.80]and told Sylvia to give it to him as a present.It was him to me. ;
[21:09.00]I was anxious about her drinking from the bottle because I was fairly  sure ;
[21:12.87]that it wasn't really enough to kill a normal, healthy grown-up. ;
[21:15.53]I must have killed her,though,and the only comfort I can find in her death is ;
[21:20.82]that I don't have to share her with him any longer. ;
[21:24.84]Sylvia Fortagne's story James Highsmith ;
[21:30.35]did not know that the police had found a message on a slip of ;
[21:33.20]paper in Sylvia Fortagne's hand-bag. ;
[21:36.76]Dear James,Please forgive me for the terrible thing I am going to do, ;
[21:43.70]but it's the only way out way out. ;
[21:45.92]I have considered everything carefully, ;
[21:48.72]and I know it's very selfish,but W.has destroyed my life ;
[21:53.47]and made me thoroughly unhappy. ;
[21:55.85]When you receive this letter he will have been found dead after a heart attack ;
[22:02.32]with a glass of sherry in his hand. ;
[22:04.64]I tried to phone you earlier this morning,but couldn't reach you. ;
[22:09.63]In case they examine the body ;
[22:12.03]they will think that he took an overdose of his medicine by mistake. ;
[22:15.31]His family will come over to comfort me and will probably stay or a few weeks so, ;
[22:19.98]please,don't try to get in touch.It will all be worth it in the end. ;
[22:26.01]All my love,Yours ever,S. ;
[22:32.32]    Additional     Information Crime and Punishment ;
[22:38.01]From the court notes of a local reporter In court at 9 o'clock. ;
[22:44.93]Apart from me there are a few old ladies who have come to sit in the warm ;
[22:49.31]and a class of 14-15-year-old with their teacher. ;
[22:52.98]9:05 Court starts, First case:Henry P., 47,divorced, charged with being drunk. ;
[23:04.54]He refused to leave a pub at closing time ;
[23:07.44]and caused a bit of damage when the police tried to arrest him. ;
[23:10.41]P.said had had an argument with his boss ;
[23:13.49]and could not face going home to an empty flat. ;
[23:16.60]9:20 Mrs f.,72, shoplifting. Apparently Mrs F. ;
[23:24.83]had stolen a frozen chicken, which she had hidden under her hat ;
[23:28.68](At this the school children burst out laughing and even ;
[23:31.29]the magistrates have difficulty keeping a straight face). ;
[23:34.07]The chicken was so cold that she fell unconscious, ;
[23:37.28]otherwise she would probaly not have been caught. ;
[23:39.85]Mrs F, in tears, says she had not eaten meat for three weeks. ;
[23:45.12]It turns out that, although she has the old-age pension, ;
[23:48.57]she does not know about other forms of support.9:40 James S.,42, a teacher, ;
[23:59.08]charged with beating his wife and two young children. ;
[24:02.31]Mrs S.is in hipital in bad shape; ;
[24:05.55]the mother-in-law is taking care of the children. ;
[24:08.05]The neighbours sent for the police-one case, ;
[24:11.17]thank heavents,where neighbours did not "mind their own business". ;
[24:15.07]Mrs S.had already run away twice, ;
[24:17.46]but S.had promised to change and she had gone home again. ;
[24:20.90]S.said that he was ashamed of what he had done, ;
[24:24.36]but that he often lost his temper with his wife, ;
[24:27.29]who was quarrelsome and had no sense of duty. ;
[24:30.14]The school children looked thoughtful; ;
[24:32.76]they probably thought that teachers do not do that sort of thing. ;
[24:36.98]10:30 Peter D.,19.D. stole,or ratehr "borrowed" a motorcycle, ;
[24:46.64]intending, he said, to give it back to the owner after trying it out. ;
[24:50.71]D.'s father is at sea and the mother is left to bring up four children, ;
[24:55.41]of whom peter is the eldest,by herself. 11:00 Mrs A.,45, a doctor's wife, ;
[25:03.70]president of a local ladies' club, ;
[25:05.77]was caught leaving a fashion shop wearing two dresses, ;
[25:09.29]only one of which belonged to her. ;
[25:11.20]Admitting that she had wanted to steal the dress, she could not explain why. ;