新概念美音版第三冊 Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies 殘鈔鑒別組

Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies 殘鈔鑒別組

Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。
Why did Jane cook John's wallet?

    Has it ever happened to you? Have you ever put your trousers in the washing machine and then remembered there was a large bank note in your back pocket? When you rescued your trousers, did note in your back pocket? When you rescued your trousers, did you find the note was whiter than white? People who live in Britain needn't despair when they made mistakes like this (and a lot of people do)! Fortunately for them, the Bank of England has a team called Mutilated Ladies which deals with claims from people who fed their money to a machine or to their dog. Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money!
    A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fiancé, John, runs a successful furniture business. John had very good day and put his wallet containing $3,000 into the microwave oven for safekeeping. Then he and Jane went horse-riding. When they got home, Jane cooked their dinner in the microwave oven and without realizing it, cooked her fiancé's wallet as well. Imagine their dismay when they found a beautifully-cooked wallet and notes turned to ash! John went to see his bank manager who sent the remains of wallet and the money to the special department of the Bank of England in Newcastle: the Mutilate Ladies! They examined the remain and John got all his money back. 'So long as there's something to identify, we will give people their money back,' said a spokeswoman for the Bank. 'Last year, we paid $1.5m on 21,000 claims. Damaged bank notes. The Queen's head appears on English bank notes, and 'lady' refers to this.

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

     mutilate
v.   使殘缺不全

     chew
v.   咀嚼

     microwave
n.   微波，微波爐

     oven
n.   爐灶

     safekeeping
n.   妥善保管

     Newcastle
n.   紐卡斯爾（英國港市）

     identify
v.   鑒定，識別

     spokeswoman
n.   女發言人
 
參考譯文

    這種事情在你身上出現過嗎？你有沒有把褲子塞洗衣機，然後又想在褲子的後兜有一張大麵值的紙幣？當你把褲子搶救出來時，你有沒有發現那張紙幣已經變得比白紙還白？當英國人犯這種錯誤時，他們不必感到絕望（而許多國家的人都有這種絕望的感覺）。對英國人來說，值得慶幸的是英國銀行有一個殘鈔鑒別組，負責理那些把錢塞進機器或塞給狗的人提出的索賠要求。看起來，狗很喜歡咀嚼錢幣。
    最近的一個案例與簡.巴特林有關，她的未婚夫約翰擁有一家生意興隆家具店。有一天約翰的生意很好，他把一隻裝有3,000 英鎊的錢包放進微波爐內保存。然後，他和簡一起去騎馬。回家後，簡用微波爐煮了晚飯，無意中之中把她未婚夫的錢包也一起煮了。可以想像他們發現一隻煮得很好看的錢包，鈔票已化成灰時的沮喪心情。約翰去找銀行經理，經理把約翰的錢包和紙幣的殘留物送到英國銀行在紐卡斯爾的一個專門部門——殘鈔鑒別組。他們鑒定了這些殘留物。約翰拿回了他損失的全部數額。“隻要有東西可供識別，我們會把錢還給人家的，”銀行的一位女發言人說。“去年，我們對21，000 起索賠要求支付了150萬英鎊。”