新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第四册 课文 te-06c_new

[by:和谐英语学习网|http://www.hxen.net|和谐英语||和谐英语学习网]
[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！The Cunning Smuggler
[00:-1.00]You may suppose that national borders are nothing to get excited about.
[00:-2.00]However,Canada and the United States are very proud of theirs.
[00:-3.00]These two countries share a common border that runs for thousands of kilometers,
[00:-4.00]with not a single soldier along the way.
[00:-5.00]Still,although there are no soldiers at the border, there are customs officers.
[00:-6.00]Sometimes trucks try to cross the border with hidden drugs.
[00:-7.00]Sometimes,moreover,
[00:-8.00]ordinary tourists attempt to smuggle an extra bottle of alcohol.
[00:-9.00]There is no difference for the customs officers;
[00:10.00]to them,all smugglers are the same,big or small.
[00:11.00]Their job is to prevent anyone from taking goods across the border illegally.
[00:12.00]Constant struggles between smugglers and customs officers
[00:13.00]have influenced our way of thinking about this matter.
[00:14.00]It may not be fair,
[00:15.00]but many people forget the valuable services the officers perform.
[00:16.00]When this happens,the conflict may seem funny,
[00:17.00]although the officers always take their job seriously.
[00:18.00]One such conflict is said to have occurred on the famous bridge at Niagara Falls.
[00:19.00]There was a truck driver who often crossed the border for his work.
[00:20.00]Every time he reached the bridge,he had to stop his truck.
[00:21.00]He always had to show the officers all his papers.
[00:22.00]Sometimes he would be obliged to wait a long time,
[00:23.00]and on occasion the officers even unloaded his entire truck!
[00:24.00]These delays annoyed him a lot,
[00:25.00]especially because he never carried any illegal items.
[00:26.00]The truck driver did not see why he should be bothered
[00:27.00]just because other people broke the law.
[00:28.00]For many years he put up with this nuisance,but he planned to get even.
[00:29.00]When he finally retired,he put his plan into effect.
[00:30.00]Three or four days after the driver
[00:31.00]had made his last truck journey over the bridge,
[00:32.00]the officers saw him again.
[00:33.00]This time he had no truck;he was riding a bicycle!
[00:34.00]It was a beautiful racing bicycle.
[00:35.00]The truck driver was very fit.
[00:36.00]He rode quickly,making big circles in the parking lot near the border crossing.
[00:37.00]He made sure all the customs officers could see him.
[00:38.00]Then he presented himself at the border.
[00:39.00]"Well,old friend,"said one of the officers.
[00:40.00]"What can we do for you,now you are retired?"
[00:41.00]"The same as before,"he replied.
[00:42.00]"I'm going to the other side.Check my papers and let me pass."
[00:43.00]Now it should be said that this bicycle had one unusual feature:
[00:44.00]on each handlebar the man had hung a bucket full of sand.
[00:45.00]This was a very strange thing to do!
[00:46.00]Of course,the officers noticed it immediately.
[00:47.00]One of them called the man over to him.
[00:48.00]"You can go through,"he said,
[00:49.00]"but first I'll have to check your cargo."
[00:50.00]He looked through all the sand,but there was nothing to be seen.
[00:51.00]A little disappointed,
[00:52.00]the officer sent the retired truck driver across the border.
[00:53.00]The customs officers laughed among themselves at the driver's strange behavior.
[00:54.00]Then they forgot about him. But only an hour later,he was back.
[00:55.00]He wanted to return to his own side of the border.
[00:56.00]He was still riding a bicycle,and he still had the buckets of sand.
[00:57.00]Another officer checked the sand.Nothing again.
[00:58.00]The man rode home happily.
[00:59.00]And this same peculiar scene was acted out twice a day,
[-1:00.00]every day,for more than a year.
[-1:-1.00]The customs officers tried everything.
[-1:-2.00]They put the sand in water,to see if something was mixed with it.
[-1:-3.00]Then they began searching the man's pockets every time he crossed.
[-1:-4.00]Finally,they even had the bicycle X-rayed,
[-1:-5.00]to find out if anything was hidden inside.