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

　　The silence was suddenly broken when a large car, with its headlights on and its home blaring, roared down the arcade. It came to a stop outside the jeweller's. One man stayed at the wheel while two others with black stocking over their faces jumped out and smashed the window of the shop with iron bars. While this was going on, Mr. Taylor was upstairs. He and his staff began throwing furniture out of the window. Chairs and tables went flying into the arcade. One of the thieves was struck by a heavy statue, but he was too busy helping himself to diamonds to notice any pain. The raid was all over in three minutes, for the men scrambled back into the car 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 with thousands of pounds worth of diamonds.

　　【課文翻譯】

　　皮卡迪利大街附近的一條拱廊街道上，幾家高檔商店剛剛開始營(yíng)業(yè)。在早晨的這個(gè)時(shí)候，拱廊街上幾乎空無一人。珠寶店主泰勒先生正在欣賞新布置的櫥窗。他 手下兩名店員從早上8點(diǎn)就開始忙碌，這時(shí)剛剛布置完畢。鉆石項(xiàng)鏈、戒指漂亮地陳列在黑色絲絨上面。泰勒先生站在櫥窗外凝神欣賞了幾分鐘就回到了店里。

　　寧靜突然被打破，一輛大轎車亮著前燈，響著喇叭，呼嘯著沖進(jìn)了拱廊街，在珠寶店門口停了下來。一人留在駕駛座上，另外兩個(gè)用黑色長(zhǎng)筒絲襪蒙面的人跳下車 來。他們用鐵棒把商店櫥窗的玻璃砸碎。這開始發(fā)生時(shí)，泰勒先生正在樓上。他與店員動(dòng)手向窗外投擲家具，椅子，桌子飛落花流水在拱廊街上。一個(gè)竊賊被一尊很 重的雕像擊中，但由于他忙著搶鉆石首飾，竟連疼痛都顧不上了。這場(chǎng)搶劫只持續(xù)了3分鐘，因?yàn)楦`賊爭(zhēng)先恐后地爬上轎車，以驚人的速度開跑了。就在轎車離開的 時(shí)候，泰勒先生從店里沖了出來，跟在車后追趕，一邊還往車上扔煙灰缸、花瓶。但他已無法抓住那些竊賊了。他們已帶著價(jià)值數(shù)千鎊的首飾逃之夭夭了。

　　【生詞和短語】

　　smash-and-grab n. 砸櫥窗搶劫

　　arcade n. 有拱廊的街道(兩旁常設(shè)商店)

　　Piccadilly n. 皮卡迪利大街

　　jewelry n. 珠寶(總稱)

　　necklace n. 項(xiàng)鏈

　　ring n. 戒指

　　background n. 背景

　　velvet n. 天鵝絨，絲絨

　　headlight n. (汽車等)前燈

　　blare v. 發(fā)嘟嗜聲，吼叫

　　staff n. 全體工作人員

　　raid n. 偷襲

　　scramble v. 爬行

　　fantastic adj. 非常大的

　　ashtray n. 煙灰缸

　　【知識(shí)點(diǎn)分析】

　　詞匯

　　【background】

　　例句：

　　I was surprised at how noisy the trading room was in the background.

　　電話的背景聲十分嘈雜，讓我驚訝于交易室的熱鬧程度。

　　詞組：

　　in the background 在后面，在幕后

　　cultural background 文化背景

　　educational background 學(xué)歷;教育背景;教育程度

　　social background n. 社會(huì)背景

　　【staff】

　　例句：

　　Have the staff taken to the new manager?

　　工作人員已經(jīng)喜歡這位新經(jīng)理了嗎?

　　詞組：

　　technical staff 技術(shù)人員

　　teaching staff 教育工作者(總稱)

　　medical staff 醫(yī)務(wù)人員

　　professional staff 專門人員

　　sales staff 銷售人員

　　nursing staff 護(hù)理人員

　　administrative staff 管理人員;行政人員

　　production staff 生產(chǎn)人員

　　office staff 職員;辦公室工作人員

　　marketing staff 市場(chǎng)專員;市場(chǎng)銷售員

　　maintenance staff 維修人員

　　managerial staff 管理人員

　　【raid】

　　例句：

　　A security guard was killed in the bank raid.

　　這次銀行劫案中有一名保安員遇害。

　　詞組：

　　air raid 空襲

　　近義詞：robbery assault

　　【scramble】

　　英文解釋：climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling

　　例句：

　　1. Likewise hundreds of Iraqi soldiers who scramble from their muddy spider holes to hop into their tanks when they realize the shelling is not a precision air attack.

　　同樣能看到數(shù)以百計(jì)的伊拉克士兵在意識(shí)到這次炮擊不是精確制導(dǎo)的空襲之后，從臟兮兮的掩體中迅速爬出來，跳入坦克的場(chǎng)景。

　　2. The children scrambled over the rocks.

　　孩子們爬過巖石。

　　近義詞：scale climb creep

　　【fantastic】

　　英文解釋：exceedingly or unbelievably great

　　例句：

　　1. They seem to have much more knowledge about theatre, arts, cultural issues and politics and they do have a fantastic sense of humor.

　　比起美國(guó)男人，他們?cè)趹騽　⑺囆g(shù)、文化和政治等方面的知識(shí)要多得多。他們還有很強(qiáng)的幽默感。

　　2. For instance, although cockroaches have a fantastic memory, he says, trying to teach them is futile when they have bits of their body missing.

　　他舉例說，雖然蟑螂記憶力驚人，但假使身體某部份殘缺，嘗試教牠們?nèi)魏问虑槎纪絼跓o功。