Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president's palace in a new African republic.

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。

When he went outside half an hour later, he was astonished to find the little black lamb was almost white.

半小时后，当他从屋里出来时，他惊奇地发现小黑羔羊全身几乎都变成白色。

The reader's hair stands on end when he reads in the final pages of the novel that the heroine a dear old lady who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.

当读者到小说最后几页了解到书中女主人公，那位一向待大家很好的可爱的老妇人年轻时一连毒死了她的5个丈夫时，不禁会毛骨悚然。

As if this were not enough to reduce you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.

好像这一切还不足以使你急得掉泪，你的丈夫接着回来了，事先没打招呼就带来3个客人吃饭。

It seems that man was making a real effort to understand the seasons 20,000 years earlier than has been supposed.

看来人类早就致力于探索四季变迁了，比人们想像的要早20，000年。

If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants.

如果她活到今天，她将不能就她热衷的话题“佣人”发表意见了。