Step 1: Intensive reading.
Try to answer the question below while you’re reading:
Question: Why did Jane cook John's wallet?
Vocabulary:
mutilate 使残缺不全
safekeeping 妥善保管
chew 咀嚼
Newcastle 纽卡斯尔
fiancé 未婚夫
microwave 微波，微波炉
identify 鉴定，识别
oven 炉灶
spokeswoman 女发言人
Passage:
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 you find the note was whiter than white? People who live in
Britain needn't despair when they make 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 dogs.
Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money!
这种事情在你身上出现过吗？你有没有把裤子塞进洗衣机，然后又想起在裤子的
后兜有一张大面值的纸币？当你把裤子抢救出来时，你有没有发现那张纸币已经
变得比白纸还白？当英国人犯这种错误时，他们不必感到绝望（而许多国家的人
都有这种绝望的感觉）。对英国人来说，值得庆幸的是英国银行有一个残钞鉴别
组，负责处理那些把钱塞进机器或塞给狗的人提出的索赔要求。看起来，狗很喜
欢咀嚼钱币。
Notes:
1 Mutilated ladies ，这是英国银行专门负责识别和鉴定残缺或被毁纸币的小组，
其中的 lady 是指英国纸币上印的女王头像。
2 a large bank note，面额很大的纸币。
3 whiter than white，这是英国有关洗衣粉的电视广告中常用的一句话。这里的意
思是纸币上的字迹、图案均被洗掉了，可以译为“ 比白纸还白”。
A recent case concerns Jane Butlin whose fiancé, John, runs a successful furniture
business. John had a 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.
最近的一个案例与简 ·巴特林有关，她的未婚夫约翰拥有一家生意兴隆的家具店。
有一天约翰的生意很好，他把一只装有 3000 英镑的钱包放进微波炉内保存。然
后，他和简一起去骑马。回家后，简用微波炉煮了晚饭，无意之中把她未婚夫的
钱包也一起煮了。
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 Mutilated Ladies!
They examined the remains 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.
可以想像他们发现一只煮得很好看的钱包、钞票已化成灰时的沮丧心情。约翰去
找银行经理，经理把约翰的钱包和纸币的残留物送到英国银行在纽卡斯尔的一个
专门部门——残钞鉴别组。他们鉴定了这些残留物。约翰拿回了他损失的全部数
额。“ 只要有东西可供识别，我们会把钱还给人家的，”银行的一位女发言人说。
“去年，我们对 21000 起索赔要求支付了 150 万英镑。”
Notes:
4 they found a beautifully-cooked wallet and notes turned to ash，他们发现一只煮得
很好看的钱包，钞票已烧成了灰。后半句 they found… notes turned to ash 中过去
分词短语 turned to ash 作宾语 notes 的补足语 ，这后半句话可以看成 they
found… that notes had been turned to ash。
7.2【阅读理解】Mutilated ladies
Step 2: Comprehension questions.
Comprehension:
1 Do clothes put into a washing machine sometimes contain money? (Yes, they do.)
2 What happens to bank notes put into a washing machine? (They turn white.)
3 Do people in Britain despair if they make this mistake? (No, they don't.)
4 Why not? (Because the Bank of England has team which deals with claims.)
5 What's this team called? (‘Mutilated Ladies’.)
6 What does ‘lady’refer to? (The Queen's head which appears on British bank notes.)
7 What kind of business does John run? (A furniture business.)
8 What's the name of his fiancée? (Jane Butlin.)
9 What did John do with his wallet containing £3,000? (He put it in the microwave
oven for safekeeping.)
10 Did his fiancée know about this? (No, she didn't.)
11 What did John and Jane do after John came home from work? (They went
horse-riding.)
12 What did Jane do when they returned home? (She cooked their dinner in the
microwave oven.)
13 What else did she cook? (John's wallet.)
14 What happened to the notes? (They turned to ash.)
15 How did they both feel about this? (Dismayed.)
16 Who did John go and see? (His bank manager.)
17 What did the bank manager do? (He sent the remains to the Mutilated Ladies
department in Newcastle.)
18 Did John get his money back? (Yes, he did.)
19 Why did the Mutilated Ladies pay the money back? (Because they could identify
the notes)
20 They don't pay out money unless they can identify damaged notes, do they? (No,
they don't.)
21 How much did they pay out last year? (£1.5 million.)
7.3【拓展写作】Mutilated ladies
Step 3: Composition
Describe what happened when Jane got the dinner out of the microwave.
Expand the following into a paragraph of about 150 words.
Jane opened the oven door and saw that her meal was ... She took the food out of the
oven and... They both rushed to the oven and ... At first, they didn't know what …
John wanted to … but Jane wouldn't ... ‘It's best not to...,’ Jane said. ‘You can see that
all the money …’ Jane told John to…, so the next day…
Key to composition
A possible answer
Jane opened the oven door and saw that her meal was ready to serve. She took the
food out of the oven and in doing so, noticed something strange inside the oven which
she couldn't recognize. So she went to find John and told him about it. In dismay,
John quickly explained that he had put his wallet containing the day's takings into the
oven for safekeeping. They both rushed to the oven and saw that the money had been
destroyed. At first, they didn't know what to do. John wanted to throw the money
away, but Jane wouldn't let him. ‘It's best not to disturb the wallet, ’ Jane said. ‘You
can see all the money is there, even if it has been destroyed.’Jane told John to go and
see his bank manager for advice, so the next day John took the wallet and the ashes to
the bank. (150 words)
课外练习：
I They call the team in Newcastle 'Mutilated Ladies' because .
(a) their job involves mutilating bank notes
(b)their job is to identify pictures of the Queen on mutilated bank notes
(c)ladies are always mutilating bank notes by accident in the wash
(d) only ladies have the patience for this difficult job
2 The Bank of England offers a special service to people who .
(a)feed their money to the dog
(b)try to wash large bank notes
(c) mutilate bank notes on purpose
(d) have damaged but identifiable bank notes
3 You don't get your money back unless .
(a) you go to Newcastle and see the Mutilated Ladies
(b) there is enough evidence to prove your claim
(c) your bank manager agrees to help you
(d) you have done this sort of thing before
4 Have you ever forgotten in the pocket of your trousers ... ?
(a) large bank note
(b) large bank note
(c)any large bank note
(d) some large bank note
5 If you in Britain. you needn't despair.
(a)do live
(b)are living
(c)live
(d) were living
6 John is , and runs a furniture business.
(a)fiancé of Jane Butlin
(b) Jane Butlin's fiancé
(c) Jane Butlin who's fiancé
() Jane Butlin whose fiancé
7 The wallet £3,000 from the day's business.
(a)containing
(b) was containing
(c)contained
(d)content
8 John put his wallet into the microwave oven.
(a) to keep it safe
(b) for keeping safe
(c) for the safety
(d) to be safe keeping
9 John runs a furniture business. He the business.
(a) is in charge of
(b) is in the charge of
(c)charges
(d) bears the charges of
10 Jane discovered that the £3,000 had ash.
(a)turned
(b)grown
(c)made
(d)become
11 The remains were to the Mutilated Ladies.
(a)conveyed
(b) dispatched
(c)carried
(d) fetched
12 People can get their money back there is something to identify.
(a)depending
(b)provided
(c)supposed
(d)allowing
答案：1b 2d 3b 4a 5c 6b 7c 8a 9a 10d 11b 12b