1999年高考英语全国卷 - 阅读理解A

Tom Brennan was working in a Philadelphia office building when he noticed a black bag．The bag contained a book．
汤姆·布伦南在费城一座办公楼工作时，他注意到一个黑色的包，包里有一本书。

This chance discovery ended a 12-day search by the Library Company of Philadelphia for a historical treasure-a 120-page diary kept 190 years ago by Deborah Logan，"a woman who knew everybody in her day，"James Green，the librarian told the magazine American Libraries．
这一偶然发现结束了费城图书馆长达12天的历史宝藏搜寻——由黛博拉·洛根完成于190年前，一本120页的日记。图书馆员詹姆斯·格林告诉《美国图书馆》杂志，“当时所有人都知道这位女士”。

Most of the diary is a record of big events in Philadelphia．It also includes a description of British soldiers burning Washington D．C．in the war of 1812．She describes President James Madison on horseback as"perfectly shaking with fear"during the troubled days．George Washington，she writes，mistook her for the wife of a French man and praised her excellent English．
日记的大部分内容是对费城发生的重大事件的记录。日记中还描述了1812年战争中英国士兵焚烧华盛顿特区的情景。她将马背上的詹姆斯·麦迪逊总统描述为在动荡的日子里“因恐惧而颤抖”。她写道，乔治·华盛顿误认为她是一位法国男人的妻子，并称赞她英语很好。

The adventure of the lost book began on September 4 when Cory Luxmoore arrived from England to deliver the diary of his ancestor to the Library Company，which he and his wife considered to be the best home for the diary．
9月4日，科里·卢克斯摩尔从英国来到这里，将这本他祖先写的日记交给这家图书馆，他和妻子都认为图书馆是保管日记最好的场所，这本日记的遗失冒险之旅也由此开始。

Green told American Libraries he had the diary in his possession "about five minutes" when Luxmoore took it back because he had promised to show it to one other person．On returning to his hotel after showing the precious book to Green，Luxmoore was shocked to realize that he had left it in the taxi．
格林告诉《美国图书馆》，日记只在他手里呆了“大约五分钟”，卢克斯摩尔就把日记取回，因为他答应要把日记给另一个人看。当他把这本珍贵的书展示给格林，然后返回旅馆时，卢克斯摩尔震惊地发现他把日记忘在出租车上了。

Without any delay，Green began calling every taxi company in the city，with no luck，"I've felt sick since then，" Luxmoore told reporters．According to Green，no one has yet learned how the diary came to the office building．
格林一点都不敢耽搁，开始给城里的每一家出租车公司打电话，但运气不佳，“从那时起我就感觉很不舒服，”卢克斯摩尔告诉记者。格林说，还没有人知道日记是怎么来到这座办公楼的。

Tom Brennan received a reward of 1，000，Philadelphia gained another treasure for its history，and Luxmoore told reporters，"It's wonderful news．I'm on high"．
汤姆·布伦南获得了一份1000美元的奖金，费城因其历史收获了另一份宝藏，卢克斯摩尔告诉记者，“这是个好消息，我很高兴。”。