4 The President

4 The President
Half a mile back, Shuckworth, Shanks and Showler werekeeping the television camera aimed all the time at the GlassElevator. And across the world, millions and millions of peoplewere clustered around their TV screens, watching tensely thedrama being acted out two hundred and forty miles above theearth. In his study in the White House sat Lancelot R.
Gilligrass, President of the United States of America, the mostpowerful man on Earth. In this moment of crisis, all his mostimportant advisers² had been summoned urgently to hispresence, and there they all were now, following closely on thegiant television screen every move made by thisdangerous-looking glass capsule and its eight desperate-lookingastronauts. The entire Cabinet was present. The Chief of theArmy was there, together with four other generals. There wasthe Chief of the Navy and the Chief of the Air Force and asword-swallower from Afghanistan, who was the President's bestfriend. There was the President's Chief Financial Adviser¹, whowas standing³ in the middle of the room trying to balance thebudget on top of his head, but it kept falling off. Standingnearest of all to the President was the Vice-President, a hugelady of eighty-nine with a whiskery chin. She had been thePresident's nurse when he was a baby and her name wasMiss Tibbs. Miss Tibbs was the power behind the throne. Shestood no nonsense from anyone. Some people said she was asstrict with the President now as when he was a little boy. Shewas the terror of the White House and even the Head of theSecret Service broke into a sweat when summoned to herpresence. Only the President was allowed to call her Nanny.
The President's famous cat, Mrs Taubsypuss, was also in theroom.
There was absolute silence now in the Presidential study. Alleyes were riveted⁴ on the TV screen as the small glass object,with its booster-rockets firing, slid smoothly⁵ up behind the giantSpace Hotel.
'They're going to link up!' shouted the President. 'They're goingon board our Space Hotel!'
'They're going to blow it up!' cried the Chief of the Army.
'Let's blow them up first, crash bang wallop
bang-bang-bang-bang.' The Chief of the Army was wearing somany medal-ribbons they covered the entire front of his tunicon both sides and spread down on to his trousers as well.
'Come on, Mr P.,' he said. 'Let's have some really super-duperexplosions!'
'Silence, you silly boy!' said Miss Tibbs, and the Chief of theArmy slunk into a corner.
'Listen,' said the President. 'The point is this. Who are they?
And where do they come from? Where's my Chief Spy?'
'Here, sir, Mr President, sir!' said the Chief Spy.
He had a false moustache, a false beard, false eyelashes, falseteeth and a falsetto voice.
'Knock-Knock,' said the President.
'Who's there?' said the Chief Spy.
'Courteney.'
'Courteney who?'
'Courteney one yet?' said the President.
There was a brief silence. 'The President asked you a question,'
said Miss Tibbs in an icy voice. 'Have you Courteney one yet?'
'No, ma'am, not yet,' said the Chief Spy, beginning to twitch⁶.
'Well, here's your chance,' snarled⁷ Miss Tibbs.
'Quite right,' said the President. 'Tell me immediately who thosepeople are in that glass capsule!'
'Ah-ha,' said the Chief Spy, twirling his false moustache. 'That isa very difficult question.' 'You mean you don't know?'
'I mean I do know, Mr President. At least I think I know.
Listen. We have just launched the finest hotel in the world.
Right?'
'Right!'
'And who is so madly jealous of this wonderful hotel of oursthat he wants to blow it up?'
'Miss Tibbs,' said the President.
'Wrong,' said the Chief Spy. 'Try again.'
'Well,' said the President, thinking deeply. 'In that case, could itnot perhaps be some other hotel owner who is envious⁸ of ourlovely hotel?'
'Brilliant!' cried the Chief Spy. 'Go on, sir! You're getting warm!'
'It's Mr Savoy!' said the President.
'Warmer and warmer, Mr President!'
'Mr Ritz!'
'You're hot, sir! You're boiling hot! Go on!'
'I've got it!' cried the President. 'It's Mr Hilton!'
'Well done, sir!' said the Chief Spy.
'Are you sure it's him?'
'Not sure, but it's certainly a warm possibility, Mr President.
After all, Mr Hilton's got hotels in just about every country inthe world but he hasn't got one in space. And we have. Hemust be madder than a maggot!'
'By gum, we'll soon fix this!' snapped the President, grabbingone of the eleven telephones on his desk. 'Hello!' he said intothe phone. 'Hello hello hello! Where's the operator?' He jiggledfuriously on the little thing you jiggle when you want theoperator. 'Operator, where are you?'
'They won't answer you now,' said Miss Tibbs. 'They're allwatching television.'
'Well, this one'll answer!' said the President, snatching up abright red telephone. This was the hot line direct to thePremier of Soviet¹⁰ Russia in Moscow. It was always open andonly used in terrible emergencies. 'It's just as likely to be theRussians as Mr Hilton,' the President went on. 'Don't youagree, Nanny?'
'It's bound to be the Russians,' said Miss Tibbs.
'Premier⁹ Yugetoff speaking,' said the voice from Moscow.
'What's on your mind, Mr President?'
'Knock-Knock,' said the President.
'Who's there?' said the Soviet Premier.
'Warren.'
'Warren who?'
'Warren Peace by Leo Tolstoy,' said the President. 'Now seehere, Yugetoff! You get those astronauts of yours off thatSpace Hotel of ours this instant! Otherwise, I'm afraid we'regoing to have to show you just where you get off, Yugetoff!'
'Those astronauts are not Russians, Mr President.' 'He's lying,'
said Miss Tibbs. 'You're lying,' said the President.
'Not lying, sir,' said Premier Yugetoff. 'Have you looked closelyat those astronauts in the glass box? I myself cannot see themtoo clearly on my TV screen, but one of them, the little onewith the pointed¹¹ beard and the top hat, has a distinctlyChinese look about him. In fact, he reminds me very much ofmy friend the Prime Minister of China …'
'Great garbage!' cried the President, slamming down the redphone and picking up a porcelain¹² one. The porcelain phonewent direct to the Head of the Chinese Republic in Peking.
'Hello hello hello!' said the President.
'Wing's Fish and Vegetable Store in Shanghai,' said a smalldistant voice. 'Mr Wing speaking.'
'Nanny!' cried the President, banging down the phone. 'Ithought this was a direct line to the Premier!'
'It is,' said Miss Tibbs. 'Try again.'
The President picked up the receiver. 'Hello!' he yelled.
'Mr Wong speaking,' said a voice at the other end.
'Mister Who?' screamed the President.
'Mr Wong, assistant stationmaster, Chungking, and if you askingabout ten o'clock tlain, ten o'clock tlain no lunning today. Boilerburst.'
The President threw the phone across the room at thePostmaster General. It hit him in the stomach. 'What's thematter with this thing?' shouted the President.
'It is very difficult to phone people in China, Mr President,' saidthe Postmaster General. 'The country's so full of Wings andWongs, every time you wing you get the wong number.'
'You're not kidding,' said the President.
The Postmaster General replaced the telephone on the desk.
'Try it just once more, Mr President, please,' he said. 'I'vetightened the screws underneath¹³.'
The President again picked up the receiver.
'Gleetings, honourable¹⁴ Mr Plesident,' said a soft faraway voice.
'Here is Assistant-Plemier Chu-On-Dat speaking. How can I dofor you?'
'Knock-Knock,' said the President. 'Who der?' 'Ginger¹⁵.' 'Gingerwho?'
'Ginger yourself much when you fell off the Great Wall ofChina?' said the President. 'Okay, Chu-On-Dat. Let me speak toPremier How-Yu-Bin.'
'Much regret Plemier How-Yu-Bin not here just this second,Mr Plesident.'
'Where is he?'
'He outside mending a puncture¹⁶ on his bicycle.'
'Oh no he isn't,' said the President. 'You can't fool me, youcrafty old mandarin¹⁷! At this very minute he's boarding ourmagnificent Space Hotel with seven other rascals¹⁸ to blow it up!'
'Excuse pleese, Mr Plesident. You make big mistake …'
'No mistake!' barked the President. 'And if you don't call themoff right away I'm going to tell my Chief of the Army to blowthem all sky high! So chew on that, Chu-On-Dat!'
'Hooray!' said the Chief of the Army. 'Let's blow everyone up!
Bang-bang! Bang-bang!' 'Silence!' barked Miss Tibbs.
'I've done it!' cried the Chief Financial Adviser. 'Look at me,everybody! I've balanced the budget!' And indeed he had. Hestood proudly in the middle of the room with the enormous200 billion dollar budget balanced beautifully on the top of hisbald head. Everyone clapped. Then suddenly the voice ofastronaut Shuckworth cut in urgently on the radio loudspeakerin the President's study. 'They've linked up and gone onboard!' shouted Shuckworth. 'And they've taken in the bed … Imean the bomb!'
The President sucked in his breath sharply. He also sucked ina big fly that happened to be passing at the time. He choked.
Miss Tibbs thumped¹⁹ him on the back. He swallowed the flyand felt better. But he was very angry. He seized pencil andpaper and began to draw a picture. As he drew, he keptmuttering, 'I won't have flies in my office! I won't put up withthem!' His advisers waited eagerly. They knew that the greatman was about to give the world yet another of his brilliantinventions. The last had been the Gilligrass Left-handedCorkscrew which had been hailed by left-handers across thenation as one of the greatest blessings²⁰ of the century.
'There you are!' said the President, holding up the paper. 'Thisis the Gilligrass Patent Fly-Trap!' They all crowded round tolook.
'The fly climbs up the ladder on the left,' said the President.
'He walks along the plank²¹. He stops. He sniffs²². He smellssomething good. He peers over the edge and sees thesugar-lump. "Ah-ha!" he cries. "Sugar!" He is just about toclimb down the string to reach it when he sees the basin ofwater below. "Ho-ho!" he says. "It's a trap! They want me tofall in!" So he walks on, thinking what a clever fly he is. Butas you see, I have left out one of the rungs in the ladder hegoes down by, so he falls and breaks his neck.'
'Tremendous, Mr President!' they all exclaimed. 'Fantastic! Astroke of genius!'
'I wish to order one hundred thousand for the Armyimmediately,' said the Chief of the Army.
'Thank you,' said the President, making a careful note of theorder.
'I repeat,' said the frantic²³ voice of Shuckworth over theloudspeaker. 'They've gone on board and taken the bomb withthem!'
'Stay well clear of them, Shuckworth,' ordered the President.
'There's no point in getting your boys blown up as well.'
And now, all over the world, the millions of watchers waitedmore tensely than ever in front of their television sets. Thepicture on their screens, in vivid colour, showed the sinisterlittle glass box securely linked up to the underbelly of thegigantic Space Hotel. It looked like some tiny baby animalclinging to its mother. And when the camera zoomed²⁴ closer, itwas clear for all to see that the glass box was completelyempty. All eight of the desperadoes had climbed into the SpaceHotel and they had taken their bomb with them.

1 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

2 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 riveted   

铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意

参考例句：

• I was absolutely riveted by her story. 我完全被她的故事吸引住了。
• My attention was riveted by a slight movement in the bushes. 我的注意力被灌木丛中的轻微晃动吸引住了。

5 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

6 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

7 snarled   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
• As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时，它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 envious   

adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的

参考例句：

• I don't think I'm envious of your success.我想我并不嫉妒你的成功。
• She is envious of Jane's good looks and covetous of her car.她既忌妒简的美貌又垂涎她的汽车。

9 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

10 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 porcelain   

n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的

参考例句：

• These porcelain plates have rather original designs on them.这些瓷盘的花纹很别致。
• The porcelain vase is enveloped in cotton.瓷花瓶用棉花裹着。

13 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

14 honourable   

adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的

参考例句：

• I don't think I am worthy of such an honourable title.这样的光荣称号，我可担当不起。
• I hope to find an honourable way of settling difficulties.我希望设法找到一个体面的办法以摆脱困境。

15 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

16 puncture   

n.刺孔，穿孔；v.刺穿，刺破

参考例句：

• Failure did not puncture my confidence.失败并没有挫伤我的信心。
• My bicycle had a puncture and needed patching up.我的自行车胎扎了个洞，需要修补。

17 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

18 rascals   

流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人

参考例句：

• "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔，不过我喜欢流氓。
• "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物，是流氓，是恶棍。

19 thumped   

v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Dave thumped the table in frustration . 戴夫懊恼得捶打桌子。
• He thumped the table angrily. 他愤怒地用拳捶击桌子。

20 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

22 sniffs   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When a dog smells food, he usually sniffs. 狗闻到食物时常吸鼻子。 来自辞典例句
• I-It's a difficult time [ Sniffs ] with my husband. 最近[哭泣]和我丈夫出了点问题。 来自电影对白

23 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

24 zoomed   

v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》