The unmarked Fiat¹ sedan departing Castel Gandolfo snaked downward through the Alban Hillsinto the valley below. In the back seat, Bishop² Aringarosa smiled, feeling the weight of the bearerbonds in the briefcase³ on his lap and wondering how long it would be before he and the Teachercould make the exchange.

　　Twenty million euro.

　　The sum would buy Aringarosa power far more valuable than that.

　　As his car sped back toward Rome, Aringarosa again found himself wondering why the Teacherhad not yet contacted him. Pulling his cell phone from his cassock pocket, he checked the carriersignal. Extremely faint.

　　"Cell service is intermittent⁴ up here," the driver said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror. "Inabout five minutes, we'll be out of the mountains, and service improves.""Thank you." Aringarosa felt a sudden surge of concern. No service in the mountains? Maybe theTeacher had been trying to reach him all this time. Maybe something had gone terribly wrong.

　　Quickly, Aringarosa checked the phone's voice mail. Nothing. Then again, he realized, the Teachernever would have left a recorded message; he was a man who took enormous care with hiscommunications. Nobody understood better than the Teacher the perils⁵ of speaking openly in thismodern world. Electronic eavesdropping⁶ had played a major role in how he had gathered hisastonishing array of secret knowledge.

　　For this reason, he takes extra precautions.

　　Unfortunately, the Teacher's protocols⁷ for caution included a refusal to give Aringarosa any kind ofcontact number. I alone will initiate⁸ contact, the Teacher had informed him. So keep your phoneclose. Now that Aringarosa realized his phone might not have been working properly, he fearedwhat the Teacher might think if he had been repeatedly phoning with no answer.

点击收听单词发音  

1 fiat
n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布
参考例句：
The opening of a market stall is governed by municipal fiat.开设市场摊位受市政法令管制。 He has tried to impose solutions to the country's problems by fiat.他试图下令强行解决该国的问题。

2 bishop
n.主教，（国际象棋）象
参考例句：
He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。 Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

3 briefcase
n.手提箱，公事皮包
参考例句：
He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。 He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

4 intermittent
adj.间歇的，断断续续的
参考例句：
Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？ In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

5 perils
极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境）
参考例句：
The commander bade his men be undaunted in the face of perils. 指挥员命令他的战士要临危不惧。 With how many more perils and disasters would he load himself? 他还要再冒多少风险和遭受多少灾难？

6 eavesdropping
n. 偷听
参考例句：
We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。 Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

7 protocols
n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）
参考例句：
There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句 Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

8 initiate
vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入
参考例句：
A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。 They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。