When a plane from London arrived at Sydney airport, works began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clothing. No one could account for the fact that one of the boxes was extremely heavy. It suddenly occured to one of the workers to open up the box. He was astonished at what he found. A man waw lying in the box on top of a pile of woollen goods. He was so surprised at being discovered that he did not even try to run away. After he was arrested, the man admitted hiding in the box before the plane left London. He had had a long and uncomfortable trip, for he had been confined to the wooden box for over eighteen hours. The man was ordered to pay ￡3,500 for the cost of the trip. The normal price of a ticket is ￡2,000!
New words and expressions 生词和短语
unload v.卸货 goods n.(常用复数)货物，商品
wooden adj.木制的 discover v.发现
extremely adv.非常，极其 admit v.承认
occur v. 发生 confine v.关在(一个狭小的空间里)
astonish v.使惊讶 normal adj.正常的，通常的
pile n.堆 woollen n.羊毛
Notes on the text 课文注释
1 a number of,许多。
2 No one could account for the fact that...,谁也弄不清楚......这样一个事实。account for 有“说明原因”的意思；that 后面的从句用来进一步说明这个“事实”本身，在语法上称作同位语。
3 It suddenly occured to one of the workers to open up the box.突然一个工人想到打开长箱子看看。occur to 可译作“想起”。在这句话中，it 是先行词，主语是动词不定式to open up the box.
4 He was astonished at what he found.看到的情景使他吃惊。在这句话中what引导的名词性从句作介词at 的宾语，其中what 相当于the thing which.
5 on top of ,在 ......之上。
6 He was so surprised at being discovered that he did not even try to run away.他由于被发现而感到非常吃惊，甚至都没有企图逃跑。这句话的主要句型仍为so...that...。动名词短语being discovered 是介词at 的宾语，由于是被动语态，因此要用动词be加上-ing的形式。
7 the man admitted hiding in the box.这个人承认藏在箱子里。在这句话中动名词hiding 作动词admit的宾语。