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Lesson 7 Mutilated ladies^* 残钞鉴别组

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 dog. Dogs, it seems, love to chew up money!

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. 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.'

* Damaged bank notes. The Queen's head appears on English bank notes, and ‘lady' refers to this.

Language points

  （Attention：The following points are not covered by the video. It is better for you to watch the video or listen to the MP3 first and try to take notes on your own. Then you may check here to get more details. ）

1, 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?

段首或段尾运用疑问句提出问题的作用：

段首--主要要引起读者的兴趣和注意力

段尾--进一步巩固、加深与本段所涉及的内容，进一步引起读者的沉思