The facts
确切数字
Editors of newspapers and magazines often go to extremes to provide their reader with unimportant facts and statistics. Last year a journalist had been instructed by a well-known magazine to write an article on the president's palace in a new African republic. When the article arrived, the editor read the first sentence and then refuse to publish it. The article began: 'Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace'. The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.
The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them. Meanwhile, the editor was getting impatient, for the magazine would soon go to press. He sent the journalist two more faxes, but received no reply. He sent yet another fax informing the journalist that if he did not reply soon he would be fired. When the journalist again failed to reply, the editor reluctantly published the article as it had originally been written. A week later, the editor at last received a fax from the journalist. Not only had the poor man been arrested, but he had been sent to prison as well. However, he had at last been allowed to send a fax in which he informed the editor that the he had been arrested while counting the 1,084 steps leading to the fifteen-foot wall which surrounded the president's palace.

4. The article began: 'Hundreds of steps lead to the high wall which surrounds the president's palace'.
文章的开头是这样的:“几百级台阶通向总统府的高墙。”

语言点1:句子结构分析:这是一个直接引语的句式，用数字作主语非常大气的描述了总统府的庞大规模。Which引导定语从句，修饰wall,强调是怎样的高墙。

语言点2:hundreds of 表示“成百上千的”。

下面是与数字有关的表达总结:

Tens of 几十
Dozens of 几十
Thousands of 成千上万的
Tens of thousands of 数十万的
Millions of 数百万的
Tens of millions of数千万的
Hundreds of millions of 数亿的
Billions of 数十亿的

例句支持:

Hundreds of millions of people are living in harmful environment in the world. 全世界有数亿人仍然生活在有害的环境当中。

5. The editor at once sent the journalist a fax instructing him find out the exact number of steps and the height of the wall.

编辑立即给那位记者发去传真，要求他核实一下台阶的确切数字和围墙的高度。

语言点1:句子结构分析: instructing him find out… 为现在分词短语，作目的状语。And并列连接台阶数量和围墙高度。

语言点2:at once表示“立刻，立即”。

6. The journalist immediately set out to obtain these important facts, but he took a long time to send them.

记者立即出发去核实这些重要的事实，但过了好长时间不见他把数字寄来。

语言点1:句子结构分析: to obtain these important facts为动词不定式短语，作目的状语。But连接两个并列句，表示转折，说明接下来的情况。

语言点2:注意区别以下重要的写作短语:开始做某事
（1） st out to do sth. 带着某种特殊目的
（2） begin to do sth. 描述某种状态的开始，反义词end
（3） start to do sth. 强调动作，反义词为stop

例句支持:

They set out to write a book on Chinese history. 他们开始着手写一部关于中国历史的书。

I begin to recover confidence. 我开始渐渐恢复了信心。

语言点3:sb. take + 时间 + to do sth.=it takes sb.+ 时间 + to do sth.，意思是“某人花费多少时间做某事”。

例句支持:

I took five hours to do my home work.(=It took me five hours to do my homework.) 我花了5个小时做家庭作业。