Notes on the text课文注释
1 get sb. to do sth. ，说服某人做某事。
2 in the least，一点儿也不，完全不。
3 It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties. 这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难。
4 sooner or later，作“迟早”、”总有一天”讲。
5 giving way to a stretch of plain，出现了一片平原。
give way to…，此处作“为……所代替”解。
6 charge at，冲向。
参考译文
穿越平原的道路高低不平，开车走了不远，路面愈加崎岖。我们想劝说布鲁斯把车开回到我们出发的那个村庄去。尽管路面布满石头，坑坑洼洼，但布鲁斯却一点儿不慌乱。他瞥了一眼地图，告诉我们前面再走不到20英里就是一个村庄。这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难，而是他压根儿没有一点儿危险感。他认为不管路面情况如何，车必须以最高速度前进。
我们在尘土飞扬的道路上颠簸，车子东拐西弯，以躲开那些大圆石。车轮搅起的石块锤击车身，发出不祥的锤击声。我们相信迟早会飞起一个石块把油箱砸开一个窟窿，或者把发动机砸坏。因此，我们不时地掉过头，怀疑车后是否留下了机油和汽油的痕迹。
突然大石块不见了，前面是一片平地，唯一的障碍只有一簇簇灌木丛。这使我们长长地松了口气。但是更糟糕的事情在等着我们，离我们不远处，出现了一个大裂缝。我们再次央求布鲁斯小心，他这才把车停了下来。我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上。我们告诉他那个大裂缝长50码，宽2英尺，深4英尺。这也没有对他产生任何影响。布鲁斯挂上慢档，把两只前轮分别搁在裂缝的两边，顺着弯弯曲曲的裂缝，以发疯的速度向前开去。我们还未来得及担心后果，车已重新开上了平地。布鲁斯又看了一眼地图，告诉我们那座村庄离我们只有15英里了。下一个障碍是一片约半英里宽的浅水塘。布鲁斯向水塘冲去，但车开到水塘当中，嘎吱一声停住了。仪表盘上一盏黄灯闪着刺眼的光芒，布鲁斯兴致勃勃地宣布发动机里没油了！
Multiple choice questions多项选择题
Choose the correct answers to the following questions.
Comprehension 理解
1 Why were the passengers so relieved when the boulders disappeared?
a．Bruce could now drive even faster.
b．They had covered the greater part of the distance to the village.
c．It seemed less likely that they would meet with disaster.
d．They had seen the huge fissure that lay ahead of them.
2 When they reached the fissure, Bruce stopped the car because ______ .
a．the passengers had begged him to do so
b．he wanted to know the exact dimensions of the fissure
c．he thought it was safer to drive across it without the passengers
d．he was not sure whether the car was wide enough to bridge it
3 Bruce's reaction to the final episode shows that ______ .
a．he was not the sort of person to be perturbed by anything
b．he was extremely brave in face of danger
c．he had underestimated the depth of the pool
d．when it came to crossing water, his driving was not good enough