Подкаст: "My Bike Has Gone"

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In English, if we say that something HAS GONE, or that something IS GONE, we mean that it has disappeared. If I say that my money has all gone, I mean that I don't have any money any more. Maybe someone has stolen it. Maybe I have spent it all. If I say that the biscuits are all gone, I mean that someone, probably my children, has eaten them all. If I say that the light has gone, I mean that it has become dark, that it is night time.

A few days ago, Heinz Stücke arrived in Britain, and someone stole his bicycle.

Heinz Stücke is a remarkable man. He comes from Hövelhof in Germany. In 1962, when he was 22 years old, he left Germany on his bicycle. He has been travelling the world ever since. On his bicycle, he has covered about half a million kilometers, and visited over 200 countries. He has ridden his bike over mountains and glaciers, and though deserts and jungles. He has taken over 100,000 photographs. He lives on almost no money. He sells postcards and booklets about his travels to raise the money he needs. He still rides the same 3-speed bicycle that he started with, over 40 years ago (though I imagine that most of the parts have been replaced in that time). He travelled to Britain on a ferry and arrived at Portsmouth, on the south coast of England. He found somewhere to camp for the night. He woke up at 3am and looked out of his tent. His bike was gone. Someone had stolen it.

In Britain we have the finest bicycle thieves in the world. They steal about 100,000 bicycles every year. In Britain, you need a strong lock for your bicycle. It is also a good idea to ride a bicycle which is old and dirty, because this makes it less attractive to thieves. My own bicycle is old, scratched and rusty. No-one has ever stolen it. Sometimes I wish they would.

But our story has a happy ending. First, the police offered to give Heinz Stücke a replacement bike from their stock of stolen bikes whose owners they could not find. Then, a day later they found his own bike, abandoned in a park. So you see, we not only have the finest bike thieves in Britain, we also have the finest policemen.

Источник подкаста: listen-to-english.

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