书虫是外语教学与研究出版社和牛津大学出版社共同奉献给广大英语学习者的一大精品。书虫在英语中大概是颇可爱的形象,试想想如痴如醉沉迷于书卷,孜孜水倦地咀嚼着字母的那么一只书虫,如今这只书虫漂洋过海,轻盈地落在了中国英语学习者的掌中。书虫首先将给你自信,即使你目前只有几百词汇,却可以不大费劲地阅览世界名作了。书虫还会用它细细的鸣叫声不停地提醒你:要坚持不懈地读下去,要广泛而丰富地读下去。待到读完丛书系列中的最后一本,你也许会突然发现:你已经如蛹变蝶一样,振翅欲翔了!本书是《奥米茄文件》。
世界上会发生一些奇怪的事。你能听到各种耸人听闻的故事,但它们是真人真事吗?你能相信谁呢?一些故事永远不会刊登在报纸上,因为政府不想让人们知道它们。但它样的故事会出现在奥米茄文件里。
有多少人知道奥米茄文件呢?不多——在布鲁塞尔恐怕只有30个人知道它。霍克和祖德就知道,因为文件里的许多故事都是他们收集来的。他们过着有趣的生活。一天,他们来到伦敦和一个青年交谈,他告诉他们一个关于某药品公司的离奇故事,但这是不是真的呢?又有一天,他们去苏格兰找一个生活在尼斯湖中的怪兽。当然,世上没有怪兽——对吗?还有一次,他们在太平洋的一个小岛上,那里的人都在谈论一只宇宙飞船。可是这只宇宙飞船在哪里呢?谁又真正见过它呢?它们都在那儿——在奥米茄文件里。
EDI:European Department of Intelligence
EDI:欧洲情报局
OMEGA FILE 349:London,England
奥米茄文件第349号:英国,伦敦
OMEGA FILE 451:Loch Ness,Scotland
奥米茄文件第451号:苏格兰,尼斯湖
OMEGA FILE 522:Galápagos,Ecuador
奥米茄文件第522号:厄瓜多尔,加拉帕戈斯
ACTIVITIES:Before Reading
ACTIVITIES:While Reading
ACTIVITIES:After Reading
There were two of them. Hawker and Jude. They had no other names. Just Hawker and Jude. They were young,fast,and clever. They worked for EDI,in the European Government.
You know about the Americans' CIA and the Russians' KGB? Well,this was EDI—the European Department of Intelligence. Big secrets. Very strange secrets. The secrets of the Omega Files. They don't get into the newspapers,and most people never hear about them. Most people don't know anything about EDI.
In the early years Hawker and Jude travelled a lot. Brussels,Strasbourg,Rome,Delhi,Washington… North Africa,South America,Australia… No home,no family,just work. They worked for the top man in the Brussels office of EDI,and only for him. He was called Arla. Nobody knew his real name,or much about him. Some said he was Latvian; others said he was from another planet. He always gave the hard jobs to Hawker and Jude. The jobs with questions,but not many answers. The Omega Files.
When I met them,many years later,Hawker and Jude were about seventy years old. They lived very quietly,in a little white house on a Greek island. They went walking,swimming,fishing; they sat in the sun,and slept a lot.
At first,they didn't want to talk about their work.
'We can't,' said Jude. 'Our work was secret. It's all in the government files,and nobody can read them.'