【正文】 he fi rst two nights, but on t he thir d ni ght , a st orm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off t he roof and sent it cr ashing i nto t he cour tyard bel ow. The young man di d not wake up unt il the bed had str uck the ground. Alt hough t he bed was smashed t o pieces, t he man was mi raculousl y unhur t. When he woke up, he was sti l on t he mat res. Gl ancing at t he bi ts of wood and met al t hat l ay ar ound hi m, t he m an sadly picked up the mat tr ess and car ri ed it i nto hi s house. Af t er he had put i t on the f loor , he pr omptl y went to sleep agai n. Lesson50 Taken f or a ride 乘車(chē)兜風(fēng) I love t raveli ng in the count ry, but I don39。t l ike l osi ng my way. I went on an excursion r ecent ly, but m y tr ip t ook me l onger than I expect ed. 39。 I39。m going t o Woodf or d Gr een, 39。 I said to t he conductor as I got on t he bus,39。 but I don39。t know wher e it i s. 39。 39。 I 39。l l t el you where t o get of f, 39。 answered t he conductor. I sat i n t he f r ont of the bus t o get a good view of the count ryside. Aft er some ti me, t he bus st opped. Looki ng round, I r eal ized wi th a shock that I was the only passenger left on t he bus. 39。 You39。l l have t o get of f her e, 39。 the conductor said. 39。This i s as far as we go.39。 39。 Is t his Woodf ord Gr een ?39。 I asked. 39。Oh dear, 39。 said the conductor suddenly. 39。 I f ot to put you of .39。 39。I t doesn39。t mat er, 39。 I said. 39。I 39。l get off here.39。 39。We are goi ng back now, 39。 said t he conductor . 39。Wel , in t hat case, I pref er t o stay on t he bus, 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward f or vi rtue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fr iend, Herbert , has always been fat , but thi ngs got s o bad recent ly t hat he decided to go on a diet . He began his di et a wek ago. Fir st of al , he wr ot e out a l ong li st of al t he foods which wer e for bidden. The l ist included most of t he things Her ber t loves: butt er , pot atoes, r ice, beer, mi lk, chocolat e, and sweet s. Yester day I pai d him a visit . I rang the bel and was not sur pri sed t o se that Her bert was sti l as fat as ever . He led me into hi s r oom and hur r iedly hi d a lar ge par cel under hi s desk. It was obvious that he was ver y embar ased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smil ed guil til y and then put the parcel on the desk. He explai ned t hat hi s diet was so st ri ct t hat he had to rewar d himself occasional y. Then he showed me t he contents of t he par cel . It contained f ive lar ge bar s of chocolate and t hree bags of sweets! Lesson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have j ust moved i nt o a new house and I have been worki ng har d al mor ning. I have been tr yi ng t o get m y new r oom in or der. This has not been easy because I own over a thousand books. To m ake m at t er s wor se, t he r oom i s rather smal , so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, they cover every inch of fl oor space and I actual y have t o wal k on them to get in or out of the r oom . A shor t whil e ago, my si st er hel ped me to car ry one of my old bookcases up the stair s. She went int o my room and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al those books on t he fl oor. 39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some t im e then added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit here i n your spare t im e and read the carpet! 39。 Lesson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f ir emen have put out a big f orest f ir e i n Cali for ni a. Si nce then, t hey have been tr ying t o fi nd out how the f ir e bega n. For est f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl as s or by cigaret te ends which peopl e car elessl y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir emen exami ned the gr ound caref ully, but were not abl e t o fi nd any broken glas. They were al so qui te sure t hat a ci gar ete end di d not st ar t the f ir e. Thi s morni ng, however , a f ir em an accidental y discover ed the cause. He noti ced t he remai ns of a snake which was wound r ound t he electr ic wi r es of a 16, 000 vol t power li ne. I n thi s way, he was able t o solve t he myst ery. The expl anati on was simpl e but ver y unusual . A bi rd had snatc hed up the snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped it on to the wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round t he wir es. When i t did so, it sent spar ks down to the ground and these im medi ately st ar ted a fi re. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakf ast , I sent the chil dren t o school and t hen I went t o mar ket . It was sti l ear ly when I retur ned hom e. The chil dr en were at school , m y husband was at work and t he house was quiet. So I decided to make some tart s for t ea. I n a shor t ti me I was busy mixi ng but ter and fl our and my hands wer e soon covered wi th st icky past ry. At exactl y t hat moment, t he telephone rang. Not hing could have been more annoyi ng. I pi cked up t he receiver bet ween two st icky fi nger s and was dismayed when I recogni zed t he voi ce of Mr s Bates. I t took me t en mi nut es to persuade her t o ri ng back later . At l ast I hung up the r ecei ver . What a mes! There was pastr y on my fi nger s, on t he telephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o t he ki tchen than t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake the dead. This tim e it was t he postm an and he want ed me t o sign f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of fi nding l ost tr easure al most came t rue r ecentl y. A new m achi ne cal ed 39。The Reveal er39。 has been invented and it has been used to det ect gold which has been buri ed in the ground. The machi ne was used i n a cave near the seashore wher eit is saidpir ates used to hi de gol d. The pi rates woul d oft en bur y gold i n t he cave and then f ai l to col lect i t. Ar med wi th the new m achine, a sear ch par ty went he did not l