【正文】 l that lay around him , t he man sadl y picked up t he matr es and car ied i t into his house. Af ter he had put it on t he fl oor , he prompt ly went t o sl eep agai n. Lesson50 Taken f or a ride 乘車(chē)兜風(fēng) I love tr avel li ng in t he count ry, but I don39。t li ke losing m y way. I went on an excur sion r ecentl y, but my t ri p t ook me longer than I expected. 39。 I 39。m goi ng to Woodfor d Gr en,39。 I said t o the conduct or as I got on the bus,39。 but I don39。t know where it is.39。 39。 I39。l l t el l you wher e to get of f, 39。 answer ed the conduct or. I sat in the f ront of the bus to get a good view of t he countr ysi de. Af t er some t ime, the bus stopped. Looking r ound, I r eali zed wit h a shock t hat I was t he only pasenger l ef t on the bus. 39。 You39。l have to get off here, 39。 t he conductor sai d. 39。Thi s is as f ar as we go. 39。 39。 I s thi s Woodfor d Gr en ?39。 I asked. 39。Oh dear, 39。 said t he conductor suddenly.39。 I f or got t o put you of f .39。 39。I t doesn39。t mater ,39。 I sai d. 39。I 39。l l get of f her e.39。 39。We ar e going back now,39。 sai d t he conduct or. 39。Wel , i n t hat case, I pr efer t o st ay on the bus,39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fr iend, Her ber t , has always been fat, but things got so bad r ecent ly t hat he deci ded to go on a diet. He began his di et a week ago. Fi rst of al l, he wr ote out a l ong list of al the f oods whi ch were for bi dden. The li st i ncl uded m ost of t he thi ngs Her ber t loves: butt er, potatoes, r ice, beer , m il k, chocol at e, and sweets. Yest er day I pai d him a vi si t. I rang t he bel l and was not sur pri sed to see that Herbert was sti l as fat as ever . He led m e int o his r oom and hurr iedly hi d a l ar ge parcel under hi s desk. It was obvious t hat he was very embar ased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smi led guil ti ly and t hen put t he par cel on t he desk. He expl ai ned that hi s diet was so st ri ct that he had t o r ewar d him self occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. It contained f ive l ar ge bars of chocolat e and three bags of sweets! Leson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just m oved i nto a new house and I have been worki ng har d al m or ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom i n order. This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, the 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 i nch 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 ol d bookcases up t he st ai rs. She went i nto m y room and got a bi g sur pri se when she saw al t hose books on the f loor. 39。Thi s is the pret tiest car pet I have ever sen,39。 she sai d. She gazed at i t f or som e ti me t hen added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al . You can si t her e in your spar e ti me and r ead t he car pet !39。 Leson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi remen have put out a big for est fi re in Cal if or nia. Since then, they have been t rying t o f ind out how t he fi re began. Forest fi re ar e oft en caused by broken glas or by ci gar et te ends whi ch people carel essly t hrow away. Yesterday t he fi remen examined t he gr ound car ef ull y, but were not able t o f ind any broken glass. They wer e al so qui te sur e that a cigaret e end did not start t he fi re. This mor ning, however, a f ir eman aci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emai ns of a snake whi ch was wound r ound the electr ic wir es of a 16, 000 vol t power l ine. In t his way, he was abl e to sol ve the myster y. The explanat ion was si mple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snat ched up t he snake fr om t he ground and then dr opped i t on t o t he wir es. The snake t hen wound itself r ound the wi res. When it di d so, i t 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 . I t was stil l ear ly when I retur ned home. 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 m y 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 r ecognized t he voi ce of Mr s Bat es. I t took me t en mi nut es to pe rsuade her t o ri ng back l ater. At l ast I hung up the r ecei ver . What a mes! There was pastr y on my f ingers, on the t elephone, 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. Thi s ti me it was t he post man and he want ed me t o sign f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d m ine 并非金礦 Dreams of f inding l ost tr easur e al most came t r ue recent ly. A new machi ne cal led 39。The Reveal er39。 has been i nvent ed and it has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied i n t he gr ound. The machine was used in a cave near t he seashor e where i t i s sai d pir at es used to hide gold. The pir at es would of ten bury gol d in the cave and t hen fail t o coll ect it . Arm ed wit h t he new machi ne, a sear ch part y went he di d not li ke it. She enjoyed her sel f making t he assistant bri ng al most everyt hing i n the wi ndow befor e fi nal ly buying the dress she had f ir st asked for . Lesson58 A blessi ng in disgui se? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vil lage of Fri nley i s said to possess a 39。cursed tr ee39。. Because the t ree was menti oned i n a newspaper, t he num ber of visit ors t o Fr inley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was p