【正文】 or . 39。Wel l, in that case, I pr ef er to st ay on the bus, 39。 I answered. Lesson51 Reward f or virt ue 對美德的獎賞 My f ri end, Her ber t, has al ways been f at, but t hings got so bad r ecentl y that he deci ded t o go on a di et. He began hi s diet a week ago. Fi rst of al l, he wr ote out a long l ist of al l the f oods whi ch were f orbi dden. The li st i ncl uded most of the t hi ngs Herbert l oves: but ter, potat oes, ri ce , beer , mil k, chocol ate, and sweets. Yest erday I paid hi m a vi si t. I r ang t he bel l and was not surpr ised to see that Herbert was sti l as f at as ever . He l ed me int o his r oom and hurr iedly hi d a l arge parcel under his desk. I t was obvious t hat he was very embar rassed. 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 his diet was so str ict that he had t o r ewar d him sel f occasi onal ly. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. I t contai ned f ive l arge bars of chocol at e and thr e bags of sweet s! Leson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just m oved i nto a new house and I have been wor ki ng hard al l m orning. I have been tr ying t o get my new r oom i n order. Thi s has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat ers wor se, the r oom i s rat her smal , so I have tem por ar i ly put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, t hey c over every inch of fl oor space and I actual y have to wal k on them to get in or out of the r oom . A short whil e ago, m y sister hel ped me t o car ry one of my old bookcases up the stair s. She went i nt o my room and got a big sur pri se when she saw al t hose books on t he f loor. 39。Thi s is t he pret iest carpet I have ever seen,39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some tim e then added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit here in your spare ti me and read t he car pet !39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f i remen have put out a big f orest fi re i n Cali for nia. Since then, they have been tr ying t o f ind out how the f ir e began. Forest fi re ar e oft en caused by br oken gl as or by cigar et te ends which people carelessl y t hr ow away. Yest erday the f ir emen exam ined the gr ound car ef ull y, but were not able t o f ind any broken glass. They were al so qui te sure that a ci gar et e end di d not st art the f i re. Thi s mor ning, however, a f ir eman acidental ly di scover ed the cause. He noti ced the r em ai ns of a snake which was wound r ound the electr ic wi r es of a 16,000 vol t power l ine. I n t his way, he was abl e to sol ve the myster y. The explanat ion was simple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snatched up t he snake fr om t he ground and then dropped it on t o t he wir es. The snake t hen wound i tself r ound t he wi res. When it did so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and t hese i mmediatel y start ed a fi re. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter br eakfast, I sent t he chi ldr en to school and then I went to mar ket. It was sti l earl y when I r et ur ned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I decided t o make some tar ts f or tea. I n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sticky pastr y. At exact ly that m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r eceiver between two sticky f ingers and was dismayed when I recogni zed the voice of Mr s Bates. It took m e ten m inutes to per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a mess! Ther e was pastr y on m y fi nger s, on t he tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime i t was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f indi ng lost tr easure alm ost came tr ue r ecentl y. A new machine caled 39。The Revealer 39。 has been invent 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 t o hide gold. The pir at es would of ten bury gol d in the cave and t hen fai l t o col l ect it . Arm ed wit h the new machi ne, a sear ch part y went he di d not like i t. 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 t he 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 t ree39。. 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 pl ant ed near a chur ch f if ty years ago, but it i s only i n r ecent years t hat i t has gained an evil r eputat ion. It i s said that if anyone t ouches the t ree, he wil l have bad luck。 if he picks a l eaf , he wi l l di e. Many vil ager s bel ieve t hat the t ree has alr eady clai med a number of vi ct ims. The vicar has been asked t o have the t ree cut down, but so f ar he has r efused. He has pointed out that the t ree i s a usef ul source of ine as t our ists have been i ng f rom al l par ts of t he countr y t o se i t. I n spi te of al l t hat has been said, t he touri st s have been picking leaves and cut ti ng their names on t he tr e tr unk. So f ar , not one of t hem has been str uck down by sudden deat h! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進來還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used t o sit outside our f r ont gate and bark. Every t im e he wanted t o e int o the garden he woul d bar k unti l someone opened t he gat e. As the neighbour s plained of the noise, my husband spent weeks tr ai ning hi m t o press his paw on t he lat ch to l et hi msel f in. Rex soon became an exper t at openi ng the gat e.