【正文】 n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sti cky 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 ecei ver between two sti cky f ingers a nd was dismayed when I r ecognized the voice of Mr s Bates. It t ook m e ten m inutes t o per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on m y f inger s, on the 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 it was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l eter ! Leson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure alm ost came t rue r ecentl y. A new m achi ne 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 wherei 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 coll ect it . Arm ed wit h t he new machi ne, a search part y went he di d not li ke it. She enjoyed hersel f making t he ass istant 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 disguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vil lage of Fri nley i s sai d to possess a 39。cur sed t ree39。. Because the t ree was menti oned in a newspaper , t he num ber of visi tors t o Fr inley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was pl ant ed near a church f if ty years ago, but i t i s only i n r ecent years t hat i t has gained an evil r eput at ion. It i s sai d that if anyone t ouches the t ree, he wil l have bad luck。 if he picks a l eaf , he wil l di e. Many vil lager s bel ieve t hat t he tr e has alr eady cl ai med a number of vi cti ms. The vi car has been asked t o have the t ree cut down, but so far he has r efused. He has point ed out t hat the t ree i s a usef ul source of i ne as t our ists have been ing f rom al l par ts of t he countr y t o se it. I n spi t e of al l t hat has been said, t he touri st s have been picking leaves and cutti 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(jìn)來(lái)還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used t o sit outside our fr ont gat e and bar k. Ever y ti me he wanted t o e i nt o t he gar den he woul d bark unt il s om eone opened t he gate. As the neighbour s plained of t he noi se, my husband spent weeks tr aining hi m to pr ess his paw on the l at ch to let hi mself in. Rex soon became an exper t at opening t he gat e. However, when I was going out shopping last week, I not iced him in the garden near t he gat e. Thi s ti me he was barki ng so that someone would l et hi m out ! Since t hen, he has developed anot her bad habi t. As soon as he opens t he gat e fr om t he out side, he es i nt o t he gar den and wai ts unti l the gate shuts. Then he si ts and barks unti l someone lets hi m out . Af t er t his he i mmediatel y let s himself i n and begins bar ki ng agai n. Yester day my husband r em oved t he gat e and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him since. Leson60 The f uture 卜算未來(lái) At a vil lage fair , I deci ded t o visi t a for tune tel ler cal led Madam Beli nsky. I went into her t ent and she t ol d me t o si t down. Af t er I had given her some money, she looked into a crystal bal l and said: 39。A rel at ion of yours i s c om ing t o se you. She wil l be ar r iving t his eveni ng and int ends to st ay for a f ew days. The mom ent you leave thi s tent, you wi l get a bi g surpri se. A woman you know wel l wi l l r ush towar ds you. She wil l speak to you and t hen she wi l l ead you away f rom thi s place. That is al .39。 As soon as I went outside, I for got al about Madam Bel insky because my wi fe hur ri ed towards me. 39。Where have you been hi ding ?39。 she asked i mpati ent ly. 39。Your sister wi l be her e i n less than an hour and we must be at the st at ion t o meet her . We ar e late al ready.39。 As she wal ked a way, I f ol lowed her out of t he fai r. Lesson61 Troubl e wit h t he Hubble 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 In futur e, astr onaut s wil l be requir ed to descend f rom a spaceshi p whil e it i s st il l in space and t o r et urn t o i t. The abili ty to do t his wi l be necessar y i n fut ure f li ght s to di s tant pl a s. Scienti st s are now tr yi ng to di scover if t hi s is possi ble. The spaceship Astr a which l ef t the eart h a short ti me ago, wil l be tr avel ing t hree hundr ed mi les int o space. At a cer tain poi nt, the Ast ra wi l l st op for a short ti me and an astr onaut wil l at tempt t o l eave the stati onar y spaceshi p and then r et urn t o i t. We shal not know whether the exper im ent has been successf ul unt il we have received a r adi o message. The f ir st mesage is expected t o ar ive at 7 o39。cl ock this eveni ng. By that ti me, the Astr a wi l have been f lying through space f or sevent een hour s and wil l have cir cled the ear th a gr eat many t imes. When t he fi rst radio m esages have been r ecei ved, the r esult s of the t ri p wi l be announced imm edi at ely. Lesson62 Aft er the f ire 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ighti ng the f orest fi re f or near ly t hree weeks bef ore t hey could get i t under cont rol. A shor t ti me before, grea t tr ees had cover ed the countr ysi de f or mi les around. Now, smoke sti l r ose up f rom the war m ground over t he desolate hi l s. Wint er was i ng on and the hil ls t hreatened the surr oundi ng vi l ages wi th destr uct ion, for heavy rain woul d not onl y wash away the soil but would cause seri ous fl oods as wel . When the f ir e had at last been put out , t he for est authori ti es or der ed sever al t ons of a speci al t ype of gr as seed which woul d