【正文】 out of t he shop t oget her . My wi fe was wear ing a hat that looked li ke a li ghthouse ! Lesson42 Not very musical 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a long wal k thr ough one of t he m arkets of Ol d Delhi , we st opped at a squar e to have a r est . Aft er a ti me, we noticed a snake char mer wit h two lar ge basket s at the other si de of the squar e, so we went t o have a look at him. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a l ong pi pe which was cover ed wi th coins and opened one of the basket s. When he began to pl ay a t une, we had our fi rst glim pse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began to f oll ow t he movem ent s of t he pipe. We wer e very much surpr ised when the snake char mer suddenl y began t o play j az t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued t o 39。dance39。 slowl y. I t obvi ousl y coul d not t el the di f f er ence between I ndi an music and jazz! Lesson43 O ver the South Pole 飛越 南極 In 1929, thr e years af ter his f li ght over the Nor th Pol e, t he Ameri can explor er, R. E. Byrd, succesful ly f lew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t ime. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men wer e able t o take a gr eat many photographs of the mountai ns t hat l ay bel ow, they soon ran i nt o seri ous t rouble. At one poi nt, it seem ed cer tain that their plane would cr ash. I t could onl y get over the m ountai ns if it r ose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or der ed his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy food sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e to ri se and i t cl ear ed the m ount ai ns by 400 feet. Byr d now knew t hat he would be abl e to r each t he South Pole which was 300 mi les away, f or there wer e no mor e mountai ns i n sight. The air craf t was able to f ly over the endless whit e plains wi thout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through t he forest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Sterl ing di d not think of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo men. They had rushed up to her whil e she was havi ng a piic at t he edge of a f orest wi t h her chil dren and tr ied t o steal her handbag. In t he str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wit h t he bag i n t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng through t he tr es. Mr s Sterl ing got so angr y t hat she ran aft er them. She was soon out of br eath, but she cont inued to run. When she caught up wit h them, she saw that they had sat down and were goi ng thr ough t he cont ent s of the bag, so she ran st raight at hem . The men got such a f ri ght t hat t hey dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。The st rap needs m ending,39。 said Mrs St erl ing l at er, 39。but they did not steal anythi ng. 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whol e vil lage soon l ear nt that a large sum of m oney had been lost. Sam Benton, the l ocal butcher, had lost hi s wal et whi le taking his savings to the post of fi ce. Sam was sure that the wal et must have been f ound by one of t he vil lager s, but it was not ret ur ned to hi m. Three mont hs passed, and then one morni ng, Sam found his wal let out si de his f ront door . It had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t cont ai ned hal f the money he had lost, t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。A thief , yes, 39。but onl y 5o per cent a thi ef !39。 Two months lat er , som e more money was sent to Sam wit h a not her not e: 39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。 In ti me, al l Sam39。s money was pai d back in t his way. The last not e sai d:39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。 l eson46 Expensive and unf ortable 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air port , workers began to unl oad a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hing. No one coul d acount for the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. I t suddenly occur r ed to one of the wor ker s t o open up the box. He was ast oni shed at what he f ound. A man was l yi ng in the box on t op of a pi le of wool len goods. He was so surpr ised at being di scover ed that he did not even tr y to run away. Aft er he was ar rested, the man admi t ed hi ding i n the box befor e the pl ane l eft London. He had had a l ong and unf or table tr ip, for he had been confi ned to t he wooden box f or over t en hour s. The man was ordered t o pay amp。345 f or t he cost of the t ri p. The nor mal pr ice of a t icket i s amp。230 ! Leson47 A thirsty ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr I an Thompson i s up f or sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel it because i t i s haunt ed. He t old m e that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise ing f rom the bar. The next morni ng, he f ound t hat t he door s had been bl ocked by chai rs and t he fur ni tur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thom pson had t ur ned the l ights of f bef ore he went to bed, they wer e on in the mor ning. He also sai d t hat he had found f ive empt y whisky bott les which t he ghost must have drunk t he night bef ore. When I suggested t hat som e vil la ger s must have e i n f or a fr e dr ink, Mr Thompson shook hi s head. The vi l ager s have t old hi m t hat t hey wil l not accept the i nn even i f he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o tel l m e som ethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dent ists always ask questi ons when it i s impossi ble f or you t o answer . Ol ym pi c Games because they have never been hel d bef ore i n t hi s count ry. Leson38 Everyt hi ng except t he weat her 惟獨沒有考慮到天氣 My ol d f ri end, Har ison, had l ived in the Medi ter anean f or many year s bef ore he r etur ned t o England. He had of ten dr eam ed of r eti ri ng in Engl and and had planned to set le down i n t he countr y. He had no sooner retur ned than he bought a f ine house and went to li ve there. Alm ost i mmediatel y he began t o plain about the weather, f or even t hough i t was st il l summer , it rai ned conti nual ly and i t was of ten bi t er ly col d. Af t er so many years of sunshine, Har ison got a shock. He a