【正文】 e asked if Mr Gi lbert 39。s oper ati on had been succesf ul and t he doctor t old hi m t hat i t had been. He then asked when Mr Gil ber t would be al lowed to go hom e and the doctor t ol d him t hat he would have t o stay in hospit al f or anot her t wo weeks. Then Dr Mil lingt on asked the ca l er i f he was a r el ative of t he pat ient. 39。 No, 39。 the patient answer ed, 39。 I am Mr John Gil bert .39。 Lesson40 Food and t alk 進餐與交談 Last week at a di nner par ty, the host es asked me t o si t next t o Mr s Rumbold. Mr s Rumbold was a lar ge, unsm il ng lady i n a t ight bl ack dres. She did not even look up when I took m y seat besi de her . Her eyes were f ixed on her plate and i n a short ti me, she was busy eating. I tr ied t o make conver sati on. 39。 A new pl ay is ing t o The Gl obe soon, 39。 I said. 39。Wil l you be seeing i t ?39。 39。 No,39。 she answered. 39。Wi l you be spending your holi days abroad thi s year ?39。 I asked. 39。 No,39。 she answered. 39。 Wi l you be st ayi ng in Engl and?39。 I asked. 39。 No, 39。 she answer ed. I n despair , I asked her whet her she was enj oying her di nner . 39。 Young man, 39。 she answer ed, 39。 i f you at e mor e and talked l ess, we would bot h enj oy our di nner ! 39。 l esson41 Do you call that a hat ? 你把那個叫帽子嗎？ 39。Do you cal t hat a hat ?39。 I said t o my wif e. 39。You needn39。t be so r ude about it ,39。 my wi fe answered as she l ooked at her sel f in t he mir r or . I sat down on one of those moder n chair s wit h holes in it and wait ed. We had been i n the hat shop f or hal f an hour and my wif e was sti l in fr ont of t he mir ror . 39。 We mustn39。t buy t hings we don39。t need,39。 I r em ar ked suddenl y. I regret ed sayi ng it almost at once. 39。You needn39。t have sai d that, 39。 m y wi fe answered.39。 I need not remi nd you of that ter ibl e ti e you bought yest er day. 39。 39。 I f ind i t beautif ul, 39。 I said. 39。A man can never have too i nt o t he cave hoping t o fi nd buri ed tr easure. The leader of the par ty was examini ng the soil near t he ent rance to the cave when t he machine showed t hat her e was gold under the gr ound. Very excit ed, t he par ty dug a hol e two feet deep. They f inal y f ound a sm al l gol d coin whi ch was almost wort hles. The par t y then sear ched t he whole cave thoroughly but did not f ind anything except an empty ti n tr unk. I n spite of t his, many people ar e confi dent that 39。The Reveal er 39。 may r eveal somethi ng of val ue fair ly soon. Lesson56 Fast er t han sound! 比聲音還快！ Once a year a race is held for old car s. A lot of car s ent ered f or t his r ace l ast year and t her e was a gr eat deal of excit em ent j ust bef or e it began. One of t he m ost handsom e cars was a Rol ls Royce Si lver Ghost. The m ost unusual car was a Benz whi ch had onl y t hr ee wheel s. Buil t i n 1885, it was t he ol dest car t aki ng par t. Aft er a gr eat m any l oud expl osi ons, the r ace began. Many of t he car s broke down on t he cour se and som e dri vers spent m or e ti me under t hei r car s t han i n t hem ! A f ew cars, howeve r, pl et ed the r ace. The wi nni ng car r eached a speed of f or t y m il es an hour m uch f aster t han any of it s ri val s. I t sped downhil l at t he end of t he r ace and it s dri ver had a l ot of t rouble t r yi ng to st op it. The r ace gave ever yone a great deal of pl easur e. It was ver y di f fer ent fr om m oder n car aces but no l ess exci ti ng. Leson57 Can I hel p you, m adam ? 你要買什么，夫人？ A wom an i n bl ue jeans st ood at t he wi ndow of an expensi ve shop. Though she hesit at ed f or a m om ent , she f i nal y went i n and as ked t o see a dr ess t hat was in t he wi ndow. The assi st ant who ser ved her did not li ke t he way she was dr essed. Gl anci ng at her scor nf ul l y, he t ol d her that the dr ess was sol d. The wom an wal ked out of t he shop angri l y and decided t o puni sh t he assi stant next day. She r et urned to the shop the f ol lowi ng mor ning dressed i n a f ur coat, wi th a handbag in one hand and a l ong um br el a in t he other. Af ter seeki ng out t he rude asi st ant she asked for t he same dr es. Not reali zi ng who she was, t he asistant was eager to ser ve her t hi s ti me wi th gr eat di f icult y, he cl imbed i nt o t he shop wi ndow to get t he dr es. As soon as she saw i t, the wom an sai d s many ti es. 39。 39。And a woman can39。t have too many hats,39。 she answered. Ten mi nut es l ater we wal ked out of the shop together. My wif e was weari ng a hat that looked l ike a light house ! Leson42 Not very m usi cal 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a l ong walk t hrough one of the mar ket s of Old Delhi, we st opped at a square to have a r est. Af ter a t ime, we not iced a snakecharmer wi th two l arge baskets at t he ot her si de of t he square, so we went to have a l ook at hi m. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pipe whi ch was cover ed wit h coins and opened one of the baskets. When he began to pl ay a tune, we had our f ir st gl impse of the snake. I t r ose out of the basket and began t o f ol low the movements of t he pi pe. We were ver y m uch sur pr ised when the snake charmer suddenly began to play jazz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however, continued t o 39。dan ce39。 sl owly. I t obviously could not t el l the dif fer ence between I ndi an music and j azz! Lesson43 Over 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 Amer ican expl or er, R. E. Byrd, succesf ul ly fl ew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st im e. Though, at fi rst , Byr d and his m en were able t o t ake a gr eat m any photogr aphs of the m ountai ns tha t lay below, they soon ran i nto seri ous t rouble. At one point, i t seemed cer tai n that their pl ane woul d crash. I t could onl y ge t over the m ount ai ns if i t rose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or dered hi