【正文】 si de our f ront gat e and bar k. Ever y tim e he want ed t o e into t he gar den he woul d bark unt il s omeone opened t he gat e. As the nei ghbours plained of t he noi se, my husband spent weks tr ai ni ng him t o pr ess hi s paw on the l at ch t o let him self i n. Rex soon becam e an expert at opening the gate. However, when I was going out shoppi ng l ast week, I noti ced him i n the gar den near t he gat e. This tim e he was bar ki ng so that someone woul d let him out ! Si nce t hen, he has devel oped anot her bad habit . As soon as he opens the gate f rom t he out si de, he es i nt o t he garden and wait s unti l t he gate shuts. Then he sit s and bar ks unti l som eone lets him out. Aft er this he immedi at el y lets himsel f i n and begins bar ki ng agai n. Yesterday m y husband r em oved t he gate and Rex got so annoyed we have not sen him since. Lesson60 The fut ure 卜算未來 At a vil lage f ai r, I deci ded t o visit af ort unet el er cal led Madam Beli nsky. I went into her t ent and she t ol d m e t o si t down. Aft er I had given her som e m oney, she l ooked i nt o a cr ystal bal and sai d: 39。A r el at ion of your s is i ng t o see you. She wil be ar ri vi ng t hi s eveni ng and i nt ends t o st ay f or a f ew days. The mom ent you l eave t hi s tent , you wil get a big sur pr ise. A woman you know wel wil r ush towar ds you. She wi l speak t o you and t hen she wil l ead you away f r om t hi s pl ace. That is al. 39。 As oon as I went outsi de, I fot al about Madam Bel insky because m y wif e hurr ied towar ds me. 39。Wher e have you been hi di ng ?39。 she asked im pati entl y. 39。Your sister wi l be here i n l ess than an hour and we must be at the st at ion to meet her . We ar e lat e al ready.39。 As she wal ked away, I f ol lowed her out of the fair. Lesson61 Trouble wit h t he Hubbl e 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 I n future, ast r onauts wil l be r equi red t o descend fr om a spaceshi p whil e it is st il l i n space and t o return t o it. The abili ty t o do t hi s wi l be nec essary i n f ut ure fl ight s to distant plas. Scient ists are now t r yi ng t o di scover i f t hi s is possi bl e. The spaceship Ast ra which left t he eart h a short tim e ago, wil l be t ravel ing three hundr ed mi les into space. At a cer tain point, the Ast ra wil l stop f or a short tim e and an ast ronaut wi l at tem pt t o leave the st at ionar y spaceship and t hen retur n t o it. We shal not know whether t he experim ent has been succesful until we have r ecei ved a radi o mesage. The f ir st mesage is expect ed t o ar ri ve at 7 o39。clock t hi s eveni ng. By t hat tim e, the Ast ra wil l have been f lying through space for sevent een hour s and wil have ci rcled the eart h a gr e at m any tim es. When t he f ir st radi o m essages have been recei ved, t he r esul ts of t he t ri p wi l be announced immedi at el y. Lesson62 Af ter the fi re 大火之后 Fir emen had been fi ghti ng the forest fi re f or nearl y three weks before t hey could get it under cont r ol. A shor t ime bef or e, great t rees had covered the count rysi de f or mi les ar ound. Now, sm oke st il l r ose up fr om t he warm ground over the desol at e hil ls. Winter was i ng on and t he hil ls threat ened the surr oundi ng vil lages wit h dest r uct i on, f or heavy rain woul d not onl y wash away the soil but woul d cause ser ious f loods as wel . When the fi re had at last been put out, t he f or est author it ies or dered sever al t ons of a speci al t ype of gras seed which woul d gr ow quickl y. The seed was sprayed over the gr ound i n huge quanti ties by aeropl anes. The planes had been plant ing sed for near ly a mont h when it began to r ai n. By then, however, i n many pl aces t he gr ass had al ready taken r oot. I n pl ace of t he great tr ees which had been gr owi ng t her e for centuri es, patches of green had begun t o appear in the blackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺得好笑 Geof fr ey Hampden has a large ci rcle of f ri ends and is ver y popul ar at parti es. Everybody admir es him for hi s fine sense of humoreverybody, t hat is, except his si x year ol d daughter, Jenny. Recentl y, one of Geof frey39。s cl osest fr iends asked him to make a speech at a weddi ng r ecepti on. of f her e, 39。 the conductor said. 39。Thi s i s as f ar as we go.39。 39。 I s t hi s Woodford Gr en ?39。 I asked. 39。Oh dear, 39。 sai d the conduct or suddenly.39。 I fot t o put you off .39。 39。It doesn39。t mater, 39。 I sai d. 39。I 39。l get off here.39。 39。We are going back now,39。 said t he conductor . 39。Wel l, in that case, I prefer to stay on t he bus,39。 I answered. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對美德的獎賞 My f riend, Herber t, has al ways been fat, but things got so bad r ecent ly that he decided t o go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. Fir st of al , he wrote out a long li st of al the foods which wer e forbidden. The li st included most of t he t hi ngs Her bert l oves: butt er , potatoes, rice, beer , mi lk, chocol at e, and swets. Yesterday I pai d hi m a visit. I rang t he bel and was not surpri sed to se that Herbert was sti l as f at as ever . He led me into his r oom and hur riedly hid a large par cel under his desk. It was obvi ous that he was very embar assed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smi led guil til y and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained t hat hi s di et was so st ri ct that he had to r eward himself occasional y. Then he showed me t he contents of t he parcel . I t cont ai ned five large bar s of chocolate and three bags of sweets! Lesson52 A pret ty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved into a new house and I have been working hard al morning. I have been tr yi ng t o get my new r oom i n or der. This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, t he r oom i s rather smal l, so I have tempor ar ily put my books on the floor. At the moment , they cover eve