【正文】 opened one of the basket s. When he began to pl ay a tune, we had our f i rst gl im pse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began t o f oll ow the m ovements of t he pipe. We wer e ver y m uch surpr ised when the snake charmer suddenl y began t o play j azz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued t o 39。dance39。 slowl y. I t obvi ously coul d not t el the di f er ence bet wen I ndian music and j az! Leson43 Over the Sout h Pole 飛越南極 I n 1929, thr ee year s af ter his fl ight over the Nor th Pol e, t he Amer ican expl orer, R. E. Byr d, successf ull y fl ew over the South Pol e for t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st , Byrd and his men were able to t ake a gre at many phot ogr aphs of the mount ai ns that lay below, t hey soon ran i nto seri ous tr oubl e. At one point , i t seemed cert ai n t hat their pl ane woul d crash. I t coul d only get over t he mount ains if i t rose to 10, 000 feet. Byrd at once ordered hi s men t o thr ow out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able t o r ise and it cleared t he mountains by 400 f et . Byr d now knew t hat he woul d be abl e t o reach the South Pol e whi ch was 300 m il es away, for t her e were no more mount ains in si ght . The ai rcr af t was abl e t o fl y over t he endl es whi te pl ai ns wit hout di f icult y. Leson44 Through t he f orest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne St er li ng did not t hi nk of the r isk she was taking when she r an t hrough a f orest af ter two men. They had r ushed up t o her whi le she was having a pi i c at t he edge of a f orest wit h her chi ldren and t ri ed to steal her handbag. In the str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wi th t he bag in t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng thr ough t he tr ees. Mr s Ster li ng got so angr y t hat she ran af ter them. She was soon out of brea th, but she cont inued to run. When she caught up wit h t hem, she saw that they had sat down and wer e goi ng thr ough the cont ent s of the bag, so she r an st raight at them. The men got such a f ri ght t hat t hey dr opped t he bag and ran away. 39。The st rap needs m endi ng, 39。 said Mr s Sterl ing l at er, 39。but they di d not steal anyt hi ng.39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whol e vil lage soon lear nt t hat a l ar ge sum of money had been l ost . Sam Bent on, t he local but cher , had l ost his wal let whil e taking hi s savi ngs t o the post off ice. Sam was sur e t hat the wal let must have been found by one of the vil lagers, but i t was not r eturned t o him. Thr e months pased, and t hen one mor ning, Sam f ound hi s wal et outside hi s fr ont door. I t 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 thi ef , 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 another not e: 39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。 In ti me, al l Sam 39。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。 leson46 Expensi ve and unf ortable 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane f rom London ar ri ved at Sydney ai rport , workers began to unl oad a number of wooden boxes which contai ned cl ot hing. No one coul d account for the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. It suddenly occurr ed to one of the wor kers t o open up the box. He was ast oni shed at what he found. A man was l ying i n the box on t op of a pil e of wool len goods. He was so surpr ised at bei ng discovered t hat he di d not even tr y t o run away. Af ter he was ar ested, the m an admi t ed hiding in t he box bef ore t he plane lef t London. He had had a long and unf ort abl e tr ip, f or he had been conf ined to the wooden box for over ten hour s. The man was ordered t o pa y 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 is up f or sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel i t because i t i s haunt ed. He t old m e that he c oul 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 nitur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thom pson had t ur ned the l ights of f bef ore he went t o bed, they wer e on in the mor ning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive empt y whisky bott les which t he ghost must have dr unk t he night bef ore. When I suggested that som e vil lager 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 . My denti st had j ust pull ed out one of my t et h and had told me to rest for a whi le. I tr ied t o say somethi ng, but my m out h was f ul l of cot tonwool . He knew I col lected bir ds39。 eggs and asked me whether my col lect ion was gr owing. He t hen asked me how m y brot her was and whether I li ked my new j ob in London. In answer to t hese quest ions I ei ther nodded or made str ange noises. Meanwhi le, my t ongue was busy searching out t he hol e where t he tooth had been. I suddenl y fel t ver y worr ied, but could not say anyt hi ng. When the denti st at last r emoved the cott on wool fr om my mouth, I was abl e to tel hi m t hat he had pull ed out t he wrong t oot h. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美 夢告終 Tir ed of sl eping on t he fl oor, a young man in Teher an saved up for years t o buy a r eal bed. For the f ir st im e in hi s li fe, he became t he proud owner of a bed whi ch had spr ings and a mat tr ess. Because t he weat her was ver y hot, he car ri ed the bed on t o the r oof of hi s house. He sl ept ver y wel f or t he fi rst two nights,