【正文】 to r e st f or a whil e. I t ri ed to say som ething, but m y mouth was full of cott on wool. He knew I coll ect ed bir ds39。m goi ng to Woodfor d Gr en,39。 39。 You39。 39。 said t he conductor suddenly.39。t mater ,39。 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對美德的獎賞 My fr iend, Her ber t , has always been fat, but things got so bad r ecent ly t hat he deci ded to go on a diet. He began his di et a week ago. Fi rst of al l, he wr ote out a l ong list of al the f oods whi ch were for bi dden. The li st i ncl uded m ost of t he thi ngs Her ber t loves: butt er, potatoes, r ice, beer , m il k, chocol at e, and sweets. Yest er day I pai d him a vi si t. I rang t he bel l and was not sur pri sed to see that Herbert was sti l as fat as ever . He led m e int o his r oom and hurr iedly hi d a l ar ge parcel under hi s desk. It was obvious t hat he was very embar ased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smi led guil ti ly and t hen put t he par cel on t he desk. He expl ai ned that hi s diet was so st ri ct that he had t o r ewar d him self occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. It contained f ive l ar ge bars of chocolat e and three bags of sweets! Leson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just m oved i nto a new house and I have been worki ng har d al m or ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom i n order. This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, the r oom i s rather smal , so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, they cover every i nch of fl oor space and I actual y have t o wal k on them to get in or out of the r oom. A shor t whil e ago, my si st er hel ped me to car ry one of my ol d bookcases up t he st ai rs. She went i nto m y room and got a bi g sur pri se when she saw al t hose books on the f loor. 39。t need bookcases at al . You can si t her e in your spar e ti me and r ead t he car pet !39。cursed tr ee39。 As soon as I went outside, I for got al l about Madam Bel insky because my wi fe hur ri ed towards me. 39。 As she wal ked away, 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 spaceship whil e it i s st il l in space and t o r et urn t o i t. The abi li ty to do t his wi l be necessar y i n fut ur e f li ght s to di st ant pl as. Scienti st s ar e now t r yi ng to di scover if t hi s is possi ble. The spaceship Ast r a whi ch left t he ear th a short t ime ago, wi l be tr avel li ng thr e hundred m il es i nto space. At a cert ai n point, t he Astr a wil l st op f or a short t ime and an astr onaut wi l at em pt t o l eave the st at ionary spaceship and t hen r etur n to it. We shal l not know whet her t he experi ment has been successful until we have r eceived a r adio m essage. The fi rst message is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。but t hey di d not st eal anyt hing.39。 Two months lat er , some more m oney was sent t o Sam wit h anot her not e: 39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。 eggs and asked m e whether my coll ect ion was growi ng. He then asked m e how my br other was and whet her I l iked my new job i n London. I n answer t o these questi ons I ei ther nodded or made st range noises. Meanwhi l e, m y tongue was busy searching out the hole wher e the t ooth had been. I suddenly f elt very wor r ied, but coul d not say anything. When t he dent ist at l ast r em oved t he cot tonwool f rom my m out h, I was abl e to t el him that he had pul led out the wr ong tooth. Leson49 The end of a dream 美夢告終 Tir ed of sl eping on t he f loor, a young man i n 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 which had spr ings and a mat tr ess. Because t he weather was ver y hot, he car ri ed the bed on t o the r oof of hi s house. He slept ver y wel f or t he fi rst two nights, but on t he thi rd ni ght , a storm blew up. A gust of wi nd swept the bed of f the r oof and sent i t cr ashing into the cour tyar d bel ow. The young m an di d not wake up unt il t he bed had str uck the gr ound. Alt hough t he bed was sm ashed to pi eces, the man was m ir aculously unhurt . When he woke up, he was st il l on the mat ress. Gl anci ng at he bit s of wood and m etal that lay around him , t he man sadl y picked up t he matr es and car ied i t into his house. Af ter he had put it on t he fl oor , he prompt ly went to sl eep agai n. Lesson50 Taken f or a ride 乘車兜風(fēng) I love tr avel li ng in t he count ry, but I don39。 I said t o the conduct or as I got on the bus,39。 I39。l have to get off here, 39。 I s thi s Woodfor d Gr en ?39。 I f or got t o put you of f .39。 I sai d. 39。We ar e going back now,39。Thi s is the pret tiest ca r pet I have ever sen,39。 Leson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi remen have put out a big for est fi re in Cal if or nia. Since then, they have been t rying t o f ind out how t he fi re began. Forest fi re ar e oft en caused by broken glas or by ci gar et te ends whi ch people carel essly t hrow away. Yesterday t he fi remen examined t he gr ound car ef ull y, but were not able t o f ind any broken glass. They wer e al so qui te sur e that a cigaret e end did not start t he fi re. This mor ning, however, a f ir eman aci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emai ns of a snake whi ch was wound r ound the electr ic wir es of a 16, 000 vol t power l ine. In t his way, he was abl e to sol ve the myster y. The explanat ion was si mple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snat ched up t he snake fr om t he ground and then dr opped i t on t o t he wir es. The snake t hen wound itself r ound the wi res. When it di d so, i t sent spar ks down to the ground and these im medi ately st ar ted a fi re. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊 的手指 Af ter breakf ast , I sent the chil dren