【正文】 was sti l ear ly when I retur ned hom e. The chil dr en were at school , m y husband was at wor k and t he house was qui et . So I deci ded t o make some tar ts f or tea. I n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sticky pastr y. At exact ly that m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r eceiver between two sticky f ingers a nd was dismayed when I r ecogni zed the voice of Mr s Bates. It took m e ten m inutes to per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on m y fi nger s, on t he tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime it was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f i ndi ng lost tr easure alm ost came tr ue r ecentl y. A new machine cal ed 39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。We are going back now,39。t mat er ,39。 said t he conductor suddenly.39。 39。 You39。 39。m goi ng to Woodfor d Gr en,39。 230 ! Lesson47 A t hi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr Ian Thom pson is up f or sal e. Mr Thom pson i s goi ng to sel i t because i t i s haunt ed. He t ol d m e t hat he coul d not go to sl ep one ni ght because he hear d a st r ange noise i ng f r om t he bar . The next mor ni ng, he f ound that he door s had been bl ocked by chai r s and t he f ur nit ur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thom pson had t urned t he l i ght s of f befor e he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n t he m orni ng. He al so sai d t hat he had f ound fi ve em pt y whi sky bott l es whi ch the ghost m ust have dr unk the ni ght befor e. When I suggest ed t hat some vi l agers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lagers have t ol d him t hat they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gi ves i t away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me som et hi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Denti st s al ways ask quest i ons when i t i s im possi bl e f or you t o answer. My dent i st had j ust pull ed out one of my teet h and had tol d me t o r est for a whi le. I tr ied t o say somet hi ng, but my mout h wa s f ull of cot tonwool . He knew I collected bi rds39。s money was pai d back i n t hi s way. The last note said: 39。but only 5o per ce nt a thief !39。 sai d Mrs St er li ng lat er , 39。 she answer ed. Ten mi nutes lat er we walked 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 markets of Ol d Delhi , we stopped 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 side 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 covered wi th coins and opened one of t he basket s. When he began to play a t une, we had our fi rst gli mpse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began to f oll ow t he movem ent s of the pipe. We wer e very m uch sur pr ised when t he snake char mer suddenl y began t o play j az tunes and moder n pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued to 39。 m ay r eveal som et hing of value f ai rl y soon. Leson56 Fast er t han sound! 比聲音還快！ Once a year a r ace i s held f or ol d cars. A l ot of cars ent er ed f or t hi s r ace l ast year and t her e was a great deal of excit em e nt j ust bef or e it began. One of t he m ost handsome cars was a Rol l s 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 part. 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 spe nt m or e ti me under t heir cars t han i n t hem ! A f ew car s, however , pl eted the r ace. The wi nni ng car r eached a speed of f ort y mi les an hour much f aster t han any of i ts r ivals. It sped downhi l at he end of the r ace and i ts dri ver had a l ot of t rouble tr yi ng to st op it . The race gave everyone a great deal of pleasur e. I t was ver y dif fer ent f rom moder n car races but no l ess exci ti ng. Leson57 Can I hel p you, m adam ? 你要買什么，夫人？ A woman in bl ue jeans st ood at t he window of an expensive shop. Though she hesit at ed for a moment , she f inal y went in and asked to see a dress that was in t he wi ndow. The asi st ant who served her did not li ke the way she was dressed. Glancing at her scornf ully, he t ol d her that the dress was sol d. The woman walked out of t he shop angri ly and decided to puni sh the asist ant next day. She r etur ned t o t he shop t he foll owing morning dr esed in a fur coat, wit h a handbag i n one hand and a long umbrel la i n the ot her . Aft er seeking out the r ude assistant she asked f or the same dress. Not r eal izing who she was, the assi st ant was eager t o ser ve her t his t im e wit h great dif fi cul ty, he clim bed into the shop window t o get the dress. As soon as she saw it, t he woman sai d s m any t ies.39。 I fi nd it beaut if ul ,39。t have said t hat ,39。t buy thi ngs we don39。You needn39。 i f you at e mor e and talked less, we would both enj oy our di nner ! 39。 No,39。 No,39。 No, 39。 A new play i s ing t o The Globe soon,39。 I said. 39。 she answer ed. 39。 she answered. 39。 she answered. I n despair , I asked her whet her she was enj oyi ng her di nner . 39。 l esson41 Do you cal l that a hat ? 你把那個叫帽子嗎？ 39。t be so r ude about i t, 39。t need,39。 my wif e answer ed. 39。 I sai d. 39。 39。dance39。but they did not steal anythi ng. 39。 Two m ont hs later , some m ore m oney was sent t o Sam wi t h anot her note: 39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。 eggs and asked me whet her my col lecti