【正文】 r ai ght at t hem. The m en got such a fr i ght t hat t hey dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。 Lesson45 A clear consci ence 問心無愧 The whol e vil lage soon l earnt t hat a l ar ge sum of m oney had been l ost. Sam Bent on, t he l ocal but cher, had l ost hi s wal l et whil e t aki ng his savi ngs t o t he post of fi ce. Sam was sur e t hat t he wal et m ust have been f ound by one of t he vil ager s, but it was not r et urned t o hi m. Thr e m ont hs passed, and t hen one m or ni ng, Sam f ound hi s wal et outsi de hi s fr ont door. I t had been wr apped up i n newspaper and it cont ained hal f t he m oney he had l ost , t oget her wit h a note whi ch sai d: 39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now!39。 lesson46 Expensi ve and un fortabl e 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane f rom London ar ri ved at Sydney ai rport , wor ker s began t o unl oad a num ber of wooden boxes whi ch cont ai ned cl ot hing. No one coul d account f or t he fact t hat one of t he boxes was ext r em el y heavy. It suddenl y occurr ed to one of t he workers t o open up t he box. He was ast oni shed at what he found. A man was l yi ng i n t he box on t op of a pil e of wool len goods. He was so sur pr ised at bei ng di scovered t hat he di d not even tr y t o r un away. Aft er he was ar r est ed, t he m an admi t ed hidi ng i n t he box bef ore t he pl ane left London. He had had a l ong and unf ort abl e tr i p, f or he had been conf ined t o the wooden box f or over t en hour s. The m an was order ed t o pay amp。t li ke l osi ng m y way. I went on an excur si on r ecent l y, but m y t ri p t ook m e l onger than I expect ed. 39。 but I don39。l l t el you wher e t o get of f,39。 t he conductor sai d. 39。 I asked. 39。 I t doesn39。l l get off here.39。Wel, i n t hat case, I pr ef er t o st ay on t he bus, 39。You don39。 has been invent ed and it has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied i n t he gr ound. The machine was used in a cave near t he seashor e wherei t i s sai d pir at es used t o hide gold. The pir at es would of ten bury gol d in the cave and t hen fail t o coll ect it . Arm ed wit h t he new machi ne, a search part y went m any t i es. 39。 she answer ed. Ten mi nut es later we wal ked out of the shop together. My wi fe was wear ing a hat that looked li ke a li ght house ! Leson42 Not very m usi cal 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a long walk through one of the m ar ket s of Old Delhi, we st opped at a squar e to have a r est . Af t er a t im e, we not iced a snakecharm er wi th two large basket s at t he other si de of the squar e, so we went t o have a l ook at hi m. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pi pe which 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 im pse of the snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began t o f ollow the m ovements of t he pipe. We wer e ver y much surpr ised when the snake charm er suddenl y began t o play j azz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, howe ver, conti nued t o 39。 sai d Mrs St er li ng lat er , 39。but only 5o per cent a t hief! 39。s m oney was pai d back i n t his way. The l ast not e sai d:39。230 ! Lesson47 A thi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr I an Thom pson i s up f or sal e. Mr Thom pson is goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise ing f r om t he bar . The next morni ng, he f ound that he door s had been bl ocked by chai rs and t he fur nit ur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thompson had t urned the l ights of f bef ore he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n the m or ning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive empt y whisky bott les whi ch the ghost must have dr unk the night bef ore. When I suggested t hat some vil lagers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lager s have told hi m that hey wil l not accept the i nn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me somethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dent ists al ways ask quest ions when it i s impossible f or you to answer. My dent ist 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 was f ull of cot tonwool . He knew I collected bi rds39。m going t o Woodf or d Gr een, 39。 I 39。l l have t o get of f her e, 39。 Is t his Woodf ord Gr een ?39。 I f ot to put you off .39。 I said. 39。We are goi ng back now, 39。This i s the pr eti est carpet I have ever seen, 39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir em en have put out a bi g f or est f ir e in Cali forni a. Si nce t hen, t hey have been tr yi ng to fi nd out how the f ir e began. For est f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by cigaret e ends which peopl e car eles l y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir emen exami ned the ground caref ul ly, but wer e not abl e to fi nd any br oken gl as. They wer e also quit e sure t hat a ci gar et te end di d not star t the f i r e. This morni ng, however , a fi reman accident al y discovered t he cause. He not iced t he remains of a snake whi ch was wound round t he el ect ri c wi res of a 16,000 volt power li ne. I n thi s way, he was able t o solve the m yst er y. The expl anati on was simpl e but very unusual . A bi rd had snat ched up the snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to the wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round the wi r es. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and the se imm edi at ely st ar ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakf ast , I sent the chil dr en to school and t hen I went t o mar ket . I t was stil l ear ly when I retur ned home. The chil dr en were at school , m y husband was at wor k and t he house was quiet. So I de cided to make some t art s for t ea. In a shor t ti me I was busy mixi ng but ter and fl our and m y hands wer e soon cover ed wi