【正文】 t he distr ict . Lesson24 It coul d be worse 不幸中之萬(wàn)幸 I ent er ed the hotel manager 39。 gave39。. Thi s wonder ful plane can car ry seven passengers. The most surpr ising t hing about i t, however , is t hat i t can l and anywhere: on snow, wat er , or even on a pl oughed f ield. Captain Fawcet 39。 si gns out si de his gate, but t hese have not had any ef ect . Now he has put an ugly st one head over t he gate. It is one of t he ugl iest f aces I have ever sen. I asked him what it was and he tol d me t hat i t was Medusa, the Gor gon. Jasper hopes that she wil l turn motor ists t o stone. But none of them has been turned t o stone yet ! Leson29 Taxi ! 出租汽車(chē)！ Captain Ben Fawcet t has bought an unusual t axi and has begun a new servi ce. The 39。but i sn39。 She looked at it cri ti cal y f or a moment. 39。m hanging t his pict ur e on t he wal, 39。 anyt hi ng. They ar e just pr et y pat ter ns. We li ke them i n the same way t hat we li ke pret y curt ai n mat er ial. I t hink t hat young chi ldr en of ten appreciate moder n pict ur es bet ter than anyone el se. They not ice m or e. My sister i s onl y seven, but she always tel ls me whet her m y pictur es ar e good or not . She came i nto m y r oom yest er day. 39。t underst and t hem ! Do they speak Engli sh ? leson26 The best art cri ti cs 最佳美術(shù)評(píng)論家 I am an ar t st udent and I pai nt a lot of pictur es. Many peopl e pret end t hat t hey understand moder n art . They always t el l you what a pi cture is 39。 I said. Then he spoke slowl y, but I coul d not understand hi m. My t eacher never spoke Engli sh like t hat! The port er and I l ooked at each other and sm il ed. Then he sai d something and I under stood it . 39。t her e is st il some honest y i n t hi s wor l d ! 39。s r oom 39。s l osi ng money these days, 39。and it 39。s off ice and sat down. I had just lost amp。 her m ot her a f r e dr es once a week ! lesson33 O ut of t he darknes 沖出黑暗 Nearl y a week pased bef or e t he gir l was abl e t o expl ai n what had happened t o her. One aft ernoon she set out f r om t he coast i n a smal boat and was caught i n a storm . Towar ds eveni ng, t he boat st r uck a r ock and t he gir l jum ped i nt o t he sea. Then she swam t o t he shor e af ter spendi ng t he whole ni ght i n t he wat er. Duri ng t hat ti me she cover ed a distance of ei ght mi l es. Ear l y next m or ni ng, she saw a l ight ahead. She knew she was near t he shor e because t he li ght was hi gh up on t he cl if fs. On ar i vi ng at t he shor e, t he gir l st ruggled up t he cl if f t owar ds t he li ght she had seen. That was al she r em em ber ed. When she woke up a day l at er, she found her sel f i n hospit al . Lesson34 Q uick work 破案“神速” Ted Robi nson has been wor ri ed al l t he wek. Last Tuesday he r ecei ved a l et t er fr om t he l ocal pol ice. In t he let er he was asked t o cal at t he st at i on. Ted wonder ed why he was wanted by t he pol ice, but he went to t he st ati on yest er day and now he is not worr i ed any m or e. At t he st ati on, he was t ol d by a sm il ing poli cem an t hat hi s bicycl e had been f ound. Fi ve days ago, t he pol iceman t ol d him , t he bicycl e was pi cked up i n a sm al vil lage f our hundr ed mi les away. I t is now bei ng sent t o hi s hom e by t rai n. Ted was m ost sur pri sed when he heard t he news. He was am used t oo, because he never expect ed t he bi cycl e t o be f ound. It was st ol en t went y year s ago when Ted was a boy of f if t en ! Lesson35 St op t hi ef ! 捉賊！ Rov Tr ent on used t o dri ve a t axi. A shor t whil e ago, however , he becam e a bus dri ver and he was not r egr et ted i t. He i s fi ndi ng his new work f ar m or e excit i ng. When he was dri vi ng al ong Cat f or d Str eet r ecentl y, he saw t wo t hieves rus h out of a shop and r un t owards a wai ti ng car . One of t hem was car ying a bag f ul l of m oney. Roy acted qui ckl y and dr ove the bus st r ai ght at t he t hieves. The one wit h t he m oney got such a fr i ght t hat he dropped t he bag. As t he t hi eves wer e tr ying t o get away i n t heir car, Roy dr ove hi s bus i nt o t he back of it. Whil e t he bat ered car was m ovi ng away, Roy st opped hi s bus and t el ephoned t he poli ce. The t hi eves39。s f ir st passenger was a doctor who f lew fr om Bi r mingham t o a l onely vil age in t he Wel sh mount ains. Si nce t hen, Captain Fawcet t has f lown passenger s to many unusual pl aces. Once he l anded on t he roof of a block of fl ats and on anot her occasi on, he l anded in a desert ed car park. Captain Fawcet has just ref used a str ange r equest fr om a busines man. The man wanted t o f ly t o Rockal l, a l onel y island i n the At lanti c Ocean, but Capt ain Fawcet did not t ake hi m because the t ri p was t oo dangerous. Lesson30 Footbal l or pol o? 足球還是水球？ The Wayl e is a sm al l ri ver t hat cuts across the park near my home. I li ke sit ing by the Wayl e on fi ne aft er noons. It was war m l ast Sunday, so I went and sat on the r iver bank as usual . Som e chi ldr en wer e pl ayi ng games on t he bank and t her e were some people r owing on the r iver. Suddenly, one of the chil dr en kicked a bal very hard and it went towards a passi ng boat . Som e people on the bank cal led out to t he man i n the boat, but he di d not hear them. The bal str uck hi m so hard that he near ly f el int o the wat er . I tur ned t o l ook at t he chi ldr en, but t here wer en39。t axi 39。t i t upsidedown ?39。 I t39。 I answered. 39。 What are you doing ?39。about39。You39。 l eson25 Do t he Engli sh speak Engli sh? 英國(guó)人講的是英語(yǔ)嗎？ I ar ri ved i n London at l ast . The r ail way st ati on was big, bl ack and dar k. I di d not know t he way t o my hot el , so I asked a por ter . I not only spoke Engl ish very car ef ull y, but very cl ear ly as wel l. The por ter , however, could not under st and me。 she sai d. 39。 he said. He st ar ted t o plain about th