【正文】 ed to the shop the f ol lowi ng mor ning dressed i n a f ur coat, wi th a handbag in one hand and a l ong um br el a in t he other. Af ter seeki ng out t he rude asist ant she asked for t he same dr es. Not reali zi ng who she was, t he asistant was eager to ser ve her t hi s ti me wi th gr eat di f icult y, he cl imbed i nt o t he shop wi ndow to get t he dr es. As soon as she saw i t, the wom an sai d s many ti es. 39。Where have you been hi di ng ?39。. Because the t ree was menti oned in a newspaper , t he num ber of visi tors t o Fr inley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was pl ant ed near a church f if ty years ago, but i t i s only i n r ecent years t hat i t has gained an evil r eput at ion. It i s said that if anyone t ouches the t ree, he wil l have bad luck。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast fi rem en have put out a bi g for est f ir e in Cal if orni a. Since t hen, they have been t ryi ng to f ind out how t he fi re bega n. For est fi re ar e oft en caused by broken glass or by ci gar et e ends whi ch people car el esly throw away. Yester day t he fi remen exami ned t he ground car eful ly, but wer e not able to f ind any br oken gl ass. They wer e also quit e sur e that a cigaret te end did not star t he fi re. This m orning, however , a fi reman acci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emains of a snake whi ch was wound round the el ect ri c wir es of a 16, 000 volt power l ine. In this way, he was able t o sol ve the myst er y. The explanati on was si mple but very unusual . A bir d had snat ched up t he snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round the wi re s. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and these i mmedi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent the childr en to school and t hen I went t o market. I t was st il l ear ly when I r eturned home. The chi l dr en were at school , m y husband was at wor k and t he house was quiet. So I decided 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 th sti cky pastr y. At exactl y that moment, t he telephone rang. Not hing could have been m ore annoyi ng. I pi cked up t he recei ver bet wen t wo sti cky fi nger s and was di smayed when I r ecognized t he voi ce of Mrs Bat es. I t ook me t en mi nut es t o persuade her t o ri ng back l ater. At l ast I hung up the r ecei ver . What a mes! There was pa st r y on my f ingers, on the t elephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake the dead. Thi s tim e it was t he post man and he want ed me t o sign f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dreams of fi nding l ost tr easure al most came t rue r ecent ly. A new m achi ne cal ed 39。Thi s is t he pret iest car pet I have ever sen,39。We are goi ng back now,39。t mat er ,39。 said the conductor suddenly. 39。 39。 You39。t know wher e it i s. 39。 I 39。 345 for the cost of t he tr ip. The normal pri ce of a ti cket is amp。 In tim e, a l l Sam39。A thief , yes, 39。The str ap needs mending,39。t have too many hats,39。 And a woman can39。 sl owly. I t obviously could not t el l the dif fer ence between I ndi an music and j azz! Lesson43 Over the South Pole 飛越南極 In 1929, thr e years af ter his f li ght over the Nor th Pol e, t he Ameri can expl or er, R. E. Byrd, succesf ul ly fl ew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t im e. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his m en wer e able t o t ake a gr eat many photographs of the mountai ns that l ay bel ow, they soon ran i nt o seri ous t rouble. At one poi nt, i t seemed cer tai n that their plane would cr ash. I t could onl y get over the m ount ai ns if i t r ose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or dered his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy food sacks. The pl ane was then abl e to ri se and i t cl ear ed the mount ai ns by 400 feet. Byr d now knew t hat he would be abl e to reach the South Pol e which was 300 m i l es away, f or there wer e no mor e mountains i n sight. The air craft was able to f ly over the endless whit e plains wi thout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through the forest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Sterl ing di d not t hink of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo m en. They had rushed up to her whil e she was having a pi ic at the edge of a for est wi th her chi ldr en and tr ied to st eal her handbag. I n t he st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi th the bag in their possesi on, both m en st art ed running t hr ough the t rees. Mrs St er li ng got so angry that she r an af ter t hem. She was soon out of br eat h, but she conti nued t o r un. When she caught up wi th t hem, she saw t hat t hey had sat down and wer e going t hrough the contents of t he bag, so she r an str ai ght at them. The men got such a fr ight that they dropped the bag and ran away. 39。 Leson45 A cl ear consci ence 問心 無愧 The whole vi l age soon learnt t hat a l ar ge sum of money had been l ost . Sam Benton, the local but cher , had l ost hi s wal let whil e taking hi s savings t o the post of f ice. Sam was sur e that the wal let must have been found by one of the vil lagers, but i t was not r et urned to him. Thr e m ont hs passed, and then one mor ni ng, Sam found his wal let outside his fr ont door. I t had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t contai ned half t he money he had lost, together wit h a note which sai d: 39。 Onl y 25 per cent a t hi ef now! 39。 l eson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air port , wor kers began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hi ng. No one coul d acount f or the f act t hat one of the boxes was extr emely heavy. I t suddenl y occur red t o one of the wor ker s to open up t he box. He