【正文】 . You can sit here i n your spare t ime and read the carpet !39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward f or vi rtue 對美德的獎賞 My fr iend, Herbert , has always been fat , but thi ngs got so bad recent ly t hat he decided to go on a diet. He began his di et a week ago. Fir st of al , he wr ote out a l ong li st of al t he f oods which wer e for bidden. The l ist included most of t he things Her ber t loves: butt er , pot atoes, r ice, beer, mi lk, chocolat e, and sweet s. Yester day I paid him a visit . I rang the bel a nd was not sur pri sed t o se t hat Her ber t was stil l as fat as ever. He led me into hi s room and hur ri edly hi d a lar ge par cel under hi s desk. It was obvious that he was ver y embar assed. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smil ed guilt il y and then put the parcel on the desk. He explai ned t hat hi s di et was so st ri ct t hat he had t o r ewar d hi m self occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. I t contained f ive l arge bars of chocolat e and thr e 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 wor ki ng har d al m or ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom i n order. Thi s ha s not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, the r oom i s rat her smal , so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, t hey cover every inch 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, m y si ster hel ped me t o car ry one of m y old bookcases up the stair s. She went int o my room and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al those books on t he fl oor. 39。 39。I t doesn39。Oh dear, 39。Thi s i s as f ar as we go.39。 answer ed the conduct or . I sat in the f ront of the bus to get a good view of t he countr ysi de. Af ter some t ime, the bus stopped. Looking r ound, I reali zed wit h a shock t hat I was t he onl y pasenger l ef t on the bus. 39。t know where i t is.39。 I 39。345 f or t he cost of t he t ri p. The norm al pr i ce of a t icket i s amp。 In t ime, al Sam39。A t hief, yes, 39。The str ap needs mending,39。t have too m any hat s, 39。The Revealer39。 39。You needn39。 We must n39。 I said t o my wif e. 39。 she answered,39。 I asked. 39。 I asked. 39。 39。conver sat i on. 39。Wil you be seei ng it ?39。Wi l you be spending your holidays abroad thi s year ?39。 Wil l you be st ayi ng in Engl and?39。 Young man,39。Do you cal t hat a hat ?39。 my wi fe answered as she looked at herself i n the m ir ror . I sat down on one of t hose m oder n chai rs wi th hol es in i t and wai ted. We had been in the hat shop f or half an hour and my wi fe was st il l in f ront of the mi r or. 39。 I remar ked suddenl y. I r egr eted saying i t al most at once. 39。 I need not remi nd you of t hat t er r ible tie you bought yester day.39。A man can never have t oo i nt o t he cave hopi ng t o f i nd buri ed tr easur e. The l eader of t he par t y was exami ning t he soil near the entr ance t o t he cave when t he m achi ne showed t hat t her e was gol d under t he gr ound. Ver y exci ted, t he part y dug a hol e t wo f eet deep. They fi nal l y found a sm al gol d coi n which was alm ost wor thl ess. The part y t hen searched the whol e cave t hor oughl y but di d not f i nd anyt hi ng except an em pt y t in t r unk. I n spit e of t hi s, m any peopl e ar e confi dent t hat 39。And a woman can39。 slowl y. I t obvi ousl y coul d not tel t he di f f erence bet ween Indian m usic and j az! Leson43 Over t he Sout h Pol e 飛越南極 I n 1929, t hr ee year s aft er hi s fl ight over t he Nort h Pole, the Am er ican expl orer , R. E. Byr d, successf ull y f lew over the South Pol e for t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st , Byrd and hi s men were abl e to t ake a great many phot ogr aphs of t he mount ains that lay below, t hey soon r an into ser ious tr oubl e. At one point , i t seemed cert ai n t hat t hei r pl ane woul d crash. It coul d only get over t he mountains i f it rose t o 10, 000 feet. Byr d at once order ed hi s men t o thr ow out two heavy f ood sacks. The plane was then able t o r ise and it cleared t he mountains by 400 f eet . Byr d now knew that he woul d be able t o r each the Sout h Pole whi ch was 300 mil e s away, for t her e wer e no more mount ains in si ght . The ai r cr aft was able t o fl y over the endl es whi te pl ai ns wit hout di f icult y. Leson44 Through the f orest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne St er li ng did not t hi nk of the r isk she was taking when she r an through a f orest af ter two men. They had r ushed up t o her whi l e she was havi ng a piic at the edge of a f or est wi th her chil dr en and tr ied t o steal her handbag. I n t he st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi t h the bag i n their possessi on, both men start ed running t hrough the t rees. Mrs St erl ing got so angr y that she r an aft er t hem . She was soon out of br eat h, but she conti nued to r un. When she caught up wi th them, she saw that hey had sat down and were goi ng through t he cont ent s of t he bag, so she ran str aight at t hem . The m en got such a fr ight that they dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whole vi l age soon l ear nt t hat a l arge sum of money had been lost . Sam Benton, the l ocal butcher , had lost hi s wal et whi le t aki ng his savi ngs to t he post of fi ce. Sam was sure t hat he wal et must have been f ound by one of t he vi l ager s, but it was not retur ned to hi m. Three months passed, and t hen one morning, Sam f ound his wal et out si de his f ront door . It had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t contained half t he money he had lost , together wit h a note whi ch sai d: 39。 Onl y 25 per cent a thi ef now! 39。 l esson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a pl ane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air por t, wor ker s began to unload a number of