【正文】 I sai d. 39。We are going back now,39。Thi s i s the pr et tiest car pet I have ever sen,39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast fir emen have put out a big forest f ir e i n Cal i fornia. Si nce then, they have been tr ying to fi nd out how the fi re began. For est fi re are often caused by br oken gl ass or by ci garet e ends which people car el essl y throw away. Yester day t he f iremen exam ined t he ground car ef ully, but wer e not able t o find any broken glass. They wer e al so quite sur e that a cigar et te end did not start the fi re. This morning, however , a f ir eman acidental y di scovered the cause. He noticed the remai ns of a snake whi ch was wound round t he elect ri c wi res of a 16, 00vol t power l ine. In t hi s way, he was able to solve the mystery. The explanati on was si mpl e but very unusual . A bi rd had snat ched up the snake f rom t he ground and then dropped it on to the wir es. The snake t hen wound it self round t he wi res. When i t di d so, i t sent sparks down to t he ground and these immedi at el y st ar ted a fir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er breakfast, I sent the chil dr en to school and then I went t o mar ket. I t was st il ear ly when I returned home. The chil dr en were at school, my hus band was at wor k and t he house was qui et . So I decided t o make some t ar ts for tea. In a shor t ime I was busy mixi ng butter and fl our and my hands wer e soon covered wit h st icky pastr y. At exact ly that moment , t he t el ephone rang. Not hi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the receiver bet wen two sti cky fi ngers and was di smayed when I recognized the voi ce of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minut es t o persuade her to ri ng back l at er . At last I hung up the receiver. What amess! Ther e was pastr y on my f inger s, on t he t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than the doorbel rang l oud enough t o wake the dead. This ti me it was the postman and he wanted me to sign for a regi st er ed l et er ! Lesson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dreams of finding lost tr easur e al most came true recentl y. A new machine cal ed 39。. Because the tree was mentioned i n a newspaper, the number of vi si tors to Fr inley has now i ncreased. The t ree was plant ed near a church fi ft y year s ago, but i t i s only i n recent year s t hat it has gai ned an evil reputati on. It is sai d that if anyone t ouches the tr e, he wil l have bad l uck。Where have you been hiding ?39。cl ock this evening. By that ime, t he Astr a wil have been flyi ng t hr ough space for sevente en hour s and wil l have cir cl ed t he ear th a great many t imes. When t he f ir st radio mesages have been r ecei ved, t he r esul ts of the t ri p wil be announced immedi at el y. Lesson62 Af ter the fi re 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ight ing the forest fi re f or nearl y three weks before t hey could get it under cont rol. A shor t ime bef or e, great tr es had covered the count rysi de f or mil es around. Now, smoke st il r ose up f rom t he warm gr ound over the desol at e hi ls. Winter was i ng on and t he hil ls threat ened the surr oundi ng vil lages wit h dest ruct ion, f or heavy rain woul d not only wash away the soil but woul d cause seri ous fl oods as wel. When the fir e had at l ast been put out, the forest aut hori ti es order ed several tons of a special t ype of gr ass seed which woul d gr ow quickly. The seed was spr ayed over t he ground i n huge quanti ti es by aeroplanes. The pl anes had been pla nting sed for near ly a month when i t began to r ai n. By then, however, in many pl aces t he grass had al ready taken r oot. In place of the great tr es whi ch had been gr owi ng t here f or centur ies, patches of gr en had begun to appear in t he blackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺得好 笑 Geof fr ey Hampden has a large circle of fr iends and is ver y popular at part ies. Everybody admi res hi m for his fi ne sense of humorever ybody, that is, except his sixyear old daught er , Jenny. Recent ly, one of Geof fr ey39。 申請中央 補助 資金 10 萬元，地方配套 資金 4 萬元， 企業(yè) 自籌資金 萬元。Thi s is as f ar as we go.39。Oh dear, 39。It doesn39。l get off her e. 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對美德的獎賞 My f ri end, Herbert, has always been fat, but t hi ngs got so bad recent ly t hat he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. Fir st of al , he wrote out a l ong li st of al the f oods which were forbi dden. The l ist i ncluded most of t he t hi ngs Herber t l oves: but ter, potatoes, ri ce, beer , mi lk, chocolate, and sweet s. Yesterday I paid him a visit . I rang the bel and was not surpri sed to s e t hat Her bert was sti l as f at as ever . He l ed me i nt o hi s room and hur ri edly hid a l ar ge par cel under his desk. I t was obvious t hat he was very embar rased. When I asked him what he was doing, he smi led gui lti ly and t hen put the par cel on t he desk. He explained that his diet was so stri ct that he had t o rewar d hi mself occasional ly. Then he showed me t he cont ents of the parcel . I t contained f ive large bars of chocolate and t hr ee bags of sweet s! Lesson52 A pret ty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved into a new house and I have been working har d al morning. I have been tr yi ng t o get my new r oom i n or der . This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, t he r oom is rather smal l, so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the fl oor. At the moment, they cover ever y inch of fl oor space and I act ual y have to walk on them to get in or out of t he r oom. A short while ago, my si st er hel ped me to car ry one of my old bookcases up the stair s. She went i nt o my room and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al t hose books on t he f loor. 39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit her e in your spare ti me and read the carpet !39。cur sed tr e