【正文】 Wher e have you been hidi ng ?39。 Lesson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir em en have put out a bi g f or est f ir e i n Cali for ni a. Si nce t hen, t hey have been tr yi ng t o fi nd out how t he f ir e began. Forest f ir e ar e of t en caused by br oken gl as or by ci gar et te ends whi ch people car el essly t hr ow away. Yester day t he fi rem en exam i ned t he ground car efull y, but wer e not abl e t o f i nd any br oken gl ass. They wer e also quit e sur e t hat a ci gar et te end di d not start t he fi r e. This m orni ng, however , a fi reman acci dent al l y discover ed t he c ause. He not i ced t he remai ns of a snake whi ch was wound r ound t he el ect ri c wi res of a 16,000volt power li ne. I n t hi s way, he was abl e t o sol ve t he m yst er y. The expl anati on was sim pl e but ver y unusual. A bi r d had snatc hed up t he snake fr om t he gr ound and then dr opped it on t o t he wir es. The snake t hen wound i tself r ound t he wi res. When it di d so, it sent sparks down t o t he gr ound and t hese im medi at el y start ed a fi r e. Lesson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast, I sent t he chi l dr en to school and t hen I went t o m ar ket. I t was st il l earl y when I r et ur ned home. The chi l dr en were at school, m y husband was at wor k and t he house was qui et. So I deci ded to m ake some t art s f or t ea. I n a shor t tim e I was busy m i xi ng but ter and fl our and m y hands wer e soon covered wi t h st icky past ry. At exactl y t hat m om ent, t he t el ephone rang. Not hi ng coul d have been mor e annoyi ng. I pi cked up the r ecei ver bet ween t wo st i cky f i ngers and was di sm ayed when I r ecognized t he voi ce of Mrs Bat es. It t ook m e t en m i nut es t o persuade her t o ri ng back l ater. At l ast I hung up t he r ecei ver . What a mess! Ther e was pastr y on m y fi nger s, on t he tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the kit chen t han the door bel l rang l oud enough t o wake t he dead. This t im e it was t he postm an and he want ed me t o sign f or a r egist er ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d m i ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of f indi ng l ost t reasur e alm ost cam e tr ue r ecent l y. A new machi ne cal l ed 39。 We ar e going back now,39。Oh dear ,39。 As she walked away, I f oll owed her out of the f ai r. Leson61 Troubl e wi th the H ubbl e 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 I n f ut ure, ast ronaut s wi l be r equir ed to descend f r om a spaceshi p whi le i t is sti l in space and to r etur n to i t. The abil it y to do this wil l be necesary i n f uture fl ights t o distant pla s. Scient ists are now tr ying t o discover i f t his i s possibl e. The spaceshi p Astr a whi ch left t he ear th a short t im e ago, wi l be tr avel li ng thr e hundred m il es i nto space. At a cert ai n point , t he Astr a wil l st op f or a short t ime and an astr onaut wi l at em pt t o l eave t he st at ionary spaceship and t hen r etur n to it . We shal l not know whet her t he experi ment has been successful unti l we have r ecei ved a radio m ess age. The fi rst message is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。cur sed t ree39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward f or vi rtue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)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 and 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 to reward himself occasional y. Then he showed me t he contents of t he par cel . It cont ai ned fi ve lar ge bar s of chocolate and t hree bags of sweets! Lesson52 A pret ty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have j ust moved int o a new house and I have been working har d al mor ni ng. I have been tr yi ng to get my new room in or der . This has not been easy because I own over a thousand books. To m ake m at ter s worse, t he room is r ather sm al l, so I have temporar ily put m y books on t he fl oor . At the m om ent , they cover ever y i nch of f loor space and I act ual ly have t o walk on them t o get i n or out of t he room. A shor t whi le ago, my sist er helped me to car y one of my ol d bookcases up t he st air s. She went into my r oom and got a bi g surpr ise when she saw al l those books on the f loor . 39。I t doesn39。Thi s i s as f ar as we go.39。 As soon as I went out si de, I f or got al l about Madam Bel i nsky because my wi f e hur ri ed t owar ds m e. 39。t need bookcases at al . You can si t her e i n your spar e ti me and r ead the carpet!39。l l get of f her e. 39。 I asked. 39。Thi s is as f ar as we go.39。t m at ter, 39。Thi s is t he pret iest car pet I have ever s en,39。. Because t he tr ee was menti oned i n a newspaper, t he num ber of visit ors t o Fri nley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was pl ant ed near a chur ch fi ft y year s ago, but it i s onl y i n r ecent years t hat i t has gained an evi l r eputati on. I t is sai d t hat i f anyone t ouches the t ree, he wi ll have bad l uck。cl ock t hi s eveni ng. By t hat t im e, t he Astr a wil l have been fl yi ng t hr ough space f or sevent een hour s and wil l have cir cl ed t he eart h a gr e at m any t im es. When t he fi rst r adi o m esages have been r ecei ved, t he r esul ts of t he t ri p wi l be announced imm edi atel y. Lesson62 Af ter t he fi re 大火之后 Fi remen had been fi ght i ng t he f or est f ir e f or near l y thr ee weeks bef or e t hey