【正文】 The Revealer 39。 said the conductor . 39。 sai d the conduct or suddenl y. 39。 You39。m going to Woodf ord Green,39。s money was paid back in this way. The l ast not e said:39。 sai d Mrs St er li ng lat er , 39。Where have you been hi ding ?39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f i remen have put out a big f orest fi re i n Cali for nia. Since then, they have been tr ying t o f ind out how the f ir e began. Forest fi re ar e oft en caused by br oken gl as or by cigar et te ends which people carelessl y t hr ow away. Yest erday the f ir emen exam ined the gr ound car ef ull y, but were not able t o f ind any broken glass. They were al so qui te sure that a ci gar et e end di d not st art the f i re. Thi s mor ning, however, a f ir eman acidental ly di scover ed the cause. He noti ced the r em ai ns of a snake which was wound r ound the electr ic wi r es of a 16,000 vol t power l ine. I n t his way, he was abl e to sol ve the myster y. The explanat ion was simple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snatched up t he snake fr om t he ground and then dropped it on t o t he wir es. The snake t hen wound i tself r ound t he wi res. When it did so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and t hese i mmediatel y start ed a fi re. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter br eakfast, I sent t he chi ldr en to school and then I went to mar ket. It was sti l earl y when I r et ur ned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I decided t o make some tar ts f or tea. I n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sticky pastr y. At exact ly that m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r eceiver between two sticky f ingers and was dismayed when I recogni zed the voice of Mr s Bates. It took m e ten m inutes to per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. 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 to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime i t was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f indi ng lost tr easure alm ost came tr ue r ecentl y. A new machine caled 39。 We ar e goi ng back now, 39。Oh dear ,39。 answer ed the conductor . I sat in t he fr ont of t he bus t o get a good vi ew of the countr ysi de. Af ter som e ti me, the bus st opped. Looki ng round, I reali zed wi th a shock t hat I was the onl y passenger lef t on the bus. 39。 I39。 I n ti me, al Sam39。The str ap needs mending,39。but only 5o per cent a t hief! 39。230 ! Lesson47 A thi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr Ian Thompson is up f or sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He t old m e that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise ing f rom the bar . The next morni ng, he f ound t hat t he door s had been bl ocked by chai rs and t he fur nitur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thom pson had t ur ned the l ights of f bef ore he went t o bed, they wer e on i n the m or ning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive empt y whisky bott les which t he ghost must have dr unk t he night bef ore. When I suggested t hat some vil lagers must have e i n f or a fr ee dr i nk, Mr Thompson shook hi s head. The vil lager s have t old hi m t hat hey wil l not accept the i nn even i f he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o tel l me somethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dent ists al ways ask quest ions when it i s impossi ble f or you to answer. My denti st had j ust pull ed out one of my t eet h and had told me t o rest for a whi le. I tr ied t o say somet hi ng, but my m out h was f ul l of cot tonwool . He knew I col lected bi rds39。 39。 39。 I said. 39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some tim e then added, 39。 if he picks a l eaf , he wi l l di e. Many vil ager s bel ieve t hat the t ree has alr eady clai med a number of vi ct ims. The vicar has been asked t o have the t ree cut down, but so f ar he has r efused. He has pointed out that the t ree i s a usef ul source of ine as t our ists have been i ng f rom al l par ts of t he countr y t o se i t. I n spi te of al l t hat has been said, t he touri st s have been picking leaves and cut ti ng their names on t he tr e tr unk. So f ar , not one of t hem has been str uck down by sudden deat h! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進來還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used t o sit outside our f r ont gate and bark. Every t im e he wanted t o e int o the garden he woul d bar k unti l someone opened t he gat e. As the neighbour s plained of the noise, my husband spent weeks tr ai ning hi m t o press his paw on t he lat ch to l et hi msel f in. Rex soon became an exper t at openi ng the gat e. However, when I was going out shopping l ast week, I noti ced him in t he gar den near t he gat e. This tim e he was bar king so t hat someone woul d l et hi m out ! Since then, he has devel oped another bad habi t. As soon as he opens the gate f r om t he out si de, he es int o the garden and wait s unti l t he gat e shut s. Then he sit s and bar ks unt il someone l ets hi m out. Af ter t hi s he im mediately lets hi msel f in and begins barki ng again. Yesterday my husband removed the gate and Rex got so a nnoyed we have not seen him since. Leson60 The fut ure 卜算未來 At a vi l age f air , I decided t o visit a f ort une tel er cal ed Madam Bel li nsky. I went i nto her tent and she t ol d me to sit down. Af ter I had gi ven her some money, she l ooked i nt o a cr yst al ba l and sai d: 39。s cl osest f ri ends asked hi m to m ake a speech at a wedding r ecepti on. Thi s is t he sor t of t hing t hat Geof fr ey loves. He pr epar ed the speech car eful ly and went to t he wedding wi th Jenny. He had i ncl uded