【正文】 avi ngs to t he post off ice. Sam was sure t hat t he wal et m ust have been f ound by one of the vi l ager s, but it was not r etur ned t o him . Thr ee months pased, and t hen one m orning, Sam f ound hi s wal et out si de hi s f ront door . It had been wr apped up in newspaper and i t cont ai ned hal f the money he had lost, t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。Wher e have you been hidi ng ?39。 Lesson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f ir emen have put out a big f orest f i r e i n Cal i f or ni a. Since then, t hey have been tr ying t o fi nd out how the f ir e began. Forest f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl as or by cigaret te ends which people carelessl y t hr ow away. Yest erday the f ir emen exam ined the gr ound caref ull y, but were not able t o fi nd any broken glass. They were al so qui te sure that a ci gar et e end di d not st art the f ir e. Thi s mor ni ng, however, a f ir em an accidental y discover ed the cause. He noti ced t he rem ai ns of a snake which was wound r ound the electr ic wi r es of a 16,000vol t power li ne. I n t hi s way, he was abl e to solve t he mystery. The expl anat ion was sim ple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snatched up the snake fr om t he ground and then dropped it on t o the wi r es. The snake t hen wound i tself r ound t he wir es. When it did so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and t hese i mmediatel y st art ed a fi re. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakfast, I sent t he chi ldren t o school and then I went to m ar ket. It was sti l earl y when I ret ur ned home. The chil dren wer e at school , my husband was at work and t he house was quiet. So I deci ded t o make som e tart s f or t ea. I n a shor t ti me I was busy mi xi ng but t er and fl our and m y hands wer e soon covered wi t h st icky past r y. At exactl y t hat m om ent , t he t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been m or e annoying. I pi cked up t he r eceiver bet ween t wo st icky f inger s and was dismayed when I recogni zed t he voi ce of Mr s Bates. I t t ook m e ten mi nut es t o per suade her t o r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he recei 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 to t he kit chen t han t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake t he dead. Thi s ti me i t was the post man and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi st ered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold m i ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f i ndi ng l ost t r easur 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。l l tel you wher e to get off ,39。t li ke losing my way. I went on an excur si on recent ly, but my t ri p took me longer t han I expect ed. 39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。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 Amer 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 es 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 le she was havi ng a piic at the edge of a for est wi th her childr en and tr ied t o st eal her handbag. I n t he st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi th the bag in their possessi on, both men st art ed running t hrough the t rees. Mrs St erl ing got so angry that she r an aft er t hem . She was soon out of br eat h, but she conti nued t o r un. W hen she caught up wi th them, she saw t hat t hey had sat down and were going t hrough t he contents of t he bag, so she ran str ai ght at t hem. The m en got such a fr ight that they dropped the bag and r an away. 39。 Two months lat er , som e more money was sent to Sam wit h anot her not e: 39。 eggs and asked m e whet her m y coll ecti on was growi ng. He then asked m e how my br other was and whet her I l iked my new job i n London. I n answer t o these questi ons I eit her nodded or made st range noises. Meanwhil e, my tongue was busy sear ching out the hole wher e the t oot h had been. I suddenly f elt very wor ri ed, but coul d not say anything. When t he dent ist at l ast removed t he cot tonwool f rom my m out h, I was able to t el l him that he had pul led out the wr ong tooth. Leson49 The end of a dream 美夢告終 Tir ed of sleeping on t he fl oor, a young man in Teher an saved up for year s t o buy a real bed. For the f ir st t ime in hi s li fe, he became t he proud owner of a bed whi ch had spr ings and a mat ress. Because t he weat her was ver y hot, he car ri ed the bed on t o the r oof of hi s house. He sl ept very wel f or t he fi rst two nights, but on t he thi rd ni ght , a st orm bl ew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off t he roof and sent it cr ashing i nto t he cour tyard bel ow. The young man di d not wake up unt il t he bed had str uck the ground. Alt hough t he bed was sm ashed to pi eces, t he man was m ir aculously unhurt . When he woke up, he was st il on t he mat ress. Gl anci ng at he bit s of wood and m et al that l ay around him , t he man sadl y picked up the m at tr es and car ied i t into h