【正文】 the f ir st t im e i n hi s li fe, he becam e t he proud owner of a bed whi ch had spr ings and a mat r ess. Because t he weat her was ver y hot , he car ri ed t he bed on t o t he r oof of hi s house. He sl ept ver y wel f or t he fi r st t wo ni ght s, but on the t hi r d ni ght, a storm bl ew up. A gust of wind swept t he bed off t he r oof and sent it cr ashing i nt o t he cour tyar d bel ow. The young m an di d not wake up unt il t he bed had str uck t he gr ound. Alt hough t he bed was sm ashed t o pieces, t he m an was m ir acul ousl y unhur t. When he woke up, he was stil l on t he m at tr es. Gl anci ng at t he bi ts of wood and m et al t hat l ay ar ound him, t he m an sadl y picked up t he m at tr es and car ied i t int o hi s house. Aft er he had put it on t he fl oor, he pr om pt l y went t o sl eep agai n. Lesson50 Taken f or a ride 乘車兜風(fēng) I love tr avel li ng i n t he count r y, but I don39。 I39。 Is t hi s Woodf ord Green ?39。 I sai d. 39。Thi s is t he pret iest car pet I have ever seen,39。And a woman can39。 Lesson45 A cl ear consci ence 問心無愧 The whole vi l age soon l ear nt t hat a l arge sum of money had been l ost . Sam Benton, the l ocal but cher , had l ost hi s walet whi le t aki ng his savi 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。 leson46 Expensi ve and unf ortable 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney ai rport , workers began to unl oad a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hing. No one coul d acount for the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. I t suddenly occurr ed to one of the wor kers t o open up the box. He was ast oni shed at what he f ound. A man was l yi ng in the box on t op of a pi le of wool len goods. He was so surpr ised at being di scovered t hat he did not even tr y to run away. Aft er he was ar rested, the man admi t ed hi ding i n the box bef or e t he pl ane left London. He had had a l ong and unf or tabl e tr ip, for he had been conf ined to the wooden box for over t en hour s. The man was ordered t o pay amp。 but I don39。 t he conduct or said. 39。t m at ter ,39。Thi s is t he pr e t iest carpet I have ever seen,39。And a wom an can39。 Lesson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f ir emen have put out a big f orest f ir 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 ciga ret 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 spa rks 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 qui et . So I deci ded t o m ake some t ar ts f or tea. In a short t im e I was busy m ixing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sti cky pastr y. At exactly that moment, the t elephone r ang. Not hi ng coul d have been mor e annoyi ng. I picked up the r ecei ver between t wo sti cky f ingers and was di sm ayed when I r ecognized the voice of Mrs Bat es. It t ook me ten m inute s t o per suade her to r ing back l at er. At last I hung up the r eceiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on my f ingers, on the t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen than the door bel l rang l oud enough to wake t he dead. This t im e it was the postm an and he want ed me to si gn for a r egistered l et er ! Lesson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure al most came t rue r ecentl y. A new machine cal 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。 slowl y. I t obvi ousl y coul d not tel t he di f f er ence between I ndi an music and jazz! Lesson43 Over the South Pole 飛越南極 In 1929, thr e years af ter his f li ght over the Nor th Pol e, t he Ameri can explor er, R. E. Byrd, succesf ul ly fl ew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t im e. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men wer e able t o take a gr eat many photographs of the mountai ns that l ay bel ow, they soon ran i nt o seri ous t rouble. At one poi nt, it seem ed cer tain that their plane would cr ash. I t could onl y get over the m ount ai ns if i t r ose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or dered his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy food sacks. The pl ane was then abl e to ri se and i t cl ear ed the m ount ai ns by 400 feet. Byr d now knew t hat he would be abl e to reach the South Pol e which was 300 mi les away, f or there were no m or e mountai ns in sight. The air craf t was abl e to f ly over t he endless whit e plains wi thout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through t he forest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Ster ling di d not think of t he ri sk she was t aki ng whe