【正文】 d in a newspaper, t he num ber of visit or s t o Fr inley has now incr eased. The tr e was pl anted near a chur ch f ift y years ago, but it is onl y in r ecent years that it has gained an evil r eput at ion. I t i s sai d t hat i f anyone touches t he tr ee, he wi l have bad luck。 Leson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi rem en have put out a big f or est fir e in Calif ornia. Si nce t hen, t hey have been tr yi ng t o fi nd out how the fi re began. For est fir e ar e of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by ci garet e ends which peopl e car el essl y t hr ow away. Yest er day t he fi rem en exami ned t he ground car ef ul ly, but wer e not able t o f ind any br oken glas. They wer e also quit e sur e t hat a ci gar et e end did not st ar t the fir e. This m orning, however , a f ir eman acci dental y di scovered the cause. He not iced t he r em ai ns of a snake whi ch was wound round t he elect ri c wi res of a 16, 000vol t power l ine. I n t hi s way, he was able t o solve the m ystery. The explanati on was sim ple but ver y unusual . A bi rd had snat ched up t he snake fr om t he gr ound and then dr opped i t on t o t he wi res. The snake then wound i tsel f r ound the wir es. When it did so, it sent spar ks down t o the gr ound and t hese imm edi atel y start ed a f ir e. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter br eakfast, I sent t he chil dr en t o school and then I went t o m ar ket. It was ti l earl y when I returned hom e. The chil dr en were at school, m y husband was at work and t he house was quiet. So I deci ded to make som e t ar ts f or t ea. I n a short tim e I was busy mi xi ng butt er and f lour and m y hands were soon cover ed wi th sti cky past ry. At exactl y t hat m om ent, the telephone r ang. Not hi ng coul d have been more annoyi ng. I pi cked up t he r ecei ver bet wen two st icky f i nger s and was dism ayed when I recogni zed the voi ce of Mrs Bat es. It took m e t en mi nut es t o persuade her t o ri ng back l at er . At l ast I hung up the r eceiver . What a m ess! Ther e was pastr y on my f ingers, on t he t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o t he kit chen than t he door bel l rang l oud enough t o wake the dead. Thi s tim e i t was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi st er ed l et er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of f indi ng lost tr easur e alm ost cam e t rue recentl y. A new m achi ne cal ed 39。We ar e going back now,39。 sai d the conduct or suddenl y.39。 answered t he conductor. I sat i n t he fr ont of t he bus t o get a good vi ew of the count rysi de. Aft er some tim e, t he bus stopped. Looking r ound, I r eali zed wit h a shock t hat I was the only passenger left on t he bus. 39。t li ke l osing m y way. I went on an excur si on r ecentl y, but my t ri p t ook me l onger than I expect ed. 39。 Onl y 25 per cent a t hi ef now!39。 slowly. I t obviously coul d not tel the di f er ence bet ween I ndi an musi c and jaz! Leson43 Over t he South Pol e 飛越南極 I n 1929, three years af ter hi s fli ght over t he Nor th Pol e, t he Ameri can expl or er , R. E. Byr d, successf ul y fl ew over t he Sout h Pol e f or t he f ir st tim e. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men wer e able t o take a great many phot ogr aphs of the m ountains that l ay bel ow, t hey soon ran into ser ious t rouble. At one point, it sem ed cert ai n t hat thei r pl ane woul d cr ash. It coul d only get over the m ountains if it r ose to 10, 000 f et. Byr d at once order ed his men to t hr ow out t wo heavy food sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e t o ri se and i t clear ed t he m ount ai ns by 400 f eet. Byrd now knew t hat he woul d be abl e to r each t he Sout h Pol e whi ch was 300 mil es a way, for ther e wer e no m or e m ount ai ns i n si ght. The air cr af t was abl e to fl y over t he endl ess whi te plains wit hout dif fi cult y. Lesson44 Through the f orest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne Sterl ing di d not thi nk of t he r isk she was t aki ng when she r an t hr ough a f or est aft er t wo m en. They had rushed up t o her whi le she was havi ng a pi ic at he edge of a forest wit h her chil dren and tr ied to st eal her handbag. I n t he str uggle, t he str ap br oke and, wi th t he bag i n thei r possesion, bot h m en start ed r unning through t he t rees. Mrs Sterli ng got so angr y t hat she r an aft er them. She was soon out of br eath, but she cont inued t o run. When she caught up wit h them, she saw that t hey had sat down and were goi ng t hrough t he contents of t he bag, so she r an str ai ght at t hem . The men got such a f ri ght that t hey dr opped t he bag and ran away. 39。cursed t ree39。 I answer ed. Lesson51 Reward f or virtue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fri end, Her bert, has al ways been f at , but t hi ngs got so bad recentl y t hat he deci ded to go on a di et. He began hi s di et a week ago. Fi rst of al l, he wr ot e out a long l ist of al l the foods whi ch wer e f orbidden. The li st incl uded m ost of t he t hi ngs Her bert l oves: butt er , potatoes, r ice, beer, mil k, chocol at e, and sweets. Yesterday I pai d him a visit. I rang t he bel and was not surpri sed to se t hat Her bert was ti 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 ver y embar rased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he sm il ed gui lti ly and t hen put t he par cel on t he desk. He expl ai ned t hat his diet was so str ict hat he had to r eward himsel f occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he content s of t he par cel. It cont ai ned fi ve l ar ge bar s of chocol at e and three bags of swets! Lesson52 A pret t y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved i nt o a new house and I have been working har d al mor ni ng. I have been tr yi ng t o get m y new r oom i n or der . This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make m at er s wor se, t he r oom i s rather sm al l, so I have tempor ar il y