【正文】 she ran st raight at hem. The men got such a f ri ght t hat t hey dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。t li ke los ing 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。l l tel you wher e to get off ,39。Oh dear ,39。 We ar e going back now, 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 s parks 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。 39。but they did not steal anythi ng. 39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。 I sai d to the conductor as I got on the bus, 39。l l have t o get of f her e, 39。 I t doesn39。 I answered. Lesson51 Reward for virt ue 對美德的獎賞 My f r iend, Her ber t, has always been f at, but things got so bad r ecentl y t hat he deci ded to go on a di et. He began his diet a week ago. Fi rst of al l, he wr ote out a long l ist of al l the f oods whi ch were f orbi dden. The li st i ncl uded m ost of the t hings Herbert l oves: but ter , potat oes, ri ce, beer , mi lk, chocolate, and sweets. Yesterday I paid hi m a vi si t. I r ang the bel and was not surpr ised to see t hat Her ber t was st il l as f at as ever. He l ed me i nto hi s room and hur ri edl y hid a large parcel under his desk. I t was obvi ous t hat he was very em bar ra ssed. When I asked hi m what he was doing, he smil ed gui lt il y and then put t he par cel on t he desk. He explained that his di et was so str ict that he had to r eward hi m sel f occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. It contained f ive l ar ge bars of chocolat e and three bags of sweets! Leson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just m oved i nto a new house and I have been worki ng har d al m or ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom i n order. Thi s has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, the r oom i s rat her smal , so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, they c over every inch of fl oor space and I actual y have t o wal k on them to get in or out of the r oom . A shor t whil e ago, m y si ster hel ped me to car ry one of my old bookcases up the stair s. She went int o my room and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al those books on t he fl oor. 39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some t im e then added, 39。 I sai d. 39。Thi s is as f ar as we go. 39。t know where i t is.39。345 f or t he cost of the t ri p. The nor mal pr ice of a t icket i s amp。A thief , yes, 39。t have too m any hat s, 39。 has been i nvent ed and i t has been used t o detect gol d whi ch has been bur i ed i n t he gr ound. The m achine was used i n a cave near t he seashor e where it i s sai d pi r at es used t o hi de gold. The pi r at es would of ten bur y gol d i n the cave and then fai l to coll ect i t. Ar med wi th t he new machine, a search part y went he did not li ke it . She enjoyed herself making t he asistant bri ng almost ever yt hing i n the wi ndow befor e fi nal ly buyi ng the dr ess she had f ir st asked for . Lesson58 A blessi ng i n disguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vi l age of Fr inley i s sai d to possess a 39。Wel l, i n that case, I pr efer to st ay on the bus, 39。 I for got t o put you of f. 39。 You39。m goi ng to Woodf ord Green,39。s money was pai d back in t his way. The last not e sai d:39。 said Mrs St erl ing l at er, 39。 m ay r eveal som et hing of value f ai rl y soon. Leson56 Fast er t han sound! 比聲音還快！ On ce a year a r ace i s hel d f or ol d car s. A l ot of car s ent ered f or this r ace last year and t here was a gr eat deal of exci t em ent j ust bef ore i t began. One of t he m ost handsom e car s was a Roll s Royce Sil ver Ghost. The m ost unusual car was a Benz which had only t hree wheels. Bui lt i n 1885, i t was the ol dest car t aki ng par t. Af ter a gr eat m any l oud explosi ons, t he race began. Many of the cars br oke down on