【正文】 飛越南極 I n 1929, thr ee year s af ter his fl ight over the Nor th Pol e, t he Amer ica n expl orer, R. E. Byr d, successf ull y fl ew over the South Pol e for t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st , Byrd and his men were able to t ake a great m any phot ogr aphs of the m ount ai ns that lay below, t hey soon ran i nto seri ous tr oubl e. At one point , i t seemed cert ai n t hat their pl ane woul d crash. I t coul d only get over t he mount ains if i t rose to 10, 000 feet. Byrd at once ordered hi s men t o thr ow out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able t o r ise and it cleared t he mountains by 400 f et . Byr d now knew t hat he woul d be able t o reach the South Pol e which was 300 m il es away, for t her e were no more m ount ai ns in si ght . The ai r cr af t was able t o f ly over the endles whit e plains wi thout di f icult y. Lesson44 Through the f orest 穿過(guò)森林 Mrs Anne Sterl ing di d not t hink of the r isk she was taki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo men. They had rushed up t o her whil e she was having a pi i c at the edge of a for est wi th her chi ldr en and t r ied to st eal her handbag. I n the st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi th the bag in their possesion, both m en st ar t ed r unning t hr ough the t rees. Mrs St er li ng got so angry that she r an af ter t hem. She was s oon out of br eath, but she conti nued t o r un. When she caught up wi th t hem, she saw t hat t hey had sat down and wer e going t hrough the contents of t he bag, so she r an str ai ght at them. The men got such a fr ight that they dropped the bag and ran away. 39。 Only 25 per cent a thief now! 39。t l ike l osi ng my way. I went on an excursion r ecent ly, but m y tr ip t ook me l onger than I expect ed. 39。l l t el you where t o get of f, 39。 I asked. 39。I 39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some t im e then added, 39。 i f he pi cks a leaf, he wi l die. Many vi l l ager s beli eve t hat t he tr ee has alr eady cl aimed a number of victi ms. The vi car has been asked to have the t ree cut down, but so far he has refused. He has point ed out t hat t he tr e is a useful sour ce of i n e as t ouri st s have been ing f rom al part s of the count ry t o see it . I n spit e of al l that has been sai d, t he tour ists have been pi cki ng leaves and cutt ing t hei r nam es on t he tr ee tr unk. So far, not one of t hem has been str uck down by sudden deat h! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進(jìn)來(lái)還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to sit outsi de our f ront gat e and bar k. Ever y t ime he want ed to e i nto t he gar den he would bar k unt il s omeone opened the gate. As t he nei ghbours pl ai ned of t he noise, my husband spent weeks t raini ng him to pr es hi s paw on the l atch t o let him self i n. Rex soon became an expert at openi ng the gate. However , when I was goi ng out shoppi ng last week, I noti ced hi m i n the gar den near the gate. This t ime he was ba r ki ng so that som eone would let him out ! Si nce t hen, he has developed anot her bad habit . As soon as he opens t he gat e f rom the outside, he es i nto t he gar den and wait s unt il the gat e shuts. Then he si ts and bar ks until someone lets hi m out . Af t er t his he i mmediatel y let s hi mself in and begins barki ng agai n. Yester day m y husband rem oved t he gat e and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him since. Leson60 The f uture 卜算未來(lái) At a vi l age fair , I decided t o visit a f ort une tel er cal led Madam Bel li nsky. I went i nto her tent and she t old m e to si t down. Af ter I had given her some m oney, she l ooked i nto a cr yst al bal and sai d: 39。s cl osest f r i ends asked hi m t o m ake a speech at a weddi ng r ecept i on. Thi s i s t he sor t of t hi ng t hat opened one of the basket s. When he began to pl ay a tune, we had our f i rst gl im pse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began t o f oll ow the m ovements of t he pipe. We wer e ver y m uch surpr ised when the snake charm er suddenl y began t o play j azz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued t o 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 sal e. Mr Thom pson i s goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me t hat he coul d not go to sl ep one night because he hear d a str ange noise ing fr om t he bar . The next mor ni ng, he f ound that the door s had been bl ocked by chair s and t he fur nit ur e had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had t urned the l ight s of f before he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n the m orning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive em pt y whi sky bott les whi ch the ghost must have dr unk the night before. When I suggested t hat some vi lagers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lager s have told hi m that they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me somethi ng? 你想對(duì)我說(shuō)什么嗎？ Dentist s al ways ask quest ions when it i s im possible for you to answer. My dent ist had j ust pull ed out one of my teeth and had tol d me t o r est f or a whi le. I tr i ed t o say somet hing, but my mouth was f ull of cot ton wool. He knew I coll ect ed bi rds39。 39。 39。t mat er, 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward f or vi rtue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fr iend, Herbert , has always been fat , but thi ngs got so bad recent ly t hat he decided to go on a diet . He began his di et a wek ago. Fir st of al , he wr ot e out a l ong li st of al t he foods which wer e for bidden. The l ist included most of t he things Her ber t loves: butt er , pot atoes, r ice, beer, mi lk, chocolat e, and sweet s. Yester day I pai d him a visit . I rang the bel and was not sur pri sed t o se that Her bert was sti l as fat as ever . He led me into hi s r oom and hur r iedly hi d a lar ge par cel under h