【正文】 the course and som e dri ver s spent m or e t im e under t hei r car s than i n them ! A f ew car s, however , pl eted the r ace. The wi nni ng car r eached a speed of f ort y mi les an hour much f aster t han any of i ts r ivals. It sped downhi l at he end of the r ace and i ts dri ver had a l ot of t rouble tr yi ng to st op it . The race gave everyone a great deal of pleasur e. I t was ver y dif fer ent f rom moder n car races but no l ess exci ti ng. Leson57 Can I hel p you, m adam ? 你要買什么，夫人？ A wom an in bl ue jeans st ood at t he window of an expensive shop. Though she hesit at ed for a moment , she f inal y went in and as ked to see a dress that was in t he wi ndow. The asi st ant who served her did not li ke the way she was dressed. Glancing at her scornf ully, he t ol d her that the dress was sol d. The woman walked out of t he shop angri ly and decided to puni sh the asist ant next day. She r etur ned t o t he shop t he foll owing morning dr esed in a fur coat, wit h a handbag i n one hand and a long umbrel la i n the ot her . Aft er seeking out the r ude assistant she asked f or the same dress. Not r eal izing who she was, the assi st ant was eager t o ser ve her t his t im e wit h great dif fi cul ty, he clim bed into the shop window t o get the dress. As soon as she saw it, t he woman sai d s m any t ies.39。t have too m any hat s, 39。A thief , yes, 39。345 f or t he cost of the t ri p. The nor mal pr ice of a t icket i s amp。t know where i t is.39。Thi s is as f ar as we go. 39。 I sai d. 39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some t im e then added, 39。 if he pi cks a l eaf , he wil l die. Many vil lager s beli eve t hat t he tr e has alr eady cl ai med 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 usef ul sour ce of i ne as t our i st s have been ing f rom al part s of t he count ry t o se it . I n spit e of al l that has been sai d, t he touri sts have been pi cki ng l eaves and cut ti ng their names on t he tr e tr unk. So f ar , not one of them has been str uck down by sudden deat h! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進來還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used t o sit outside our fr ont gate and bar k. Every ti me he wanted t o e int o the gar den he woul d bark unti l som eone opened t he gat e. As the neighbour s plained of the noi se, my husband spent weeks tr aining hi m t o pr ess his paw on the l at ch to l et hi msel f in. Rex soon became an exper t at opening t he gat e. However, when I was going out shopping l ast week, I not iced him in the garden near t he gat e. Thi s ti me he was barking so t hat someone would l et hi m out ! Since then, he has devel oped another bad habi t. As soon as he opens the gate fr om t he out si de, he c omes int o the gar den and wai ts unti l the gate shuts. Then he sit s 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 r em oved t he gat e and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen hi m i nt o t he cave hopi ng t o f i nd buri ed tr easur e. The l eader of t he par t y was exami ning t he soil near the entr ance t o t he cave when t he m achi ne showed t hat t her e was gol d under t he gr ound. Ver y exci ted, t he part y dug a hol e t wo f eet deep. They fi nal l y found a sm al gol d coi n which was alm ost wor thl ess. The part y t hen searched the whol e cave t hor oughl y but di d not f i nd anyt hi ng except an em pt y t in t r unk. I n spit e of t hi s, m any peopl e ar e confi dent t hat 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 a t 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 mor 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 when she ran t hr ough a for est aft er two men. They had rushed up to her whi le she was havi ng a piic at t he edge of a f orest wi t h her chil dren and tr i ed t o steal her handbag. In t he str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wit h t he bag i n t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng through t he tr es. Mr s Sterl ing got so angr y t hat she ran a ft er them. She was soon out of br eath, but she cont inued to run. When she caught up wit h them, she saw that they had sat down and were goi ng thr ough t he cont ent s of the bag, so 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 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。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 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 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,