【正文】 igaret te end did not star t he fi re. This m orning, however , a fi reman acci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emains of a snake whi ch was wound round the el ect ri c wir es of a 16, 000 volt power l ine. In this way, he was able t o sol ve the myst er y. The explanati on was si mple but very unusual . A bir d had snat ched up t he snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round the wi re s. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and these i mmedi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent the childr en to school and t hen I went t o market. I t was st il l ear ly when I r eturned home. The chi l dr en were at school , m y husband was at wor k and t he house was quiet. So I decided to make some t art s for t ea. In a shor t ti me I was busy mixi ng but ter and fl our and m y hands wer e soon cover ed wi th sti cky pastr y. At exactl y that moment, t he telephone rang. Not hing could have been m ore annoyi ng. I pi cked up t he recei ver bet wen t wo sti cky fi nger s and was di smayed when I r ecognized t he voi ce of Mrs Bat es. I t ook me t en mi nut es t o persuade her t o ri ng back l ater. At l ast I hung up the r ecei ver . What a mes! There was pa st r y on my f ingers, on the t elephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake the dead. Thi s tim e it was t he post man and he want ed me t o sign f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dreams of fi nding l ost tr easure al most came t rue r ecent ly. A new m achi ne cal ed 39。We are goi ng back now,39。 said the conductor suddenly. 39。 You39。 I 39。 In tim e, a l l Sam39。The str ap needs mending,39。 And a woman can39。 Leson45 A cl ear consci ence 問(wèn)心 無(wú)愧 The whole vi l age soon learnt t hat a l ar ge sum of money had been l ost . Sam Benton, the local but cher , had l ost hi s wal let whil e taking hi s savings t o the post of f ice. Sam was sur e that the wal let must have been found by one of the vil lagers, but i t was not r et urned to him. Thr e m ont hs passed, and then one mor ni ng, Sam found his wal let outside his fr ont door. I t had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t contai ned half t he money he had lost, together wit h a note which sai d: 39。 l eson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air port , wor kers began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hi ng. No one coul d acount f or the f act t hat one of the boxes was extr emely heavy. I t suddenl y occur red t o one of the wor ker s to open up t he box. He was astoni shed at what he f ound. A man was lyi ng in t he box on top of a pi le of wooll en goods. He was so sur pr i sed at being di scover ed that he did not even t ry to r un away. Af t er he was ar rested, t he man admi ted hi ding i n the box befor e the pl ane l eft London. He had had a l ong and unfor table t ri p, for he had been confi ned to t he wooden box f or over t en hour s. The man was or der ed to pay amp。 but I don39。This i s as far as we go.39。I t doesn39。 I answer ed. Lesson51 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 ll as fat as ever . He led me into hi s r oom and hur r iedly hi d a lar ge par cel under hi s desk. It was obvious that he was ver y embar ased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he sm iled gui lt ily and then put t he par cel on t he desk. He expl ained that his di et was so str ict that he had to r ewar d hi msel f occasi onal ly. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. I t cont ai ned fi ve large bars of chocol at e and thr ee bags of sweet s! Lesson52 A pret ty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved into a new house and I have been wor king hard al l morni ng. I have been t rying to get my new r oom i n order . Thi s has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat ers wor se, t he room i s r at her smal , so I have t em por ari ly put my books on the f loor . At the moment, t hey cover ever y inch of fl oor space and I actual y have to wal k on t hem to get i n or out of the r oom. A short whi le ago, m y sister hel ped me t o car r y one of m y old bookcases up the stai rs. She went i nt o m y room and got a bi g sur pri se when she saw al t hose books on the f loor. 39。cursed t ree39。 As she wal ked away, I f ol lowed her out of t he fair . Lesson61 Troubl e wit h t he Hubble 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 In futur e, astr onauts wil l be requi red t o descend f rom a spaceship whil e it i s st il l in space and t o ret urn t o i t. The abi li ty t o do t his wi l be necessar y in fut ur e f li ght s to di st ant pl as. Scienti st s ar e now t ryi ng t o di scover i f t his i s possibl e. The spaceshi p Astr a whi ch left t he ear th a short t im e ago, wi l be tr avel li ng thr e hundred m il es i nto space. At a cert ai n point, t he Astr a wil l st op f or a short t ime and an astr onaut wi l at em pt t o l eave t he st at ionary spaceship and t hen r etur n to it . We shal l not know whet her t he experi ment has been successful until we have r ecei ved a radio m essage. The fi rst message is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。 sai d Mr s Ster li ng later , 39。s money was pai d back in t his way. The last not e sai d: 39。m going t o Woodfor d Gr een, 39。l l have to get of f her e, 39。 I f ot to put you off .39。 said t he conductor.