【正文】 eoff rey loves. He prepared the speech car ef ul ly and went t o the weddi ng wi th Jenny. He had included a lar ge num ber of funny stori es in t he speech and, of cour se, it was a great succes. As oon as he had finished, Jenny told him she want ed t o go home. Geof frey was a l it le disappoi nt ed by this but he di d as his daught er asked. On the way home, he asked Jenny i f she had enj oyed t he speech. To hi s urpri se, she said she hadn39。 39。 As soon as I went out si de, I f ot al about Madam Bel insky because my wi fe hur ri ed t owards me. 39。 I asked. 39。You don39。 Leson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi remen have put out a big f or est f ir e in Calif or ni a. Since t hen, t hey have been tr yi ng t o find out how the fi re began. For est f ir e ar e of ten caused by broken glas or by ci gar et te ends whi ch people car el essl y throw away. Yesterday t he f ir emen examined t he ground carefull y, but wer e not abl e t o fi nd any br oken gl ass. They were also quite sure that a cigar et te end did not start the f ire. This morning, however, a fir eman acident al ly discovered the cause. He noti ced the remai ns of a snake which was wound round t he electri c wires of a 16,000volt power l ine. I n this way, he was able t o solve the mystery. The explanat ion was simple but ver y unusual. A bird had snat ched up t he snake from the gr ound and then dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound i tself r ound the wires. When it di d so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and these immediately started a fi re. Leson54 St icky fingers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakf ast, I sent the chi ldren to school and t hen I went to market . I t was st il ear ly when I r et ur ned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and the house was quiet. So I deci ded to m ake some tart s f or t ea. In a short ti me I was busy mixing but ter and flour and my hands were soon covered with sti cky pastr y. At exactl y that moment, t he telephone rang. Not hi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up t he r eceiver bet wen two sticky finger s and was dismayed when I recogni zed the voi ce of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minut es to persuade her to ri ng back l at er . At last I hung up the receiver . What a mess! Ther e was pastr y on my f ingers, on t he t el ephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than t he door bel rang l oud enough t o wake the dead. Thi s time i t was the postman and he wanted me to sign for a r egi stered let er ! Lesson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of f inding lost tr easur e almost came t rue recentl y. A new machine caled 39。 sai d the conductor suddenl y. 39。 she asked impat ient ly. 39。 said t he conductor . 39。 the conductor said. 39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit her e in your spare ti me and read the carpet !39。Oh dear, 39。 39。 has been invented and i t has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied in t he ground. The machine was used in a cave near the seashor e where it is sai dpir at es used to hide gol d. The pir at es woul d often bur y gold i n the cave and then f ai l to col lect it . Ar med wi th the new machi ne, a sear ch party went he di d not like it . She enjoyed herself making the assi stant br ing al most ever yt hi ng i n the window before f inal ly buying the dres she had f ir st asked f or . Leson58 A blesing in di sgui se? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vi l age of Fri nl ey i s said to possess a 39。 I s t hi s Woodford Gr en ?39。Thi s i s the pr et tiest car pet I have ever sen,39。cl ock this evening. By that ime, t he Astr a wil have been flyi ng t hr ough space for sevente en hour s and wil l have cir cl ed t he ear th a great many t imes. When t he f ir st radio mesages have been r ecei ved, t he r esul ts of the t ri p wil be announced immedi at el y. Lesson62 Af ter the fi re 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ight ing the forest fi re f or nearl y three weks before t hey could get it under cont rol. A shor t ime bef or e, great tr es had covered the count rysi de f or mil es around. Now, smoke st il r ose up f rom t he warm gr ound over the desol at e hi ls. Winter was i ng on and t he hil ls threat ened the surr oundi ng vil lages wit h dest ruct ion, f or heavy rain woul d not only wash away the soil but woul d cause seri ous fl oods as wel. When the fir e had at l ast been put out, the forest aut hori ti es order ed several tons of a special t ype of gr ass seed which woul d gr ow quickly. The seed was spr ayed over t he ground i n huge quanti ti es by aeroplanes. The pl anes had been pla nting sed for near ly a month when i t began to r ai n. By then, however, in many pl aces t he grass had al ready taken r oot. In place of the great tr es whi ch had been gr owi ng t here f or centur ies, patches of gr en had begun to appear in t he blackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺得好 笑 Geof fr ey Hampden has a large circle of fr iends and is ver y popular at part ies. Everybody admi res hi m for his fi ne sense of humorever ybody, that is, except his sixyear old daught er , Jenny. Recent ly, one of Geof fr ey39。It doesn39。cur sed tr e39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對美德的獎賞 My f ri end, Herbert, has always been fat, but t hi ngs got so bad recent ly t hat he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. Fir st of al , he wrote out a l ong li st of al the f oods which were forbi dden. The l ist i ncluded most of t he t hi ngs Herber t l oves: but ter, potatoes, ri ce, beer , mi lk, chocolate, and sweet s. Yesterday I paid him a visit . I rang the bel and was not surpri sed to s e t hat Her bert was sti 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 very embar rased. When I asked him what he was doing, he smi led gui lti ly and t hen put the par cel on t he desk. He explained that