【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 he recei ver bet ween t wo sti cky fi nger s and was di sm ayed when I r ecogni zed t he voi ce of Mr s 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 t he r ecei ver . What a mess! There was pastr y on m y fi nger s, on t he t elephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o t he ki t chen t han t he door bel r ang loud enough t o wake t he dead. Thi s tim e i t was t he post man and he wanted m e t o si gn f or a r egi st er ed l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gol d m i ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of f i ndi ng l ost t reasur e alm ost cam e tr ue r ecent l y. A new machi ne cal led 39。The Revealer39。 has been i nvent ed and i t has been used to det ect gold which has been buri ed in the ground. The machi ne was used i n a cave near the seashore wher eit is saidpir ates used to hi de gol d. The pi rates woul d oft en bur y gold i n t he cave and then f ai l to col lect i t. Ar med wi th the new m achine, a sear ch par ty went m any t i es. 39。 39。And a wom an can39。t have too m any hats,39。 she answer ed. Ten mi nut es later we wal ked out of the shop together. My wi fe was wear ing a hat that looked li ke a li ght house ! Leson42 Not very m usi cal 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a long walk through one of the m ar ket s of Old Delhi, we st opped at a squar e to have a r est . Af t er a t im e, we not iced a snakecharm er wi th two large basket s at t he other si de of the squar e, so we went t o have a l ook at hi m. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pi pe which was cover ed wit h coins and opened one of the baskets. When he began to pl ay a tune, we had our f ir st gl im pse of the snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began t o f ollow the m ovements of t he pipe. We wer e ver y much 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。dance39。 slowly. I t obvi ously could not t el l the di f er ence between I ndian music and j azz! Leson43 Over the Sout h Pole 飛越南極 I n 1929, thr ee year s af ter his f li ght over t he Nort h Pole, the Am eri can explor er , R. E. Byr d, successful ly f lew over the Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t ime. Though, at f i rst, Byr d and hi s men wer e abl e t o take a gr eat many phot ographs of t he mountains t hat l ay bel ow, they soon r an int o ser ious t rouble. At one poi nt , it seem ed cer tain t hat hei r plane would c r ash. It could onl y get over the mountains i f it r ose t o 10,000 f et . Byr d at once or der ed his men t o t hr ow out t wo heavy f ood sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e to r i se and i t cl ear ed the mountai ns by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that he would be able to r each t he Sout h Pole whi ch was 300 mi les away, f or there wer e no mor e mountains i n sight. The air craft was able t o f ly over the endle ss whit e plains wi thout di f icul ty. Lesson44 Through the f orest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Sterl ing di d not t hink of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo m en. They had rushed up to her whil e she was having a pi ic at the edge of a for est wi th her chi ldr en and tr ied to st eal her handbag. I n the st ruggle, the str ap br oke and, wi t h the bag i n their possessi on, both men start ed running t hrough the t rees. Mrs St erl ing got so angr y that she r an aft er t hem . She was soon out of br eat h, but she conti nued to r un. When she caught up wi th them, she saw t hat hey had sat down and were goi ng through t he cont ent s of t he bag, so she ran str aight at t hem . The m en got such a fr ight that they dr opped the bag and r an away. 39。The str ap needs mending,39。 sai d Mrs St er li ng lat er , 39。but they did not steal anythi ng. 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whole vi l age soon l ear nt t hat a l arge sum of money had been lost . Sam Benton, the l ocal butcher , had lost hi s wal et whi le t aki ng his savi ngs to t he post of fi ce. Sam was sure t hat t he wal et m ust have been f ound by one of t he vi l ager s, but it was not retur ned to hi m. Three months passed, and t hen one morning, Sam f ound hi s wal et out si de his f ront door . It had been wr apped up in newspaper and it contained half the m oney he had l ost , t oget her wi th a note whi ch said: 39。A t hi ef, yes, 39。but only 5o per cent a t hief! 39。 Two mont hs l ater, some mor e money was sent t o Sam wi th another note:39。 Onl y 25 per cent a thief now! 39。 I n t ime, al Sam39。s m oney was paid back i n thi s way. The l ast note said:39。 I am 100 per cent honest now!39。 lesson46 Expensive and unfort abl e 既昂貴又受罪 When a pl ane f r om London ar r ived at Sydney air por t, wor ker s began t o unload a number of wooden boxes whi ch cont ai ned clothi ng. No one could account f or t he fact that one of t he boxes was extr em el y heavy. I t suddenl y occur red t o one of t he worker s to open up t he box. He was astonished at what he f ound. A m an was lying i n t he box on top of a pil e of wooll en goods. He was so sur pri sed at bei ng discover ed that he di d not even t ry t o r un away. Af ter he was ar est ed, t he man adm it ted hidi ng in the box bef ore the plane lef t London. He had had a long and un for table t ri p, f or he had been conf ined t o the wooden box f or over ten hours. The man was order ed to pay amp。345 f or the cost of t he tr ip. The nor mal pri ce of a ticket is amp。 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 sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise ing f r om t he bar . The next morni ng, he f ound that he door s had been bl ocked by chai r s and t he fur nit ur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thompson had t urned the l ights of f bef ore he went t o b