【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 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 planting 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。s closest fr iends asked him to make a speech at a weddi ng r ecept ion. Thi s i s the sor t of thing that Geof fr ey l oves. He pr epared the speech carefull y and went to t he wedding wit h Jenny. He had incl uded a lar ge number of f unny st or ies in the speech and, of course, i t was a gr eat succes. As soon as he had f inished, Jenny told him she wanted to go home. Geoffr ey was a li tl e di sappointed by t hi s but he did as hi s daughter asked. On t he way home, he asked Jenny if she had enjoyed the speech. To his sur pr ise, she said she hadn39。t . Geoff rey asked her why this was so and she t ol d hi m that she did not like to se so many people laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunel 海峽隧道 In l858, a French engineer , Ai me Thome de Gamond, ar rived in Engl and with a plan for a twent y one mi le tunnel across t he Engl ish Channel. He said that i t would be possibl e t o bui ld a pl at form in the centr e of the Channel . This platform would serve as a por t and a railway staion. The tunnel would be wel lvent ilated if tal chi mneys wer e buil t above sea level . I n 1860, a bet ter plan was put f or war d by an Engl i shman, Wi li am Low. He suggest ed t hat a doubl e railway tunnel should be bui lt. This woul d solve the pr oblem of venti lation, f or i f a t rain ent er ed t hi s tunnel , it would draw i n fr esh ai r behi nd i t. For tytwo year s later a t unnel was act ual y begun. If , at the time, the Br it ish had not fear ed i nvasi on, it would have been pleted. Recently, ther e has again been great interest i n the idea of a Channel Tunnel. If it is built , i t wi l connect Br itain t o Eur ope for the fi rst t ime in history. Leson65 Jumbo versus t he police 小象對警察 Last Chr istmas, the circus owner , Jimmy Gates, decided to take some pr esent s t o a chil dr en39。s hospital. Dressed up as Fat her Chr ist mas and acpanied by a 39。guard of honour39。 of six pret y gi rl s, he s et off down t he main str et of the city r iding a baby el ephant caled Jumbo. He, should have known t hat he poli ce woul d never alow t hi s sort of t hi ng. A pol iceman approached Jimmy and told him he ought t o have gone al ong a si destr et as Jumbo was holding up t he t raf ic. Though Ji mmy agreed to go at once, Jumbo ref used t o m ove. Fif teen pol icem en had t o push very hard t o get him of f the m ai n str eet. The poli ce had a dif fi cult tim e, but t hey wer e m ost amused. 39。Jum bo m ust weigh a few t ons, 39。 sai d a poli ceman af ter wards, 39。so it was f or tunate t hat we di dn39。t have to car ry him. Of course, we shoul d ar rest him , but as he has a good recor d, we shal l et him of f t hi s tim e.39。 Lesson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hat held Puffi n is a moder n aeroplane, but it s desi gner , Mr John Wimpenny, is f indi ng i t dif fi cult t o get i t of f t he gr ound. The r eason f or this i s t hat this plane i s also a bi cycle. I ts pil ot has t o pedal hard t o get i t into t he air. Aft er Mr Wim penny had the pl ane bui lt, it was t ested t horoughly. I n 1961, i t was the fir st man powered ai rcraft t o f ly hal f a mi le. Whi le bei ng f lown by a cham pi on am at eur cycl ist i n 1963, t he plane cr ashed on an airf ield. Si nce then, Mr Wim penny has had i t rebuil t. He has had t he lengt h of t he wi ngs i ncr eased so t hat they now meas ur e 93 f eetalm ost as long as those of a Dakot a. Many people 球還是水球？ The Wayl e is a smal ri ver that cut s across t he park near my home. I li ke sit ting by the Wayl e on f ine af ternoons. It was warm last Sunday, so I went and sat on the river bank as usual . Some chil dr en were playing games on the bank and t here were some people r owi ng on the ri ver. Suddenly, one of t he childr en kicked a ten hours. The man was order ed t o pay amp。345 f or t he cost of t he t rip. The nor mal pri ce of a ticket is amp。230 ! Lesson47 A thirst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publi c house which was recentl y bought by Mr I an Thompson i s up f or sal e. Mr Thompson is going to sel it because it is haunted. He told me t hat he could not go to sleep one ni ght because he heard a str ange noise ing fr om the bar . The next morning, he found t hat the doors had been blocked by chai rs and t he f ur ni ture had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had t ur ned the li ghts off bef ore he went t o bed, t hey were on in the morning. He also said that he had f ound five empt y whi sky bot tles whi ch t he ghost must have drunk the ni ght bef or e. When I suggested that some vil lagers must have e i n for a f ree drink, Mr Thom pson shook his head. The vil lagers have t ol d hi m that hey wil l not