【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 space and I act ual y have t o wal k on t hem t o get in or out of t he r oom. A short while ago, m y si st er hel ped me t o car r y one of my old bookc ases up the st air s. She went i nt o m y r om and got a bi g sur prise when she saw al l t hose books on the fl oor. 39。This is t he preti est car pet I have ever seen,39。 she sai d. She gazed at it f or some tim e then added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al. You can si t here i n your spar e t ime and r ead t he car pet!39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir emen have put out a bi g forest fi re i n Cali for nia. Si nce t hen, they have been t rying to f ind out how t he f ir e began. Forest fi re are oft en caused by broken glas or by cigar et te ends whi ch people car el esl y thr ow away. Yester day t he fir em en exam ined t he gr ound caref ul y, but were not abl e to fi nd any br oken gl ass. They wer e al so quit e sure that a cigar et te end di d not start t he fi re. This m or ni ng, however, a fir em an acident al y di scover ed t he cause. He noti ced the rem ai ns of a snake which was wound r ound t he el ectri c wir es of a 16,000 volt power l ine. I n this way, he was abl e t o solve the m yst er y. The expl anat ion was simple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snat ched up t he snake fr om the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on t o t he wi res. The snake then wound i tsel f r ound the wir es. When it did so, it sent spar ks down t o the gr ound and t hese imm ediately start ed a fi re. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter br eakf ast, I sent t he chil dr en t o school and t hen I went to market . It was stil l earl y when I r et urned hom e. The chi l dr en were at school , m y husband was at work and t he house was qui et . So I decided t o m ake some t ar ts f or tea. I n a shor t ime I was busy mi xi ng but ter and fl our and my hands wer e soon cover ed wit h sti cky pastr y. At exact ly t hat m oment , t he t el ephone rang. Not hi ng coul d have been m or e annoyi ng. I picked up the receiver bet ween t wo sti cky fi ngers and was di smayed when I r ecognized t he voi ce of Mr s Bates. It t ook m e ten m inut es t o per suade her to r ing back later. At last I hung up t he r ecei ver. What a mes! There was past ry on my fi ngers, on the telephone, and on the doorknobs. I had no sooner got back to t he kit chen t han the door bel l r ang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime it was t he post man and he want ed me t o si gn f or a registered leter ! Leson55 Not a gol d mine 并非金礦 Dreams of fi ndi ng l ost reasure almost came tr ue r ecent ly. A new machi ne cal led 39。The Revealer39。 has been invented and it has been used to det ect gold which has been buri ed i n the gr ound. The machine was used in a cave near t he seashore wher ei t i s said pi rates used t o i nt o the cave hoping to fi nd buri ed t reasur e. The leader of the part y was exami ni ng t he soi l near t he ent rance to t he cave when t he mac hi ne showed t hat ther e was gol d under t he gr ound. Ver y excited, t he part y dug a hole t wo feet deep. They f inal ly f ound a small gol d coin which was almost wort hl ess. The par ty t hen searched the whol e cave t hor oughl y but di d not fi nd anyt hi ng except an empty ti n tr unk. I n spit e of t hi s, m any people are confi dent t hat 39。The Revealer39。 m ay r eveal something of val ue fai rl y soon. Lesson56 Fast er t han sound! 比聲音還快！ Once a year a race i s held f or old car s. A l ot of cars ent er ed f or t hi s r ace last year and t here was a gr eat deal of exci tem ent just bef or e it began. One of t he m ost handsome car s was a Rolls Royce Sil ver Ghost . The m ost unusual car was a Benz whi ch had onl y t hr ee wheel s. Bui lt in 1885, i t was t he oldest car t aki ng par t. Aft er agreat many l oud explosi ons, t he r ace began. Many of the cars broke down on t he cour se and som e dr iver s spent more tim e under t heir car s t han i n t hem ! A few car s, however, pleted the race. The wi nning car reached a speed of f or ty mil es an hourmuch f ast er than any of it s r ival s. It sped downhil at he end of t he r ace and it s dri ver had a l ot of t roubl e t ryi ng t o stop it . The race gave ever yone a gr eat deal of pleasure. I t was ver y di f er ent fr om m oder n car races but no les excit ing. Leson57 Can I help you, madam ? 你要買什么，夫人？ A woman in blue jeans st ood at t he wi ndow of an expensi ve shop. Though she hesit at ed f or a mom ent, she f inal ly went i n and as ked t o see a dr ess t hat was i n the wi ndow. The asist ant who served her di d not l ike the way she was dr esed. Gl ancing at her scornf ul y, he told her t hat he dr ess was sol d. The wom an wal ked out of t he shop angri ly and deci ded to puni sh t he asist ant next day. She r et urned t o the shop t he f ol lowing morning dr esed i n a f ur coat, wit h a handbag in one hand and a l ong um brel la i n the ot her. Aft er seki ng out t he rude asistant she asked for t he sam e dr ess. Not r eali zi ng who she was, the assi st ant was eager t o serve her this tim e wit h gr eat dif fi cult y, he cl imbed i nt o the shop wi ndow t o get he dr ess. As soon as she saw i t, t he wom an s ai d s m any ti es.39。 And a woman can39。t have t oo many hats,39。 she answer ed. Ten m i nutes l at er we walked out of the shop t ogether . My wi fe was weari ng a hat t hat l ooked l ike a li ghthouse ! Leson42 Not very musi cal 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a l ong walk t hr ough one of t he mar kets of Ol d Del hi , we stopped at asquar e to have arest . Af ter a t ime, we noti ced a snakecharm er wit h two lar ge baskets at he ot her si de of t he squar e, so we went t o have a l ook at him. As soon as he saw us, he pi cked up a l ong pi pe which was covered wit h coins and opened one of t he baskets. When he began t o pl ay a t une, we had our f ir st gl im pse of the snake. It rose out of the basket and began t o foll ow t he m