【正文】 doi ng, he smi led guil ti ly and t hen put the par cel on the desk. He expl ai ned that hi s diet was so st ri ct hat he had t o rewar d himself occasional y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of t he par cel. It contained f ive l ar ge bar s of chocolat e and three bags of sweets! Lesson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have j ust moved i nt o 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 nto m y room and got a bi g sur pri se when she saw al t hose books on the f loor. 39。Thi s is t he pret iest car pet I have ever sen,39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some ti me then a dded, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al. You can sit here in your spar e ti me and read t he car pet !39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi remen have put out a big f orest fi re i n Cali for nia. Since then, they have been tr ying t o f ind out how the f ir e began. Forest fi re ar e oft en caused by br oken gl as or by ci gar et te ends which people carel essly t hrow away. Yest erday t he fi remen examined the gr ound car ef ull y, but were not able t o f ind any br oken glass. They were al so qui te sure that a ci gar et e end di d not st art the f ir e. Thi s mor ni ng, however, a f ir em an accidental ly di scover ed the cause. He noti ced the r em ai ns of a snake which was wound r ound the electr ic wi r es of a 16,000vol t power l ine. I n t hi s way, he was abl e to solve t he mystery. The explanat ion was sim ple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snatched up the snake fr om t he ground and then dropped it on t o the wi r es. The snake t hen wound i tself r ound t he wi res. When it did so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and t hese i mmediatel y st art ed a fi re. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter br eakfast, I sent t he chi ldren t o school and then I went to m ar ket. It was sti l earl y when I r et urned home. The chil dren wer e at school , my husband was at wor k and the house was quiet . So I decided t o make som e tar ts f or tea. I n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon covered wi t h st icky past ry. At exact ly t hat m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r eceiver between t wo st i cky f ingers and was dismayed when I r ecognized the voice of Mr s Bates. It t ook m e ten m inutes to per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a m es s! Ther e was past ry on m y f inger s, on the tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime it was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure almost came t rue r ecentl y. A new machine cal ed 39。The Revealer 39。 has been invent ed and it has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied i n t he gr ound. The machine was used in a cave near t he sea shor e wherei t i s sai d pir at es used t o hide gold. The pir ates would of ten bury gol d i n the cave and then fai l t o coll ect it . Ar med wit h t he new machi ne, a search part y went he di d not li ke it . She enjoyed herself making t he asistant bri ng almost ever yt hing i n the wi ndow befor e fi nal ly buyi ng the dress she had f ir st asked for . Lesson58 A blessi ng in disguise? 是因禍 得 福嗎？ The ti ny vil lage of Fr inl ey is said t o posses a 39。cursed tr ee39。. Because t he tr ee was menti oned i n a newspaper, the number of visit or s t o Fri nley has now incr eased. The t ree was planted near a chur ch fi ft y year s ago, but it i s onl y in recent year s t hat it has gained an evi l reputati on. I t is said t hat i f anyone touches t he tr ee, he wi l have bad luck。 i f he picks a leaf, he wi l di e. Many vi l agers bel ieve that the t ree has al ready claim ed a number of vict ims. The vicar has been asked t o have t he tr ee cut down, but so f ar he has r ef used. He has poi nted out that the t ree is a useful sour ce of ine as tour ists have been i ng fr om al l par ts of the countr y to see i t. In spi te of al t hat has been said, the t our ists have been picking l eaves and cut ti ng their names on the t reet runk. So far , not one of them has been st ruck down by sudden death! Leson59 In or out ？ 進(jìn)來(lái)還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to si t out side our fr ont gate and bark. Every t im e he wanted t o e int o the garden he woul d bar k unti l someone opened t he gat e. As the neighbour s pl ained of t he noise, my husband spent weeks tr ai ning hi m t o press his paw on t he lat ch to l et hi msel f in. Rex soon became an exper t at openi ng the gate. However, when I was going out shopping l ast week, I noti ced hi m in t he gar den near t he gat e. This tim e he was bar king so t hat someone woul d l et him out ! Since then, he has devel oped another bad habi t. As soon as he opens the gate f r om t he out si de, he es int o the garden and wait s unti l t he gat e shut s. Then he sit s and bar ks unt il someone l ets hi m out. Af ter t hi s he im mediately lets hi msel f in and begins barki ng again. Yesterday m y husband removed the gate and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him since. Leson60 The fut ure 卜算未來(lái) At a vi l age f air , I decided t o visit a f ort une tel er cal ed Madam Bel li nsky. I went i nto her tent and she t ol d me to sit down. Af ter I had gi ven her some money, she l ook