【導讀】是因禍得福嗎？ThetinyvillageofFrinleyissaidtopossessa'cursedtre'.Becausethetrewasmentionedinanewspaper,thenumberofvisitorstoFrinleyhasnowincreased.Thetreewasplantednearachurchfiftyyearsago,butitisonlyinrecentyearsthatithasgainedanevilreputation.Itissaidthatifanyonetouchesthetre,hewillhavebadluck;ifhepicksaleaf,hewilldie.Manyvillagersbelievethatthetreehasalreadyclaimedanumberofvictims.Thevicarhasbeenaskedtohavethetreecutdown,butsofarhehasrefused.Hehaspointedoutthatthetreeisausefulsourceofineastouristshavebeeningfromallpartsofthecountrytoseeit.Inspiteofallthathasbeensaid,thetourists-havebeenpickingleavesandcuttingtheirnamesonthetree-trunk.Sofar,notoneofthemhasbeenstruckdownbysuddendeath!Lesson59Inorout？進來還是出去？

　　

【正文】 see so m any people l aughing at him ! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 I n l858, a French engi neer , Aime Thom e de Gamond, ar ri ved i n Engl and wi t h a pl an for a t wentyone m ile tunnel across the Engli sh Channel. He said that i t would be possi ble t o buil d a platf orm i n the centr e of the Channel . Thi s platf orm would serve as a por t and a r ail way stati on. The t unnel would be wel l vent il at ed if t al l chi mneys wer e buil t above sea level. In 1860, a beter plan was put f or ward by an Engl ishman, Wi li am Low. He suggest ed that a doubl e rail way t unnel should be bui lt . Thi s would solve t he problem of venti lat ion, f or if a t rai n ent ered t hi s tunnel, it woul d draw in f r esh air behind i t. Fort yt wo year s l at er a tunnel was actual y begun. If , at t he ti me, the Br it ish had not f ear ed invasi on, i t would have been pl et ed. Recent ly, ther e has again been great inter est in the i dea of a Channel Tunnel. If i t is buil t, i t wi l l connect Br it ai n t o Europe f or t he fi rst ti me i n histor y. Lesson65 Jumbo versus the poli ce 小象對警察 Last Chr istm as, the ci rcus owner , Ji mmy Gates, decided to take som e present s to a chi ldren39。s hospi tal . Dr essed up as Father Chri st mas and apa nied by a 39。guard of honour39。 of si x pr et ty gi rl s, he set of f down the m ai n str eet of the ci ty r idi ng a baby el ephant caled Jumbo. He, should have known that the poli ce would never al low this sort of t hi ng. A poli ceman approached Ji mmy and t ol d him he ought t o have gone al ong a si de st r et as Jumbo was hol ding up t he tr af fi c. Though Jimm y agreed to go at once, Jumbo r ef used t o move. Fif teen policemen had to push very har d t o get hi m of f the mai n st reet. The poli ce had a dif fi cul t im e, but they wer e most amused. 39。Jumbo must wei gh a few tons, 39。 said a policeman af terwar ds, 39。so i t was for tunat e t hat we di dn39。t have t o car ry hi m. Of course, we should ar rest him, but as he has a good r ecord, we shal let him of f t his t im e. 39。 Lesson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一樣甜！ The Hatheld Puf fi n i s a moder n aero plane, but it s designer, Mr John Wimpenny, i s fi nding i t di f icult t o get i t off t he gr ound. The r eason for t his i s that this pl ane i s also a bicycle. It s pil ot has to pedal har d t o get i t into the air . Aft er Mr Wimpenny had the plane buil t, i t was t est ed thoroughly. In 1961, it was t he fi rst manpowered ai rcraf t to f ly hal f a mil e. Whil e being f lown by a champi on amat eur cycli st i n 1963, the pl ane cr ashed on an air fi eld. Since then, Mr Wi m penny has had i t rebuil t. He has had the l ength of t he wi ngs i ncr eased so that they now m easure 93 f eet alm ost as long as those of a Dakot a. Many people have shown int er est i n thi s new and unusual sport . But t hough ai r cycli st s may l ear n how t o f ly over shor t di st ances, and may, event ual ly, even get acr oss t he Engl ish Channel , it is doubtf ul whet her t hey wil l ever cycl e acr oss t he At lantic. Leson67 Volcanoes 火山 Haroun Tazief t he Polish scienti st , has spent hi s li fet im e st udyi ng act ive volcanoes and deep caves in al l par ts of t he worl d. I n 1948, he went to lake Kivu in t he Congo to obser ve a new volcano which he l ater nam ed Kit uro. Tazi ef was able t o set up hi s camp ver y close to the volcano whil e it was er upt ing vi ol ent ly. Though he managed to take a number of br il li ant photographs, he could not st ay near t he vol cano f or ver y long. He noti ced that a ri ver of li quid r ock was i ng t owar ds him. I t threatened to sur round him pletel y, but Tazi ef f managed t o escape just in tim e. He wait ed unt il the vol cano becam e qui et and he was able t o r et urn two days lat er . This t ime, he managed t o cli mb i nto t he m out h of Ki t ur o so t hat he coul d t ake photogr aphs and measure temperatur es. Tazief has oft en ri sked hi s li fe i n thi s way. He has been able t o tel l us m or e about acti ve vol canoes than any man ali ve. Leson68 Persist ent 糾纏不休 I crossed t he st reet to avoid meet ing hi m, but he saw m e and came r unning t owar ds me. It was no use pretending t hat I had not seen him , so I waved to him. I never enjoy m et ing Ber t Dykes. He never has anyt hi ng to do. No mat er how busy you are, he always insists on i ng wi th you. I had t o t hi nk of a way of preventing hi m fr om f ollowi ng me ar ound al l morni ng. 39。Hul lo, Bert ,39。 I sai d. 39。Fancy m et ing you here ! 39。 39。Hull o, Elizabeth,39。 Bert answer ed. 39。 I was j ust wonder ing how to spend the mor ning unti l I saw you. You39。re not busy doi ng anyt hing, ar e you ?39。 No, not at al ,39。 I answer ed. 39。 I 39。m going t o. . .39。 39。Woul d you mi nd my i ng wit h you ?39。 he asked, befor e I had fi ni shed speaki ng. ‘ Not at al l, 39。 I l ied, 39。but I39。m going t o t he denti st .39。 39。 Then I39。l l e wi th you,39。 he answer ed. 39。 There39。s al ways pl ent y t o read i n the 39。wai ti ng r oom ! 39。 l esson69 But not murder! 并 非謀殺！ I was bei ng tested f or a dr i vi ng l icence f or the t hi rd ti me. I had been asked t o dri ve in heavy tr af ic and had done so successf ull y. Af t er having bee n instr uct ed to dr ive out of town, I began t o acqui re confi dence. Sur e that I had passed, I was almos t begi nni ng to enj oy my t est . The examiner must have been pleased wi th my perf ormance, f or he sm il ed and said, 39。Just one mor e thi ng, Mr Eam es. Let us suppose t hat a chil d suddenly cr osses the r oad i n f ront of you. As soon as I tap on t he window, I want t he car t o be stopped imm edi at ely.39。 I cont inued dri ving and aft er some t im e, t he exami ner t apped l oudl y. Though the sound coul d be hear d clearl y, i t took me a long ti me t o r eact. I suddenly pr esed th