【導(dǎo)讀】openedoneofthebaskets.Whenhebegantoplayatune,wehadourfirstglimpseofthesnake.Itroseoutofthebasketandbegantofollowthemovementsofthepipe.Wewereverymuchsurprisedwhenthesnakecharmersuddenlybegantoplayjazztunesandmodernpopsongs.Thesnake,however,continuedto'dance'slowly.ItobviouslycouldnottelthediferencebetwenIndianmusicandjaz!Leson43OvertheSouthPole飛越南極In1929,threeyearsafterhisflightovertheNorth

　　

【正文】 as sti l on the m at tr es. Glancing at the bi ts of wood and metal t hat lay ar ound hi m, the m an sadly pi cked up the mat ress and car ri ed it i nt o his house. Af ter he had put i t on the f loor, he pr om ptl y went t o sleep agai n. Lesson50 Taken f or a ride 乘車兜風(fēng) I love t ravel li ng in the count ry, but I don39。t l ike l osing my way. I went on an excursion r ecentl y, but my tr ip t ook me l onger than I expected. 39。 I 39。m going t o Woodfor d Gr een, 39。 I said t o t he conduct or as I got on t he bus,39。 but I don39。t know wher e it i s. 39。 I 39。l t el l you wher e t o get of f, 39。 answered t he conduct or. I sat i n the f ront of the bus to get a good view of t he count ryside. Aft er some t im e, t he bus stopped. Looking r ound, I r eal ized wit h a shock that I was the only passenger l eft on t he bus. 39。 You39。l have to get off her e, 39。 t he conductor sai d. 39。Thi s i s as f ar as we go.39。 39。 I s thi s Woodfor d Gr een ?39。 I asked. 39。Oh dear, 39。 said the conductor suddenly.39。 I f ot to put you off .39。 39。I t doesn39。t mat er ,39。 I sai d. 39。Il l get of f her e.39。 39。We are going back now, 39。 sai d t he conduct or. 39。Wel , i n t hat case, I prefer t o st ay on the bus,39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對美德的獎賞 My fr iend, Her bert , has always been fat, but thi ngs got so bad recent ly t hat he decided to go on a diet. He began his di et a we ek ago. Fi rst of al, he wr ote out a l ong list of al the f oods whi ch were for bi dden. The li st i ncl uded most of the t hings He rber t l oves: butter , pot at oes, ri ce, beer, mi lk, chocolat e, and swet s. Yester day I paid hi m a visit . I r ang the bel and was not sur pr ised t o see t hat Her ber t was st il l as f at as ever. He led me i nto hi s room and hur ri edl y hid a lar ge par cel under his des k. I t was obvi ous that he was ver y embar r assed. When I asked hi m what he was doing, he smil ed gui lt il y and then put the parce l on the desk. He explained t hat his di et was so str ict t hat he had to r eward hi mself occasionaly. Then he showed m e the contents of t he par cel . I t cont ained fi ve lar ge bar s of chocolate and t hr ee bags of sweets! Lesson52 A pret ty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have j ust moved int o a new house and I have been wor king hard al l mor ni ng. I have been t ryi ng to get my new room in or der . Thi s has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat ers wor se, the r oom i s rat her smal , so I have t em por ari ly put my books on the f loor . At t he moment, t hey cover every inch of fl oor space and I actual y have to wal k on t hem to get in or out of the r oom . A short whil e ago, m y sister hel ped me t o car ry one of m y old bookcases up the stai rs. She went i nt o my room and got a big 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 seen,39。 she said. She gazed at it f or some t im e then added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit here i n your spare ti me and read t he car pet !39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f ir emen have put out a big f orest fi re i n Cali for nia. Since then, t hey have been tr ying t o fi nd out how the f ir e bega n. Forest f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl as or by cigaret te ends which people carelessl y t hr ow away. Yest erday the f ir emen exam ined the gr ound caref ull y, but were not able t o fi nd any broken glas. They were al so qui te sure that a ci gar e t e end di d not st ar t the f ir e. Thi s mor ni ng, however, a f ir em an accidental y discover ed t he 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, 000 vol t power l ine. In t his way, he was abl e to sol ve the myster y. The explanat ion was si mple but ver y unusual. A bir d had snatc hed up t he snake fr om t he ground and then dr opped it on t o t he wir es. The s nake t hen wound i tself r ound the wi res. When it did so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and t hese i mmediat el y start ed a f ir e. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af t er br eakfast, I sent t he chi ldr en to school and then I went to m arket. It was sti l earl y when I r et urned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I deci ded t o make some 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 cover ed wit h sticky pastr y. At exact ly that m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r eceiver between two sticky f ingers and was dismayed when I recogni zed the voice of Mr s Bates. It took 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 mess! Ther e was pastr y on m y f i nger 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 l oud 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 eter ! Leson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure alm ost 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 seashor 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 hersel f 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 t iny vil lage of Fri nley i s sai d to possess a 39。cursed t ree39。. Because the t ree was menti oned in a newspaper , t he nu