【正文】 0。湯普森先生之所以想賣它，是因為那里常鬧鬼。他告訴我有天夜里他怎么也睡不著，因為他聽到酒吧里傳來一陣奇怪的響聲。第二天早上，他發(fā)現(xiàn)酒吧間的門被椅子堵上了，家具也被挪動過。雖然湯普森臨睡覺時把燈關(guān)了，但早晨燈卻都亮著。他還說他發(fā)現(xiàn)了5只空的威士忌瓶子，肯定是鬼魂昨天晚上喝的。當(dāng)我暗示說一定是村里有些人來喝不花錢的酒時，湯普森先生搖了搖頭。村里的人已經(jīng)告訴他，即使他把小酒店白送人，他們也不要。 Lesson48 Did you want to tell me something? 你想對我說什么嗎？Dentists always ask questions when it is impossible for you to answer. My dentist had just pulled out one of my teeth and had told me to rest for a while. I tried to say something, but my mouth was full of cottonwool. He knew I collected birds39。 eggs and asked me whether my collection was growing. He then asked me how my brother was and whether I liked my new job in London. In answer to these questions I either nodded or made strange noises. Meanwhile, my tongue was busy searching out the hole where the tooth had been. I suddenly felt very worried, but could not say anything. When the dentist at last removed the cottonwool from my mouth, I was able to tell him that he had pulled out the wrong tooth. 牙科醫(yī)生們總是在你無法作出回答的時候向你提出問題。我的牙科醫(yī)生剛剛給我拔掉了一顆牙，叫我休息一會兒。我想說點什么，但我嘴里塞滿了藥棉。他知道我收集火柴盒，于是問我收藏的米柴盒是否在增加。接著他又問我的兄弟近來如何，問我是否喜歡倫敦的新工作。作為對這些問題的回答，我不是點頭，就是發(fā)出奇怪的聲音。與此同時，我的舌頭正在忙著尋找剛拔掉的那顆牙的傷口。我突然非常著急起來，但卻什么也說不出來。當(dāng)那位牙醫(yī)最后將藥棉從我嘴中取出時，我總算有可能告訴他，他拔錯了牙。 Lesson49 The end of a dream 美夢告終Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed. For the first time in his life, he became the proud owner of a bed which had springs and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot, he carried the bed on to the roof of his house. He slept very well for the first two nights, but on the third night, a storm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below. The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground. Although the bed was smashed to pieces, the man was miraculously unhurt. When he woke up, he was still on the mattress. Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him, the man sadly picked up the mattress and carried it into his house. After he had put it on the floor, he promptly went to sleep again.德黑蘭的一個人年輕人由于對睡地板感到厭倦，于是積蓄多年買了一張真正的床。他平生第一次自豪地?fù)碛辛艘粡埣扔袕椈捎謳Т矇|的床。由于天氣很熱，他便把床搬到了他的屋頂上。頭兩天晚上，他睡得非常好。但第三天晚上起了風(fēng)暴。一陣大風(fēng)把床從屋頂上刮了下來，把它摔碎在下面的院子里。那年輕人直到床撞到地上才醒了過來。盡管床摔成了碎片，但年輕人卻奇跡地沒有受傷。他醒來時，仍然躺在床墊上。年輕人看了一眼周圍的碎木片和碎金屬片，傷心地?fù)炱鹆舜矇|，把它拿進(jìn)了屋。他把床墊往地板上一放，很快又睡著了。 Lesson50 Taken for a ride 乘車兜風(fēng)I love travelling in the country, but I don39。t like losing my way. I went on an excursion recently, but my trip took me longer than I expected. 39。 I39。m going to Woodford Green,39。 I said to the conductor as I got on the bus,39。 but I don39。t know where it is.39。 39。 I39。ll tell you where to get off,39。 answered the conductor. I sat in the front of the bus to get a good view of the countryside. After some time, the bus stopped. Looking round, I realized with a shock that I was the only passenger left on the bus.39。 You39。ll have to get off here,39。 the conductor said. 39。This is as far as we go.39。 39。 Is this Woodford Green ?39。 I asked. 39。Oh dear,39。 said the conductor suddenly.39。 I forgot to put you off.39。 39。It doesn39。t matter,39。 I said. 39。I39。ll get off here.39。 39。We are going back now,39。 said the conductor. 39。Well, in that case, I prefer to stay on the bus,39。 I answered.我喜歡在鄉(xiāng)間旅行，但卻不愿意迷路。最近我作了一次短途旅行，但這次旅行所花費的時間比我預(yù)計的要長。 “我要去伍德福德草地，”我一上車就對售票員說，“但我不知道它在那兒?！? “我來告訴您在哪兒下車，”售票員回答說。 我坐在汽車的前部，以便飽覽農(nóng)村風(fēng)光。過了一些時候，車停了。我環(huán)視了一下身旁，驚奇地發(fā)現(xiàn)車?yán)锞椭皇Ｎ乙粋€乘客了。 “您得在這里下車，”售票員說，“我們的車就到此為止了?！? “這里是伍德福德草地嗎？”我問道。 “哎呀，”售票員突然說，“我忘了讓您下車了?！? “沒關(guān)系，”我說，“我就在這兒下吧。” “我們現(xiàn)在要返回去，”售票員說。 “好吧，既然如此，我還是留在車上吧?！蔽一卮鹫f。 Lesson51 Reward for virtue 對美德的獎賞My friend, Herbert, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all, he wrote out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden. The list included most of the things Herbert loves: butter, potatoes, rice, beer, milk, chocolate, and sweets. Yesterday I paid him a visit. I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Herbert was still as fat as ever. He led me into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets! 我的朋友休一直很胖，但是近來情況變得越發(fā)糟糕，以致他決定節(jié)食。他是一星期前開始節(jié)食的。首先，他開列了一張長長的單子，上面列了所有禁吃的食物。這張單子上的大多數(shù)食物都是休喜歡吃的：黃油、土豆、米飯、啤酒、牛奶、巧克力和糖果。昨天我去看望了他。我按響了門鈴，當(dāng)看到休仍和往常一樣胖時，我并不感到驚奇。他把我領(lǐng)進(jìn)屋，慌忙把一個大包藏到了桌子下面。顯然他感到很尷尬。當(dāng)我問他正干什么時，他內(nèi)疚地笑了，然后把那個大包拿到了桌上。他解釋說，他的飲食控制得太嚴(yán)格了，以致不得不偶爾獎賞自己一下。接著他給我看了包里的東西。里面裝了5大塊巧克力和3袋糖果！ Lesson52 A pretty carpet 漂亮的地毯We have just moved into a new house and I have been working hard all morning. I have been trying to get my new room in order. This has not been easy because I own over a thousand books. To make matters worse, the room is rather small, so I have temporarily put my books on the floor. At the moment, they cover every inch of floor space and I actually have to walk on them to get in or out of the room. A short while ago, my sister helped me to carry one of my old bookcases up the stairs. She went into my room and got a big surprise when she saw all those books on the floor. 39。This is the prettiest carpet I have ever seen,39。 she said. She gazed at it for some time then added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at all. You can sit here in your spare time and read the carpet!39。 我們剛剛搬進(jìn)一所新房子，我辛辛苦苦地干了整整一個上午。我試圖把我的新房間收拾整齊，但這并不容易，因為我有1,000多本書。更糟糕的是房間還非常小，所以我暫時把書放在了地板上。這會兒，書把地板的每一點空隙都占據(jù)了，我實際上是踩著這些書進(jìn)出房間的。幾分鐘前，我妹妹幫我把一個舊書櫥抬上了樓。她走進(jìn)我的房間，當(dāng)她看到地板上的那些書時，大吃一驚?！斑@是我見過的最漂亮的地毯，”她說。她盯著“地毯”看了一會兒，又說：“你根本用不著書櫥，空閑時你可以坐在這兒讀地毯！” 11