【導(dǎo)讀】scornfully,hetoldherthatthedreswasold.Thewomanwalkedoutoftheshopangrilyanddecidedtopunishtheassistantnextday.Shereturnedtotheshopthefolowingmorningdressedinafurcoat,withahandbaginonehandandalongumbrellaintheother.Aftersekingouttherudeasistantsheaskedforthesamedress.Notrealizingwhoshewas,theassistantwaseagertoserveherthistimewithgreatdifficulty,heclimbedintotheshopwindowtogethedress.Assoonasshesawi

　　

【正文】 on an excur si on r ecentl y, but my t rip t ook me longer than I expect ed. 39。 I39。m goi ng t o Woodfor d Green,39。 I said to t he conduct or as I got on the bus,39。 but I don39。t know where i t i s. 39。 I39。l l t el l you wher e t o get of f, 39。 answered the conduct or . I sat in t he f ront of the bus to get a good view of t he countr yside. Af ter some t ime, the bus st opped. Looki ng r ound, I realized wi th a shock that I was the onl y pasenger l ef t on the bus. 39。You39。l have to get off her e, 39。 t he conduct or said. 39。This is as f ar as we go.39。 39。 I s this Woodf or d Green ?39。 I asked. 39。Oh dear, 39。 said the conductor suddenl y. 39。 I for got to put you off .39。 39。It doesn39。t mat er ,39。 I sai d. 39。I 39。l get off her e. 39。 We ar e going back now,39。 sai d the conduct or . 39。Wel, in t hat case, I pr ef er to stay on t he bus, 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My f ri end, Herber t, has always been fat, but things got so bad r ecent ly that he decided t o go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. Fir st of al , he wrote out a l ong li st of al the foods which wer e forbidden. The li st included most of t he t hi ngs Her ber t l oves: butt er , potatoes, rice, beer , mi lk, chocolate, and swets. Yesterday I pai d hi m a visit. I rang the bel and was not surpri sed to se t hat Her bert was sti l as f at as ever . He l ed me int o hi s r oom and hur riedly hid a large par cel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very emba r assed. When I asked him what he was doing, he smi led guil til y and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained t hat hi s di et was o st ri ct that he had to r ewar d hi mself occasional y. Then he showed me t he contents of t he parcel . I t cont ai ned fi ve l ar ge bars of chocolate and thr e bags of swets! Lesson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved i nt o a new house and I have been wor ki ng hard al morning. I have been tr yi ng t o get my new r oom i n or der . This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, t he r oom is rather smal l, so I have tempor ar ily put my books on the fl oor. At the moment, they cover ever y inch of fl oor space and I act ual y have to walk on them to get in or out of t he r oom. A short while ago, my si st er hel ped me to car ry one of my old bookcases up the stair s. She went i nt o my room and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al those books on t he f loor. 39。Thi s is the pr et ti est carpet I have ever sen,39。 she said. She gazed at it for some time t hen added, 39。You don39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit her e in your spare ti me and read the carpet !39。 Leson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi remen have put out a big f or est f ir e in Cal if or ni a. Since t hen, t hey have been tryi ng t o find out how the fir e began. For est f ir e ar e of te n caused by broken glas or by cigarete ends which peopl e carelesly t hr ow away. Yest er day the f i r emen exami ned the ground car ef ul ly, but wer e not able to f ind any broken glas. They wer e also qui te sur e that aci garet e end did not start the fir e. This morning, however , a f ir eman accidental y di scovered the cause. He not iced t he r emains of a snake whi ch was wound round the ele ct ric wi res of a 16, 000vol t power li ne. In t hi s way, he was able to sol ve t he mystery. The explanati on was si mpl e but very unusual. A bir d had snatc hed up the snake f rom the ground and t hen dropped it on to the wir es. The snake t hen wound it self round t he wi res. When i t did so, i t sent sparks down to t he ground and these immedi at el y st ar ted a f ir e. Lesson54 Sti cky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er breakfast , I sent the chil dr en t o school and then I went t o mar ket. It was ti l earl y when I returned home. The chil dr en were at school, my husband was at work and the house was quiet. So I decided to make some t ar ts f or tea. I n a shor t time I was busy mi xi ng butter and f lour and my hands wer e soon cover ed wi t h st icky pastr y. At exact ly that moment , t he t el ephone rang. Nothing could have been mor e annoying. I picked up the receiver bet wen two sti cky fi ngers and was di smayed when I recognized t he voice of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minut es t o persuade her to r ing back l at er . At l ast I hung up the receiver. What a mes! Ther e was pastr y on my f inger s, on the t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than the door bel rang loud enough to wake the dead. This ti me it was the postman and he wanted me to sign for a regi st er ed l et ter ! Lesson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dreams of finding lost tr easur e al most came tr ue r ecentl y. A new machine cal ed 39。The Reveal er 39。 has been i nvent ed and i t has been used t o detect gol d whi ch has been buri ed in t he gr ound. The machi ne was used i n a cave near the seashore wher eit i s ai dpir at es used to hide gol d. The pi rates would oft en bur y gol d in the cave and then fail to col lect it . Ar med wi th t he new machine, a sear ch part y went he did not l ike it. She enjoyed her self maki ng t he asistant bri ng almost everything i n the wi ndow bef or e fi nal y buying the dr ess she had f irst asked for . Lesson58 A blessing in disguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The ti ny vil lage of Frinley is sai d to possess a 39。cursed t ree39。. Because the tr e was menti oned in a newspaper , t he number of visit or s to Frinl ey has now incr eased. The tr e was pl anted near a chur ch f if ty years ago, but it is only in r ecent years that i t has gained an evi l r eputa tion. I t is said t hat if anyone touches t he t ree, he wil have bad luck。 if he pi cks a leaf , he wil l di e. Many vil lagers bel ieve t hat the tr e has alr eady claimed a number of vi ct ims. The vi car has been asked to have t he t ree cut down, but so far he has r ef used. He has po