【正文】 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f ir emen have put out a big f orest f ir e i n Cali for ni a. Si nce then, t hey have been tr ying t o fi nd out how the f ir e began. Forest f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by ci gar et e ends whi ch people car el esly throw away. Yester day t he fi remen exami ned t he ground car eful ly, but wer e not able to f ind any br oken gl ass. They wer e also quit e sur e that a cigaret te end did not star t he fi re. This m orning, however , a fi reman acci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emains of a snake whi ch was wound round the el ect ri c wir es of a 16, 000 volt power l ine. In this way, he was able t o sol ve the m yst er y. The explanati on was si mple but very unusual . A bir d had snat c hed up t he snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round the wi r es. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and these imm edi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent the chil dr en to school and t hen I went t o market. I t was st il l ear ly when I r etur ned home. The chi ldr en were at school, m y husband was at 湖南長(zhǎng)沙 西湖文化園 項(xiàng)目 可 行 性 研 究 報(bào) 告 浙江金昌房地產(chǎn)集團(tuán)有限公司 二 OO 七年八月i nt o t he cave hopi ng t o f i nd bur ied t reasur e. The l eader of t he part y was exami ning t he soi l near t he entr ance t o t he cave when t he m achi ne showed t hat t her e was gol d under t he gr ound. Ver y exci t ed, t he part y dug a hol e t wo feet deep. They f i nal y f ound a sm al l gol d coi n whi ch was al m ost wort hl es. The par t y then sear ched t he whol e cave thor oughly but di d not f ind anythi ng except an em pt y ti n tr unk. I n s pit e of t his, many peopl e are confi dent t hat 39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。 We ar e going back now, 39。t m at ter ,39。Oh dear , 39。This i s as far as we go.39。 answered t he conduct or. I sat i n the f r ont of the bus t o get a good view of the count ryside. Aft er some t ime, t he bus st opped. Looking round, I r eal ized wi th a shock that I was the only passenger l eft on t he bus. 39。 but I don39。t l ike l osi ng my way. I went on an excursion r ecentl y, but my tr ip t ook me l onger than I e xpected. 39。 leson46 Expensi ve and unf ortable 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney ai rport , workers began to unl oad a number of wooden boxes whic h contained cl ot hing. No one coul d acount for the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. I t suddenly occurr ed to one of the wor kers t o open up the box. He was ast oni shed at what he f ound. A man was l yi ng in the box on t op of a pi le of wool len goods. He was so surpr ised at being di scovered t hat he did not even tr y to run away. Aft er he was ar rested, the man admi t ed hi ding i n the box bef or e t he pl ane left London. He had had a l ong and unf or tabl e tr ip, for he had been conf ined to the wooden box for over t en hour s. The man was or dered t o pay amp。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。 Leson45 A cl ear consci ence 問(wèn)心無(wú)愧 The whole vi lage soon learnt that a lar ge sum of money had been l ost. Sam Bent on, t he local but cher, had l ost his wal let whil e taking hi s savi ngs t o the post off ice. Sam was sur e t hat the wal let must have been found by one of the vil lagers, but i t was not r et urned t o him. Thr e months passed, and then one mor ning, Sam found hi s walet outside hi s fr ont door. I t had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t cont ai ned hal f the money he had l ost , t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。 sl owly. I t obvi ously could not t el l the di f er ence between I ndi an m usi c and jazz! Lesson43 O ver t he South Pol e 飛越南極 In 1929, three years af ter his f li ght over t he Nor th Pole, the Am eri can explor er , R. E. Byrd, succesful ly f lew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t ime. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men wer e able t o take a gr eat many photographs of the mountains t hat l ay bel ow, they soon r an int o ser ious t rouble. At one poi nt, it seem ed cer tain that their plane would cr ash. It could onl y get over the mountai ns if it r ose t o 10,000 f et . Byr d at once or der ed his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy f ood sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e to ri se and i t cl ear ed the m ount ai ns by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that he would be abl e to r each t he Sout h Pole which was 300 mi les away, f or there wer e no mor e mountains i n sight. The air craf t was able to f ly over the endless whit e plains wi thout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through t he forest 穿過(guò)森林 Mr s Anne Sterl ing di d not think of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo men. They had rushed up to her whil e she was havi ng a piic at the edge of a forest wit h her chi ldr en and t ri ed to st eal her handbag. I n the str uggl e, t he str ap br oke and, wi th t he bag in t hei r possesion, bot h men st ar ted r unni ng thr ough the tr ees. Mr s Ster li ng got so angry t hat she r an af ter them. She was soon out of breath, but she continued t o run. When she caught up wi th t hem, she saw t hat they had sat down and wer e going t hr ough the contents of the bag, so she r an st rai ght at them. The men got such a f r ight that hey dropped the bag and ran away. 39。And a wom an can39。 Leson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast fi remen have put out a bi g for est fi r e in Cal if or ni a. Si nce t hen, they have been t ryi ng t o f i nd out how t he fi re began. For est fi r e ar e oft en caused by br oken gl ass or by ci gar et e ends whi ch people car el esly throw away. Yester day t he fi remen exami ned t he ground car eful ly, but wer e not able to f ind any br oken gl ass. They wer e also quit e sur e that a cigaret te end did not star t he fi re. This m o