【正文】 Your sister wi l be here in l ess than an hour and we must be at he stati on t o met her. We are late alr eady. 39。A r el at ion of your s i s ing to se you. She wi l be ar iving this evening and intends t o stay for a few days. The moment you leave this t ent, you wil l get a big surpri se. A woman you know wel wi l rush t owards you. She wil speak to you and then she wi l lead you away fr om this place. That i s al .39。 has been invented and i t has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied in t he ground. The machine was used in a cave near the seashor e where it is sai dpir at es used to hide gol d. The pir at es woul d often bur y gold i n the cave and then f ai l to col lect it . Ar med wi th the new machi ne, a sear ch party went he did not li ke i t. She enj oyed hersel f making the assi st ant br ing al most everything in t he window befor e f inaly buyi ng t he dress he had fi rst asked for. Leson58 A blessi ng i n di sguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The tiny vil age of Fr inley is said t o posses a 39。You don39。Wel , in that case, I prefer t o st ay on the bus,39。Il l get of f here.39。 I fot to put you off. 39。 Is t hi s Woodford Gr en ?39。 You39。 39。m goi ng t o Woodford Gr en,39。230 ! Lesson47 A thirst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publi c house which was recentl y bought by Mr I an Thompson i s up f or sal e. Mr Thompson is going to sel it because it is haunted. He told me t hat he could not go to sleep one ni ght because he heard a str ange noise ing fr om the bar . The next morning, he found t hat the doors had been blocked by chai rs and t he f ur ni ture had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had t ur ned the li ghts off bef ore he went t o bed, t hey were on in the morning. He also said that he had f ound five empt y whi sky bot tles whi ch t he ghost must have drunk the ni ght bef or e. When I suggested that some vil lagers must have e i n for a f ree drink, Mr Thom pson shook his head. The vil lagers have t ol d hi m that hey wil l not accept t he inn even if he gi ves it away. Lesson48 Di d you want o tel me something? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dentists always ask questi ons when it is i mpossible f or you to answer . My dentist had just pul led out one of my t eth and had told me t o rest for a whi le. I tr ied to say somet hi ng, but my mouth was full of cottonwool. He knew I collected bi rds39。so it was f or tunate t hat we di dn39。guard of honour39。cl ock this evening. By that ime, t he Astr a wil have been flyi ng t hr ough space for seventeen hour s and wil l have cir cl ed t he ear th a great many t imes. When t he f ir st radio mesages have been r ecei ved, t he r esul ts of the t ri p wil be announced immedi at el y. Lesson62 Af ter the fi re 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ight ing the forest fi re f or nearl y three weks before t hey could get it under cont rol. A shor t ime bef or e, great tr es had covered the count rysi de f or mil es around. Now, smoke st il r ose up f rom t he warm gr ound over the desol at e hi ls. Winter was i ng on and t he hil ls threat ened the surr oundi ng vil lages wit h dest ruct ion, f or heavy rain woul d not only wash away the soil but woul d cause seri ous fl oods as wel. When the fir e had at l ast been put out, the forest aut hori ti es order ed several tons of a special t ype of gr ass seed which woul d gr ow quickly. The seed was spr ayed over t he ground i n huge quanti ti es by aeroplanes. The pl anes had been planting sed for near ly a month when i t began to r ai n. By then, however, in many pl aces t he grass had al ready taken r oot. In place of the great tr es whi ch had been gr owi ng t here f or centur ies, patches of gr en had begun to appear in t he blackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺得好笑 Geof fr ey Hampden has a large circle of fr iends and is ver y popular at part ies. Everybody admi res hi m for his fi ne sense of humorever ybody, that is, except his sixyear old daught er , Jenny. Recent ly, one of Geof fr ey39。Where have you been hiding ?39。. Because the tree was mentioned i n a newspaper, the number of vi si tors to Fr inley has now i ncreased. The t ree was plant ed near a church fi ft y year s ago, but i t i s only i n recent year s t hat it has gai ned an evil reputati on. It is sai d that if anyone t ouches the tr e, he wil l have bad l uck。 Leson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last fi remen have put out a big f or est f i r e i n Cali fornia. Si nce then, they have been t rying to f ind out how t he f ire began. Forest fi re are oft en caused by br oken gl ass or by cigar et te ends whi ch people car el essl y throw away. Yes terday t he f ir emen examined t he ground carefully, but wer e not able t o fi nd any br oken gl ass. They were al so quite sure that a cigar et te end did not start the fi re. This morning, however, a fir eman acident al ly discovered the cause. He noti ced the remai ns of a snake which was wound round t he electri c wires of a 16,000volt power l ine. I n this way, he was able t o solve the mystery. The explanat ion was simple but ver y unusual . A bi rd had snat ched up t he snake from t he gr ound and then dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound i tself r ound the wires. When it di d so, it sent sparks down t o the gr ound and these immediately st ar ted a fi re. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er breakf ast, I sent the chi ldren to school and t hen I went t o mar ket . I t was st il ear ly when I r et ur ned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and t he house was qui et . So I decided t o make some t ar ts for tea. In a shor t ime I was busy mixi ng butter and fl our and my hands wer e soon covered wit h st icky pastr y. At exact ly that moment , t he t el ephone rang. Not hi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the receiver bet wen two sti cky fi ngers and was di smayed when I recognized the voi ce of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minut es t o persuade her to ri