【正文】 if he picks a leaf , he wil die. M any vilager s believe t hat t he t ree has alr eady claim ed a num ber of victim s. The vicar h。cur sed t r ee39。The Revealer 39。t need bookcases at al. You can s it her e in your spare t im e and r ead t he car pet! 39。 she said. She gazed at i f or some t im e then added, 39。 I answer ed. Lesson51 Rewar d f or vir t ue 對美德的獎賞 My f r iend, Her bert , has always been f at , but t hings got so bad r ecent ly t hat he decided t o go on a diet . He began his diet a week ago. Fir st of al, he wr ot e out a long list of al t he f oods which wer e f orbidden. The list included most of the t hings Her ber t loves: but er, potat oes, r ice, beer, milk, chocolat e, and sweet s. Yest erday Ipaid him a visit . I r ang the bell and was not sur pr ised t o see t hat Her ber t was stil as f at as ever . He led m e int o his r oom and hur iedly hid a lar ge par cel under his desk. I t was obvious t hat he was ver y em bar ased. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guilt ily and t hen put t he par cel on t he desk. He explained t hat his diet was so st rict t hat he had t o r eward him self occasionaly. Then he showed m e t he cont ent s of t he par cel. I t cont ained five lar ge bar s of chocolate and t hree bag s of sweet s! Lesson52 A pr et t y car pet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved int o a new house and I have been wor king har d al m or ning. I have been t rying t o get m y new r oom in or der . This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To m ake m at ers wor se, t he r om is r ather smal, so I have t empor arily put m y books on t he f loor . At t he mom ent , t hey cover ever y inch of f loor space and Iact ualy have t o walk on t hem t o get in or out of t he r oom. A shor t while ago, m y sist er helped m e t o car y one of m y old bookcases up t he stair s. She went int o my r oom and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al t hose books on t he f loor . 39。 said t he conductor . 39。l get of f her e.39。 I said. 39。 I t doesn39。 said t he conductor sudenly. 39。 I asked. 39。This is as f ar as we go. 39。l have t o get of f her e, 39。 answer ed t he conductor . I sat in t he f r ont of t he bus t o get a good view of t he count ryside. Af t er some t im e, t he bus stopped. Looking r ound, I r ealized wit h a shock t hat I was t he only passenger lef t on t he bus. 39。 I 39。 but I don39。m going t o Woodf ord Gr een,39。t like losing m y way. I went on an excur sion r ecent ly, but my t r ip t ook m e longer t han I expect ed. 39。230 ! Lesson47 A t hir sty ghost 嗜 酒的鬼魂 A public house which was r ecent ly bought by M r I an Thom pson is up f or sale. M r Thom pson is going t o sell it because it is haunt ed. He t old m e t hat he could not go t o sleep one night because he heard a st r ange noise ing f r om t he bar. The next m or ning, he f ound t hat t he door s had been blocked by chair s and t he f urnit ur e had been m oved. Though M r Thom pson had t urned t he light s of befor e he went t o bed, t hey wer e on in t he m or ni g. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive empt y whisky bot t les which t he ghost must have dr unk t he nig ht bef or e. When Isuggest ed t hat some vilager s m ust have e in f or a f r ee dr ink, M r Thom pson shook his head. The vilager s have t old him t hat hey wil not accept t he inn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Did you want t o t ell m e som ething? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dent ists always ask quest ions when it is im possible f or you t o answer. My dent ist had just puled out one of m y teet h and had t old m e t o r est f or a while. I t r ied t o say som ething, but m y mout h was ful of cot t onwool. He knew I colect ed bir ds39。 lesson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane f r om London ar rived at Sydney air port , wor ker s began t o unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hing. No one could account f or t he f act hat one of t he boxes was ext rem ely heavy. I t sudenly occur ed to one of t he wor ker s t o pen up t he box. He was ast onished at what he f ound. A m an was lying in t he box on t op of a pile of woolen goods. He was so sur pr ised at being discover ed t hat he did not even t ry t o r un away. Af ter he was ar ested, t he m an adm it ted hiding in t he box bef or e t he plane lef t London. He had had a long and unf ort able t r ip, f or he had been confined t o t he wooden box f or over t en hours. The m an was or der ed t o pay amp。s money was paid bac k in t his way. The last note said: 39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。but only 5o per cent a t hief ! 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whole vilage soon lear nt t hat a lar ge sum of m oney had been lost . Sam Benton, t he local but cher, had lost his walet while t aking his savings t o t he post of fice. Sam was sur e t hat t he walet m ust have been f ound by one of t he vilager s, but it was not r etur ned t o him . Thr ee mont hs passed, and t hen one m orning, Sam f ound his walet out side his f r ont door. It had been wr aped up in newspaper and it contained half t he money he had lost , t oget her wit h a not e which said: 39。 said M r s St erling lat er , 39。 slowly. I t obviously could not t ell t he dif f er ence bet ween Indian m usic and jazz! Lesson43 Over t he South Pole 飛越南極 I n 1929, t hree years af ter his f light over t he Nor th Pole, t he Amer ican explor er , R. E. Byr d, successfuly f lew over t he South Pole f or t he f irst t ime. Though, at f ir st, Byrd and his m en wer e able t o t ake a gr eat m any phot ogr aphs of t he mount ains t hat lay below, t hey soon r an int o ser ious t rouble. At one point , it seemed cert ain t hat t heir plane would cr ash. It could only get over t he m ount ains if it r ose to 10, 000 f eet. Byrd at once or der ed his m en t o t hrow out