【正文】 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 poi n。cursed t ree39。The Reveal er 39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit her e in your spare ti me and read the carpet !39。 she said. She gazed at it for some time t hen added, 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對美德的獎賞 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。 sai d the conduct or . 39。l get off her e. 39。 I sai d. 39。It doesn39。 I for got to put you off .39。Oh dear, 39。 I s this Woodf or d Green ?39。This is as f ar as we go.39。l have to get off her e, 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。 I39。 but I don39。m goi ng t o Woodfor d Green,39。t li ke l osing my way. I went on an excur si on r ecentl y, but my t rip t ook me longer than I expect ed. 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 Thom pson i s up f or sal e. Mr Thompson is goi ng 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 door s had been blocked by chai rs and t he f ur niture had been m oved. Though Mr Thompson had turned t he l ight s of f before he went to bed, they were on in t he morning. He also said t hat he had f ound fi ve empty whisky bot tl es which the ghost must have dr unk the night bef or e. When I suggested that some vi lager s must have e i n for a fr e dri nk, Mr Thomps on shook his head. The vi lager s have t ol d hi m that hey wil l not accept t he i nn even i f he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want o tel me somethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Denti st s always ask questi ons when it i s i mpossi bl e for you to answer . My dentist had just pul led out one of my teet h and had told me t o rest for a whi le. I t ried to say somet hi ng, but my mout h was full of cott onwool. He knew I coll ected bi rds39。 leson46 Expensive and unf ortable 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane from London ari ved at Sydney ai rpor t, worker s began to unl oad a number of wooden boxes whi ch cont ai ned cl ot hing. No one could account for the fact that one of the boxes was ext remel y heavy. I t suddenl y occur red to one of the wor ker s t o open up t he box. He was ast oni shed at what he f ound. A man was l yi ng i n the box on top of a pile of wooll en goods. He was so sur pr ised at being discovered that he did not even tr y to r un away. After he was ar rest ed, the man admit ed hiding in t he box befor e t he plane left London. He had had a long and un fortable tr ip, for he had been confi ned to t he wooden box f or over ten hours. The man was order ed t o pay amp。s money was pai d back i n this way. The l ast note sai d: 39。 Onl y 25 per cent a thief now!39。but onl y 5o per cent athief! 39。 Leson45 A clear consci ence 問心無愧 The whol e vi lage soon l earnt that a large sum of money had been l ost. Sam Benton, the local but cher , had lost his walet whi le taki ng hi s avi ngs to the post of fi ce. Sam was sure t hat the wal et must have been found by one of the vi lager s, but it was not r et ur ned to him. Three months passed, and t hen one morning, Sam f ound hi s wal et out si de his f ront door . I t had been wr apped up in newspaper and it contained half the money he had lost, toget her wit h a note which said: 39。 said Mr s St er li ng l at er , 39。 slowly. It obviously coul d not tel the di f er ence between I ndian music and jaz! Leson43 Over the Sout h Pol e 飛越南極 In 1929, t hr e year s af ter his f light over t he Nort h Pole, the Amer ican explor er , R. E. Byrd, succesfull y flew over the South Pole for the fi rst ime. Though, at fir st , Byrd and hi s men were abl e to take a gr eat many photogr aphs of the mountains that l ay below, t hey soon ran into ser ious t rouble. At one point, it semed certain t hat thei r pl ane would crash. It could only get over the mountains if it rose t o 10,000 feet . Byrd at once or dered his men t o throw out t wo heavy f ood sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e to ri se and i t cleared the mountains by 400 feet . Byrd now knew that he w