【正文】 r om t he ground and then dropped it on t o the wi r es. The snake t hen wound i tself r ound t he wir es. When it did so, it sent s parks down t o the gr ound and t hese i mmediatel y st art ed a fi re. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakfast, I sent t he chi ldren t o school and then I went to m ar ket. It was sti l earl y when I ret ur ned home. The chil dren wer e at school , my husband was at work and t he house was quiet. So I deci ded t o make som e tart s f or t ea. I n a shor t ti me I was busy mi xi ng but t er and fl our and m y hands wer e soon covered wi t h st icky past r y. At exactl y t hat m om ent , t he t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been m or e annoying. I pi cked up t he r eceiver bet ween t wo st icky f inger s and was dismayed when I recogni zed t he voi ce of Mr s Bates. I t t ook m e ten mi nut es t o per suade her t o r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he recei ver . What a mess! Ther e was pastr y on m y fi nger s, on t he tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to t he kit chen t han t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake t he dead. Thi s ti me i t was the post man and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi st ered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold m i ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f i ndi ng l ost t r easur e alm ost cam e tr ue r ecent l y. A new machi ne cal l ed 39。You don39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。Wel l, i n that case, I pr efer to st ay on the bus, 39。 We ar e going back now, 39。I 39。t m at ter ,39。 I for got t o put you of f. 39。Oh dear ,39。 I s this Woodford Green ?39。 t he conduct or said. 39。 You39。l l tel you wher e to get off ,39。 39。 but I don39。m goi ng to Woodf ord Green,39。t li ke los ing my way. I went on an excur si on recent ly, but my t ri p took me longer t han I expect ed. 39。230 ! Leson47 A thirsty ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr I an Thompson is up f or sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel i t because i t i s haunt ed. He t old m e that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise ing f rom the bar . The next morni ng, he f ound t hat t he door s had been bl ocked by chai rs and t he fur nitur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thompson had t ur ned the l ights of f bef ore he went t o bed, they wer e on i n the mor ning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive empt y whisky bott les which t he ghost must have dr unk t he night bef ore. When I suggested t hat some vil lagers must have e i n f or a fr e dr ink, Mr Thompson shook hi s head. The vil ager s have t old hi m t hat t hey wil l not accept the i nn even i f he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o tel l me somethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dent ists al ways ask quest ions when it i s impossi ble f or you to answer . My dent i st had just pul led out one of m y teeth and had t ol d me to r est f or a whil e. I t ri ed to say som et hing, but m y mouth was f ull of cott on wool. He knew I coll ect ed bir ds39。 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 which contained clot 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 a st 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 ordered t o pay amp。s money was pai d back in t his way. The last not e sai d:39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。but onl y 5o per cent a thi ef !39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whol e vil lage soon l ear nt that a large sum of m oney had been lost. Sam Bent on, the l ocal butcher, had lost hi s wal et whi le taking his savings to the post of fi ce. Sam was sur e that the wal et must have been f ound by one of t he vil lager s, but it was not ret ur ned to hi m. Three m ont hs passed, and then one morni ng, Sam found his wal let out side his f ront door. It had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t cont ai ned hal f the money he had lost, t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。 said Mrs St erl ing l at er, 39。 slowl y. I t obvi ousl y coul d not tel t he di f f er ence between I ndi an music and jazz! Lesson43 Over the South Pole 飛越南極 In 1929, thr e years af ter his f li ght over the Nor th Pol e, t he Ameri can explor er, R. E. Byrd, succesf ul ly fl ew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t im e. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men wer e able t o take a gr eat many photographs of the mountai ns that l ay bel ow, they soon ran i nt o seri ous t rouble. At one poi nt, it seem ed cer tain that their plane would cr ash. I t could onl y get over the m ount ai ns if i t r ose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or dered his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy food sacks. The pl ane was then abl e to ri se and i t cl ear ed the m ount ai ns by 400 feet. Byr d now knew t hat he would be abl e to reach the South Pol e which was 300 mi les away, f or there were no mor e mountai ns in sight. The air craf t was abl e to f ly over t he endless whit e plains wi thout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through t he forest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Ster ling di d not think of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she ran t hr ough a for est aft er two men. They had rushed up to her whi le she was havi ng a piic at t he edge of a f orest wi t h her chil dren and tr i ed t o steal her handbag. In t he str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wit h t he bag i n t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng through t he tr es. Mr s Sterl ing got so angr y t hat she ran a