【正文】 e, great trees had covered the countryside for miles around. Now, smoke still rose up from the warm ground over the desolate hills. Winter was ing on and the hills threatened the surrounding villages with destruction, for heavy rain would not only wash away the soil but would cause serious floods as well. When the fire had at last been put out, the forest authorities ordered several tons of a special type of grassseed which would grow quickly. The seed was sprayed over the ground in huge quantities by aeroplanes. The planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it began to rain. By then, however, in many places the grass had already taken root. In place of the great trees which had been growing there for centuries, patches of green had begun to appear in the blackened soil. Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺得好笑 Geoffrey Hampden has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his fine sense of humoreverybody, that is, except his sixyearold daughter, Jenny. Recently, one of Geoffrey39。Your sister will be here in less than an hour and we must be at the station to meet her. We are late already.39。Where have you been hiding ?39。A relation of yours is ing to see you. She will be arriving this evening and intends to stay for a few days. The moment you leave this tent, you will get a big surprise. A woman you know well will rush towards you. She will speak to you and then she will lead you away from this place. That is all.39。. Because the tree was mentioned in a newspaper, the number of visitors to Frinley has now increased. The tree was planted near a church fifty years ago, but it is only in recent years that it has gained an evil reputation. It is said that if anyone touches the tree, he will have bad luck。 has been invented and it has been used to detect gold which has been buried in the ground. The machine was used in a cave near the seashore whereit is saidpirates used to hide gold. The pirates would often bury gold in the cave and then fail to collect it. Armed with the new machine, a search party went he did not like it. She enjoyed herself making the assistant bring almost everything in the window before finally buying the dress she had first asked for. Lesson58 A blessing in disguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The tiny village of Frinley is said to possess a 39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. Since then, they have been trying to find out how the fire began. Forest fire are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away. Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass. They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start the fire. This morning, however, a fireman accidentally discovered the cause. He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000volt power line. In this way, he was able to solve the mystery. The explanation was simple but very unusual. A bird had snatched up the snake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires. The snake then wound itself round the wires. When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire. Lesson54 Sticky fingers 粘糊的手指 After breakfast, I sent the children to school and then I went to market. It was still early when I returned home. The children were at school, my husband was at work and the house was quiet. So I decided to make some tarts for tea. In a short time I was busy mixing butter and flour and my hands were soon covered with sticky pastry. At exactly that moment, the telephone rang. Nothing could have been more annoying. I picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minutes to persuade her to ring back later. At last I hung up the receiver. What a mess! There was pastry on my fingers, on the telephone, and on the doorknobs. I had no sooner got back to the kitchen than the doorbell rang loud enough to wake the dead. This time it was the postman and he wanted me to sign for a registered letter ! Lesson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dreams of finding lost treasure almost came true recently. A new machine called 39。You don39。This is the prettiest carpet I have ever seen,39。Well, in that case, I prefer to stay on the bus,39。We are going back now,39。ll get off here.39。 I said. 39。It doesn39。 I fot to put you off.39。Oh dear,39。 Is this Woodford Green ?39。This is as far as we go.39。t. Geoffrey asked her why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 In l858, a French engineer, Aime Thome de Gamond, arrived in England with a plan for a twentyone mile tunnel across the English Channel. He said that it would be possible to build a platform in the centre of the Channel. This platform would serve as a port and a railway station. The tunnel would be wellventilated if tall chimneys were built above sealevel. In 1860, a better plan was put forward by anoff here,39。clock this evening. By that time, the Astra will have been flying through space for seventeen hours and will have circled the earth a great many times. When the first radio messages have been received, the results of the trip will be announced immediately. Lesson62 After the fire 大火之后 Firemen had been fighting the forest fire for nearly three weeks before they could get it under control. A short time before, great trees had covered the countryside for miles around. Now, smoke still rose up from the warm ground over the desolate hills. Winter was ing on and the hills threatened the surrounding villages with destruction, for heavy rain would not only wash away the soil but would cause serious floods as well. When the fire had at last been put out, the forest authorities ordered several tons of a special type of grassseed which would grow quickly. The seed was sprayed over the ground in huge