【正文】 4 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakf ast , I sent the chil dren t o school and t hen I went t o mar ket . It was sti l ear ly when I retur ned hom e. The chil dr en were at school , m y husband was at wor k and t he house was qui et . So I deci ded t o make some tar ts f or tea. I n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sticky pastr y. At exact ly that m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r eceiver between two sticky f ingers and was dismayed whe n I r ecogni zed the voice of Mr s Bates. It took m e ten m inutes to per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on m y fi nger s, on t he tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime it was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f i ndi ng lost tr easure alm ost came tr ue r ecentl y. A new machine cal ed 39。You don39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。Wel , in t hat case, I prefer t o stay on t he bus,39。We are going back now,39。Il l get of f her e.39。t mat er ,39。 39。 said t he conductor suddenly.39。 I asked. 39。 39。 t he conductor sai d. 39。 You39。l l tel l you wher e to get off ,39。 39。 but I don39。m goi ng to Woodfor d Gr en,39。t li ke losing m y way. I went on an excur si on r ecentl y, but my t ri p took me longer than I expected. 39。 230 ! Lesson47 A t hi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr Ian Thom pson is up f or sal e. Mr Thom pson i s goi ng to sel i t because i t i s haunt ed. He t ol d m e t hat he coul d not go to sl ep one ni ght because he hear d a st r ange noise i ng f r om t he bar . The next mor ni ng, he f ound that he door s had been bl ocked by chai r s and t he f ur nit ur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thom pson had t urned t he l i ght s of f befor e he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n t he m orni ng. He al so sai d t hat he had f ound fi ve em pt y whi sky bott l es whi ch the ghost m ust have dr unk the ni ght befor e. When I suggest ed t hat some vi l agers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lagers have t ol d him t hat they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gi ves i t away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me som et hi ng? 你想對(duì)我說什么嗎？ Denti st s al ways ask quest i ons when i t i s im possi bl e f or you t o answer. My dent i st had j ust pull ed out one of my teet h and had tol d me t o r est for a whi le. I tr ied t o say somet hi ng, but my mout h was f ull of cot tonwool . He knew I collected bi rds39。 l esson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a pl ane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air por t, wor ker s began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hi ng. No one could account f or the f act that one of the boxes was extr emely heavy. I t suddenl y occur red t o one of the wor ker s to open up t he box. He was astonished at what he f ound. A man was lyi ng in t he box on top of a pi le of wooll en goods. He was so sur pri sed at being discover ed that he did not even t ry to r un away. Af t er he was ar rested, t he man admit ted hi di ng in the box befor e the pl ane l ef t London. He had had a l ong and unfor table t ri p, for he had been confi ned to t he wooden box f or over t en hours. The m an was or der ed t o pay amp。s money was pai d back i n t hi s way. The last note said: 39。 Onl y 25 per cent a thi ef now! 39。but only 5o per ce nt a thief !39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whole vi l age soon l ear nt t hat a l arge sum of money had been lost . Sam Benton, the l ocal butcher , had lost hi s wal et whi le t aki ng his savi ngs to t he post of fi ce. Sam was sure t hat he wal et must have been f ound by one of t he vi l ager s, but it was not retur ned to hi m. Three months passed, and t hen one morning, Sam f ound his wal et out si de his f ront door . It had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t contained half t he money he had lost , together wit h a note whi ch sai d: 39。 sai d Mrs St er li ng lat er , 39。 has been invent ed and it has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied i n t he gr ound. The machine was used in a cave near t he seashor e where i t i s said pir at es used t o t he di f f erence bet ween Indian m usic and j az! Leson43 Over t he Sout h Pol e 飛越南極 I n 1929, t hr ee year s aft er hi s fl ight over t he Nort h Pole, the Am er ican expl orer , R. E. Byr d, successf ull y f lew over the South Pol e for t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st , Byrd and hi s men were abl e to t ake a great many phot ogr aphs of t he mount ains that lay below, t hey soon r an into ser ious tr oubl e. At one point , i t seemed cert ai n t hat t hei r pl ane woul d crash. It coul d only get over t he mountains i f it rose t o 10, 000 feet. Byr d at once order ed hi s men t o thr ow out two heavy f ood sacks. The plane was then able t o r ise and it cleare d t he mountains by 400 f eet . Byr d now knew that he woul d be able t o r each the Sout h Pole whi ch was 300 mil es away, for t her e wer e no more mount ains in si ght . The ai r cr aft was able t o fl y over the endl es whi te pl ai ns wit hout di f icult y. Leson44 Through the f orest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne St er li ng did not t hi nk of the r isk she was taking when she r an through a f orest af ter two men. They had r ushed up t o her whi l e she was havi ng a piic at the edge of a f or est wi th her chil dr en and tr ied t o steal her handbag. I n t he st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi t h the bag i n their possessi on, both men start ed running t hrough the t rees. Mrs St erl ing got so angr y that she r an aft er t hem . She was soon out of br eat h, but she conti nued to