【正文】 alr eady t aken r oot. I n place of the grea t tr es whi ch had been gr owi ng t her e f or cent uri es, patches of gr en had begun to appear i n the bl ackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺(jué)得好笑 Geof f rey Hampden has a lar ge ci rcle of f r iends and i s ver y popular at part ies. Ever ybody admi res him f or hi s fi ne sense of hum or ever ybody, that is, except hi s sixyear old daught er, Jenny. Recentl y, one of Geoff r ey39。Your sister wi l be here i n l ess t han an hour and we must be at t he st ati on to m et her. We ar e l at e alr eady.39。Wher e have you been hiding ?39。A r elati on of your s is i ng to see you. She wi l be ar ivi ng thi s evening and i nt ends t o stay f or a few days. The m oment you l eave t his tent , you wi l get a big surpr ise. A wom an you know wel l wil l rush t owar ds you. She wi l l speak t o you and then she wil l lead you away fr om t his place. That is al l. 39。. Because the t ree was m ent ioned in a newspaper , the number of vi si tor s to Fr inl ey has now i ncreased. The tr e was pl ant ed near a church f if ty years ago, but i t is only i n r ecent year s that it has gai ned an evil r eput at ion. It i s sai d that if anyone t ouches the t ree, he wil l have bad l uck。 has been invented and it has been used to det ect gold whi ch has been buri ed in t he ground. The m achi ne was used in a cave near the seashor e wher ei t is said pir ates used t o hide gold. The pir ates would of ten bur y gold i n the cave and then f ai l to coll ect i t. Ar med wi th t he new machine, a search part y went he did not li ke it . She enj oyed herself making the asi st ant bri ng alm ost ever ything i n t he window bef or e f inal y buyi ng the dr ess she had fi rst asked for . Lesson58 A bl essi ng i n disguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vi l age of Fr inley i s sai d to possess a 39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir em en have put out a bi g for est f ir e in Cal if orni a. Si nce t hen, they have been t ryi ng to f ind out how t he fi re bega n. For est f ir e ar e of ten caused by broken glass or by ci gar et e ends whi ch peopl e car elesl y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir em en exami ned the ground caref ul ly, but wer e not abl e to fi nd any br oken gl as . They were also quit e sure t hat a ci gar et te end di d not st ar t the f ir e. Thi s morni ng, however , a fi reman accidental y discover ed the cause. He noticed t he remains of a snake which was wound r ound t he el ect ri c wi res of a 16,000volt power li ne. I n thi s way, he was able to solve t he myst ery. The expl anati on was simpl e but ver y unusual. A bi rd had snatched up the snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dropped it on to the wi res. The snake then wound i tsel f round t he wir es. When i t did so, it sent spar ks down to the ground and these im medi ately st ar ted a fi re. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakfast , 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 wer e at school , m y husband was at work and t he house was quiet. So I decided to make some tart s for t ea. I n a shor t ti me I was busy mixi ng but ter and fl our and my hands wer e soon covered wi th st icky past ry. At exactl y t hat moment , t he telephone rang. Not hing coul d have been m or e annoyi ng. I picked up the r ecei ver between t wo sti cky fi nger s and was di sm ayed when I r ecognized the voi ce of Mrs Bat es. It t ook me t en minutes t o persuade her to ri ng back l at er. At l ast I hung up the r eceiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on my f ingers, on the t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than the door bel rang l oud enough to wake the dead. This t im e it was t he postm an and he want ed me t o si gn f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of fi ndi ng lost tr easure al most came t rue r ecentl y. A new m achine cal ed 39。You don39。This i s the pr et ti est car pet 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。cl ock t hi s eveni ng. By t hat t im e, t he Astr a wil l have been fl yi ng t hr ough space f or sevent een hour s and wil l have cir cl ed t he eart h a gr e at m any t im es. When t he fi rst r adi o m esages have been r ecei ved, t he r esul ts of t he t ri p wi l be announced imm edi atel y. Lesson62 Af ter t he fi re 大火之后 Fi remen had been fi ght i ng t he f or est f ir e f or near l y thr ee weeks bef or e t hey coul d get it under contr ol . A short t im e bef ore, great t r es had cover ed the count r ysi de f or m il es ar ound. Now, smoke sti l r ose up f r om t he war m gr ound over t he desolat e hi l s. Wi nt er was i ng on and the hil ls t hreatened t he surr oundi ng vi l ages wi t h destr uct i on, f or heavy r ai n would not only wash away t he soil but woul d cause ser ious fl oods as wel l. When t he fi r e had at l ast been put out, t he f or est aut hor it ies or der ed several t ons of a speci al t ype of gr ass seed whi ch woul d gr ow qui ckl y. The seed was spr ayed over t he gr ound i n huge quanti ti es by aer opl anes. The planes had been planti ng sed f or nearl y a m ont h when it began t o rai n. By t hen, however , in m any pl aces t he gr as had alr eady t aken root. I n place of the gr eat tr ees whi ch had been gr owi ng t her e f or cent uri es, patches of gr en had begun to appear i n the bl ackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺(jué)得好笑 Geof f rey Hampden has a lar ge ci rcle of f r iends and i s ver y popular at part ies. Ever ybody admi res him f or hi s fi ne sense of hum or ever ybody, that is, except hi s sixyear old daught er, Jenny. Recentl y, one of Geoff r ey39。Yo