【正文】 was wound round the el ect ri c wir es of a 16, 000 volt power l ine. In this way, he was able t o sol ve the myst er y. The explanati on was si mple but very unusual . A bir d had snat ched up t he snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound it sel f r ound the wi res. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and these i mmedi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent the childr en to school and t hen I went t o market. I t was st il l ear ly when I r eturned home. The chi ldr en were at school, my 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 when 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。This i s the pr et ti est carpet I have ever seen, 39。Wel , in t hat case, I pref er t o stay on t he bus,39。We are goi ng back now, 39。l get of f here.39。 I said. 39。I t doesn39。 I f ot to put you off .39。Oh dear, 39。 Is t hi s Woodf or d Gr een ?39。This i s as far as we go.39。l l have t o get of f her e, 39。 answered t he conductor. I sat i n the f r ont of the bus t o get a good view of the count ryside. Aft er some time, t he bus st opped. Looki ng round, I r eal ized wi th a shock that I was the only passenger left on t he bus. 39。 I 39。 but I don39。m going t o Woodf or d Gr een, 39。t l ike l osi ng my way. I went on an excursion r ecentl y, but my tr ip t ook me l onger than I expect ed. 39。230 ! Leson47 A t hirsty ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publi c house whi ch was recent ly bought by Mr I an Thom pson i s up f or sale. Mr Thompson is going t o sel it because it i s haunt ed. He t old m e that he coul d not go t o sleep one night because he heard a st range noi se ing f rom the bar. The next m orning, he f ound t hat t he door s had bee n blocked by chai rs and t he fur ni tur e had been moved. Though Mr Thom pson had tur ned the l ights of f bef ore he went to bed, the y wer e on in the mor ning. He also sai d t hat he had found f ive empty whisky bott les which t he ghost must have drunk t he night bef ore. When I suggested that som e vil lager s must have e i n f or a f r e dr ink, Mr Thompson shook hi s head. The vi l ager s have t old hi m t hat t hey wi l l not accept the i nn even i f he gives it away. Leson48 Di d you want to tel m e something? 你想對(duì)我說什么嗎？ Dent ists always ask questi ons when it is impossi ble f or you t o answer . My denti st had just pul led out one of my t eth and had t old m e to rest f or a whil e. I t ri ed to say something, but my mout h was ful l of cott on wool. He knew I col lected bir ds39。 l eson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air port , wor kers began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hi ng. No one coul d acount f or the f act t hat 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 astoni she d 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 di scover ed tha t he did not even t ry to r un away. Af t er he was ar rested, t he man admi ted hi ding i n the box befor e the pl ane l eft 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 hour s. The m an was or dered 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 t hi ef now! 39。but only 5o per cent a thief !39。 if he pi cks a l eaf , he wil l die. Many vil lagers beli eve t hat t he tr e has alr eady cl aimed a number of victi ms. The vi car has been asked to have the t ree cut down, but so far he has refused. He has point ed out t hat t he tr e is a usef ul sour ce of i ne as t ouri st s have been ing f rom al part s of the count ry t o see it . I n spit e of al l that has been sai d, t he up i n newspaper and i t contai ned half t he money he had lost, together wit h a note which sai d: 39。cur sed t ree39。The Reveal er39。t need bookcases at al l. You can sit her e i n your spar e tim e and r ead t he car pet !39。 she sai d. She gaze d at it f or some t im e t hen added, 39。 I answer ed. Lesson51 Reward f or vi rt ue 對(duì)美 德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fr i end, Herbert , has al ways been f at , but t hi ngs got so bad r ecent l y that he deci ded t o go on a di et . He began hi s di et a week ago. Fir st of al , he wr ot e out a long li st of al t he f oods whi ch wer e f or bi dden. The l ist i ncl uded m ost of t he t hi ngs Her bert l oves: but er, potat oes, ri ce, beer , m il k, chocol ate, and swets. Yest erday I pai d him a vi si t. I r ang t he bel l and wa s not sur pr ised to see t hat Her bert was sti l as f at as ever. He l ed m e i nt o hi s room and hur ri edl y hid a l ar ge par cel under his desk. I t was obvi ous t hat he was ver y em bar r assed. When I asked hi m what he was doi ng, he sm il ed gui lt il y and then put the parc el on the desk. He explai ned t hat hi s di et was so str i ct t hat he had t o r eward him sel f occasi onal l y. Then he showed m e the contents of t he par cel. I