【正文】 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 cent a thief !39。t . Geof fr ey asked her why thi s was so and she t ol d him t hat she did not li ke to see so many peopl e laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 In l858, a Fr ench engineer, Ai me Thome de Gam ond, ar ived i n England wit h a pl an for a t went yone mi le t unnel acr oss the Engli sh Channel. He said t hat i t would be possi bl e t o bui ld a platf orm in the cent re of t he Channel. Thi s pl atf orm would serve as a port and a r ail way st ati on. The tunnel woul d be wel l venti lat ed if tal l chi mneys wer e buil t above sea level . In 1860, a bet ter plan was put f or war d by an i n newspaper and i t contained half t he money he had lost , together wit h a note whi ch sai d: 39。cl ock this evening. By that ti me, the Astr a wi l have been f lyi ng thr ough space f or seventeen hour s and wil l have cir cled t he ear th a gr eat m any t im es. When t he fi rst ra dio mesages have been r ecei ved, the r esul ts of the t ri p wi l be announced im medi ately. Leson62 Af ter t he fi re 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ight ing t he forest fi re f or near ly t hree weeks bef ore t hey coul d get i t under cont rol . A shor t ti me befor e, gr eat tr ees had cover ed the countr ysi de for mi les around. Now, sm oke sti l r ose up fr om t he warm gr ound over the desolat e hil ls. Wi nt er was i ng on and the hi l s threatened the surr oundi ng vil lages wit h dest ructi on, f or heavy rai n would not only wash away t he soi l but would cause ser ious fl oods as wel l. When t he fi re had at last been put out , the f orest author it ies ordered sever al t ons of a special type of grass seed whi ch woul d gr ow quickly. The sed was sprayed over t he ground in huge quant it ies by aeroplanes. The planes had been pla nt ing sed f or near ly a mont h when i t began to rain. By t hen, however , in m any pl aces t he gr as had alr eady taken root. I n place of the great tr ees whi ch had been gr owi ng t her e f or centur ies, patches of gr een had begun to appear i n t he bl ackened soi l. Leson63 She was not am used 她并不覺得好笑 Geoff rey Ham pden has a lar ge cir cl e of fr iends and is very popular at par ti es. Ever ybody admi res hi m f or hi s f ine sense of humoreverybody, t hat i s, except his six year old daughter, Jenny. Recent ly, one of Geof fr ey39。Your si st er wi l l be her e in l es t han an hour and we m ust be at the stati on to meet her. We are l ate alr eady. 39。Wher e have you been hidi ng ?39。A r elati on of your s is i ng to see you. She wi l be ar ri vi ng thi s evening and i ntends to stay f or a few days. The moment you leave t his t ent , you wil l get a big sur pri se. A wom an you know wel wi l r ush t owards you. She wi l speak to you and then she wi l lead you away fr om this pl ace. That i s 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 increased. The tr e was pl ant ed near a church f if ty years ago, but i t is only in r ecent year s that it has gai ned an evil r eput at ion. It i s sai d that if anyone touches t he tr e, he wil l have bad l uck。 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 sai d pir at es used t o hi de gol d. 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 pa rt y went he did not li ke it . She enjoyed herself making the asist ant bri ng almost ever ything i n t he window befor e f inaly buyi ng the dr ess she had fi rst asked for . Lesson58 A blessi 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 last f ir emen have put out a big f orest fi re i n Cal i f orni a. Si nce t hen, t hey have been tr yi ng to fi nd out how the f ir e began. For est f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by cigaret e ends whi ch peopl e car elesl y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir em en exami ned the ground careful ly, but wer e not abl e to fi nd any br oken gl as. They wer e also quit e sure t hat a ci gar et te end di d not star 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 t o solve t he myst ery. The expl anati on was simpl e but ver y unusual . A bi rd had snatc hed up the snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped it on to the wi res. The snake then wound it sel 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 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