【正文】 ceship Ast r a whi ch left t he ear th a short t ime ago, wi l be tr avel li ng thr e hundred m il es i nto space. At a cert ai n point, t he Astr a wil l st op f or a short t ime and an astr onaut wi l at em pt t o l eave the st at ionary spaceship and t hen r etur n to it. We shal l not know whet her t he experi ment has been successful until we have r eceived a r adio m essage. The fi rst message is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。 she asked i mpati ent ly. 39。 As soon as I went outside, I for got al l about Madam Bel insky because my wi fe hur ri ed towards me. 39。 if he picks a l eaf , he wi l l di e. Many vi l ager s bel ieve that the t ree has alr eady clai med a number of vi ct ims. The vicar has been asked t o have the t ree cut down, but so f ar he has r efused. He has pointed out that the t ree i s a usef ul source of ine as t our ists have been i ng f rom al l par t s of the count ry t o see it . In spit e of al l that has been sai d, t he tour ists have been pi cki ng leaves and cutt ing t hei r names on the tr ee tr unk. So far, not one of t hem has been str uck down by sudden deat h! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進(jìn)來(lái)還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to sit outsi de our f ront gat e and bar k. Ever y ti me he want ed to e i nto t he gar den he would bark unt il someone opened the gate. As t he nei ghbours pl ai ned of t he noi se, my husband spent weeks t raini ng him to pr es hi s paw on the l atch t o let himself i n. Rex soon became an expert at opening the ga te. However , when I was goi ng out shoppi ng last wek, I noticed him i n the garden near the gate. This ti me he was bar ki ng so that someone would let him out ! Si nce t hen, he has developed anot her bad habit . As soon as he opens t he gat e fr om the outside, he es i nto t he gar den and waits unt il the gate shuts. Then he si ts and barks unti l someone let s him out . Aft er this he i mmedi at el y l et s himself i n and begi ns bar king agai n. Yest er day my husband r emoved t he gate and Rex got so annoyed we have not sen hi m s i nce. Lesson60 The f uture 卜算未來(lái) At a vil lage fai r, I deci ded to vi si t a for tunet el ler cal led Madam Bel insky. I went int o her t ent and she told me t o si t down. Af t er I had given her som e money, she looked into a crystal bal l and said: 39。cursed tr ee39。The Reveal er39。t need bookcases at al . You can s i t her e in your spar e ti me and r ead t he car pet !39。 she sai d. She gazed at i t f or som e ti me t hen added, 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward for vi rt ue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fr iend, Her ber t , has always been fat, but things got so bad r ecent ly t hat he deci ded to go on a diet. He began his di et a week ago. Fi rst of al l, he wr ote out a l ong list of al the f oods whi ch were for bi dden. The li st i ncl uded m ost of t he thi ngs Her ber t loves: butt er, potatoes, r ice, beer , m il k, chocol at e, and sweets. Yest er day I pai d him a vi si t. I rang t he bel l and was not sur pri sed to see that Herbert was sti l as fat as ever . He led m e int o his r oom and hurr iedly hi d a l ar ge parcel under hi s desk. It was obvious t hat he was very embar ased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smi led guil ti ly and t hen put t he par cel on t he desk. He expl ai ned that hi s diet was so st ri ct that he had t o r ewar d him self occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. It contained f ive l ar ge bars of chocolat e and three bags of sweets! Leson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just m oved i nto a new house and I have been worki ng har d al m or ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom i n order. This has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, the r oom i s rather smal , so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, they cover every i nch of fl oor space and I actual y have t o wal k on them to get in or out of the r oom. A shor t whil e ago, my si st er hel ped me to car ry one of my ol d bookcases up t he st ai rs. She went i nto m y room and got a bi g sur pri se when she saw al t hose books on the f loor. 39。 sai d t he conduct or. 39。 39。I 39。t mater ,39。 39。 said t he conductor suddenly.39。 I asked. 39。 39。 t he conductor sai d. 39。 You39。l l t el l you wher e to get of f, 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 sion r ecentl y, but my t ri p t ook me longer than I expected. 39。230 ! Lesson47 A t hirst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publi c house whi ch was recent ly bought by Mr I an Thompson i s up for sal e. Mr Thompson i s going t o sel l it because it is haunted. He tol d m e t hat he could not go t o sl eep one ni ght because he hear d a str ange noi se i ng fr om t he bar. The next mor ning, he found that the doors had been blocked by chair s and the f urni ture had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had tur ned t he li ght s off befor e he went to bed, they were on in t he morni ng. He al so sai d that he had f ound fi ve empty whi sky bot tl es whi ch the ghost m ust have dr unk the ni ght befor e. When I suggest ed that some vi l ager s must have e in for a f ree dr ink, Mr Thompson shook his head. The vi lagers have tol d him that they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gi ves i t away. Leson48 Did you want to t el me somet hing? 你想對(duì)我說(shuō)什么嗎？ Denti st s always ask questi ons when i t is i mpossibl e for you t o answer. My dent ist had just pul led out one of m y teeth and had t ol d me to r est f or a whil e. I t ri ed to say som ething, but m y mouth was full of cott on wool. He knew I coll ect ed 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 unl oad a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hing. No one coul d acount f or the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. I t suddenly occur r