【正文】 s Bates. It t ook m e ten m inutes t o 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 f inger s, on the 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 eter ! Leson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure alm ost came t rue r ecentl y. A new m achi ne caled 39。You don39。This i s the pr et ti est carpet I have ever seen, 39。Wel l, in that case, I pr ef er to st ay on the bus, 39。 We ar e goi ng back now, 39。I 39。t mat ter, 39。 I for got t o put you of f. 39。Oh dear ,39。 Is t his Woodf ord Green ?39。Thi s is as far as we go.39。l l have t o get of f her e,39。 answer ed the conductor . I sat in t he fr ont of t he bus t o get a good vi ew of the countr ysi de. Af ter som e ti me, the bus st opped. Looki ng round, I reali zed wi th a shock t hat I was the onl y passenger lef t on the bus. 39。 I 39。t know wher e i t is.39。 I sai d to the conductor as I got on t he bus, 39。 I39。 eggs and asked me whet her my col lecti on was growi ng. He t hen asked me how my br ot her was and whet her I l iked my new job i n London. In answer to t hese quest ions I eit her nodded or m ade str ange noi ses. Meanwhi le, my t ongue was busy sear chi ng out t he hol e where the toot h had been. I suddenl y f el t ver y wor ri ed, but could not say anyt hing. When the denti st at last removed the cot on wool fr om m y mouth, I was able t o tel l hi m that he had pull ed out t he wr ong tooth. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美夢告終 Ti red of sleepi ng on t he fl oor , a young m an in Teheran saved up for year s to buy a real bed. For the f ir st t ime i n his lif e, he became t he pr oud owner of a bed whi ch had spr ings and a mat ress. Because t he weat her was very hot , he car ri ed the bed on to the r oof of his house. He sl ept very wel l for t he fi rst two ni ghts, but on t he thir d night , a st or m blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off t he roof and sent it crashing i nt o t he cour tyard below. The young man did not wake up unti l the bed had str uck t he gr ound. Al t hough t he bed was smashed to pi eces, t he man was mi raculously unhurt . When he woke up, he was sti l on t he mat res s. Gl anci ng at t he bit s of wood and m et al t hat l ay around him, t he man sadl y picked up the m at tr es and car ied i t into hi s house. Aft er he had put it on t he fl oor , he promptl y went to sl ep again. Leson50 Taken for a ri de 乘車兜風(fēng) I l ove t r avel ing i n the countr y, but I don39。s closest f ri ends asked hi m t o make a speech at a wedding r ecepti on. Thi s is t he sor t of t hing t hat Geoff rey l oves. He pr epared t he speech car efull y and went to t he weddi ng wi th Jenny. He had i ncl uded a large number of funny stori es in t he speech and, of cour se, it was a gr eat success. As soon as he had fi ni shed, Jenny tol d him she want ed to go hom e. Geof fr ey was a li t le di sappoi nted by t his but he did as his daught er asked. On the way home, he asked Jenny i f she had enjoyed the speech. To his surpr ise, she said she hadn39。 As she wal ked a way, I f ol lowed her out of t he fai r. Lesson61 Troubl e wit h t he Hubble 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 In futur e, astr onaut s wil l be requir ed to descend f rom a spaceshi p whil e it i s st il l in space and t o r et urn t o i t. The abili ty to do t his wi l be necessar y i n fut ure f li ght s to di s tant pl a s. Scienti st s are now tr yi ng to di scover if t hi s is possi ble. The spaceship Astr a which l ef t the eart h a short ti me ago, wil l be tr avel ing t hree hundr ed mi les int o space. At a cer tain poi nt, the Ast ra wi l l st op for a short ti me and an astr onaut wil l at tempt t o l eave the stati onar y spaceshi p and then r et urn t o i t. We shal not know whether the exper im ent has been successf ul unt il we have received a r adi o message. The f ir st mesage is expected t o ar ive at 7 o39。 she asked i mpati ent ly. 39。 As soon as I went outside, I for got al about Madam Bel insky because my wi fe hur ri ed towards me. 39。 if he picks a l eaf , he wil l di e. Many vil lager s bel ieve t hat t he tr e has alr eady cl ai med a number of vi cti ms. The vi car has been asked t o have the t ree cut down, but so far he has r efused. He has point ed out t hat the t ree i s a usef ul source of i ne as t our ists have been ing f rom al l par ts of t he countr y t o se it. I n spi t e of al l t hat has been said, t he touri st s have been picking leaves and cutti ng their names on t he tr e tr unk. So f ar, not one of t hem has been str uck down by sudden deat h! Lesson59 In or out ？ 進來還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used t o sit outside our fr ont gat e and bar k. Ever y ti me he wanted t o e i nt o t he gar den he woul d bark unt il s om eone opened t he gate. As the neighbour s plained of t he noi se, my husband spent weeks tr aining hi m to pr ess his paw on the l at ch to let hi mself in. Rex soon became an exper t at opening t he gat e. However, when I was going out shopping last week, I not iced him in the garden near t he gat e. Thi s ti me he was barki ng so that someone would l et hi m out ! Since t hen, he has developed anot her bad habi t. As soon as he opens t he gat e fr om t he out side, he es i nt o t he gar den and wai ts unti l the gate shuts. Then he si ts and barks unti l someone lets hi m out . Af t er t his he i mmediatel y let s himself i n and begins bar ki ng agai n. Yester day my husband r em oved t he gat e and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him since. Leson60 The f uture 卜算未來 At a vil lage fair , I deci ded t o visi t a for tune tel ler cal led Madam Beli nsky. I went into her t ent and she t ol d me t o si t down. Af t er I had given her so