【正文】 s not sur pri sed t o s e t hat Her ber t was stil l as fat as ever. He led me into hi s room and hur ri edly hi d a lar ge par cel under hi s desk. It was obvious that he was ver y embar assed. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smil ed guilt il y and then put the parcel on the desk. He e xplai ned t hat hi s di et was so st ri ct t hat he had to r ewar d hi m self occasi onal y. Then he showed me t he cont ent s of the parcel. I t contained f ive l arge bars of chocolat e and thr e 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 wor ki ng har d al m or ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom i n order. Thi s has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make mat er s wor se, the r oom i s rat her smal , so I have tempor ar il y put my books on the f loor. At t he moment, t hey cover every inch 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, m y si ster hel ped me t o car ry one of m y old bookcases up the stair s. She went int o my room and got a big sur pr ise when she saw al those books on t he fl oor. 39。 sai d t he conduct or. 39。 39。 I sai d. 39。I t doesn39。 I f or got to put you off .39。Oh dear, 39。 I s thi s Woodfor d Gr een ?39。Thi s i s as f ar as we go.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 Channe l. 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 for ward by an of f her e, 39。cl ock t hi s eveni ng. By t hat t im e, t he Ast r a wil l have been fl ying t hrough space f or sevent een hour s and wi l have cir cl ed t he eart h a gr eat m any t im es. When t he fi rst radi o m esages have been r ecei ved, t he r esul ts of t he t ri p wi l be announced imm ediatel 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 nearl y t hr ee weeks bef or e t hey could get it under contr ol. A short t im e bef ore, great tr ees had cover ed t he count r ysi de f or mi les around. Now, sm oke sti l r ose up fr om t he warm gr ound over t he desolate hi l s. Wint er was i ng on and t he hil ls t hreatened the surr oundi ng vi l ages wi t h destr uct i on, f or heavy rai n woul d not onl y wash away t he soil but would cause seri ous fl oods as wel . When t he fi re had at la st been put out , the f orest aut hor it es order ed sever al t ons of a special type of grass sed whi ch woul d gr ow quickl y. The seed was spr ayed over t he ground i n huge quant it i es by aer opl anes. The pl anes had been pl ant ing seed f or near l y a mont h when i t began t o r ai n. By t hen, however, i n many places t he gr ass had al r eady t aken r oot . In pl ace of t he gr eat t r es whi ch had been growi ng t her e for cent uri es, pat ches of gr en had begun t o appear i n the bl ackened soil . Lesson63 She was not am used 她并不覺(jué)得好笑 Geof fr ey Ham pden has a lar ge ci rcl e of f ri ends and i s ver y popul ar at part i es. Ever ybody admi res him f or hi s fi ne sense of hum orever ybody, t hat i s, except hi s six year ol d daughter, Jenny. Recentl y, one of Geof fr ey39。Your si st er wil l be her e i n less than an hour and we m ust be at t he st at i on t o m et her . We ar e l at e al r eady.39。Wher e have you been hi di ng ?39。A r el at i on of yours i s i ng t o see you. She wil l be ar i vi ng thi s evening and i nt ends t o stay f or a few days. The m om ent you l eave t his t e nt , you wil l get a bi g sur pri se. A wom an you know wel wi l r ush t owar ds you. She wil l speak t o you and t hen she wi l l ead you away f r om t hi s place. That is al .39。. Because t he tr ee was menti oned i n a newspaper, t he num ber of vi sit ors t o Fr inl ey has now i ncr eased. The tr ee was pl ant ed near a chur ch f if t y year s ago, but i t is onl y i n recent year s t hat it has gained an evi l r eput ati on. It i s sai d that if anyone t ouches t he t r e, he wil l have bad l uck。 has been i nvent ed and i t has been used t o detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied i n t he gr ound. The m achine was used in a cave near t he seashor e where it i s sai d pir at es used t o hi de gol d. The pi r at es woul d of ten bur y gol d i n the cave and t hen f ai l t o coll ect i t. Arm ed wi th t he new m achine, a sear ch par ty went he di d not l ike i t. She enj oyed her sel f m aki ng t he assi stant br i ng al most ever yt hi ng i n the wi ndow befor e fi nal l y buyi ng the dr ess she had f ir st asked f or . Lesson58 A bl essi ng i n di sguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t i ny vi l age of Fr i nl ey is sai d t o possess a 39。 Lesson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast fi r em en have put out a bi g f or est f ir e i n Cal if or nia. Si nce t hen, they have been t r yi ng to f i nd out how t he fi r e began. For est fi r e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by cigaret e ends which peopl e car elessl y t hr ow away. Yest er day t he f ir em en exami ned t he gr ound car ef ull y, but wer e not able t o fi nd any br oken gl ass. They wer e al so qui t e sur e t hat a cigaret e end di d not start t he fi r e. This m orni ng, however , a fi rem an acci dent al y discover ed t he cause. He not i ced t he remai ns of a snake which was wound r ound t he electr ic wi r es of a 16, 000 vol t power li ne. I n t hi s way, he was abl e t o sol ve the m yst er y. The explanat i on was sim pl e but very unusual . A bir d had snat c hed up t he snake f r