【正文】 his fi ne sense of humor ever ybody, that is, except hi s si xyear ol d daught er , Jenny. Recentl y, one of Geoff rey39。Your sist er wi l be here in l ess t han an hour and we must be at t he st ati on to m et her. We ar e l at e alr eady.39。Wher e have you been hiding ?39。A rel at ion of yours i s ing t o se you. She wil l be ar r iving t his eveni ng and intends to st ay for a f ew days. The mom ent you leave thi s tent, you wi l get a bi g surpri se. A woman you know wel l wi l l r ush towar ds you. She wil l speak to you and t hen she wi l l ead you away f rom thi s place. That is al .39。. Because the tr ee was menti oned i n a newspaper, t he number of visit ors t o Fri nley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was plant ed near a chur ch fi ft y year s ago, but it i s onl y i n recent years t hat i t has gained an evil reputat ion. It is said tha t i f anyone t ouches the t ree, he wi l l have bad luck。 has been i nvent ed and i t has been used t o detect gol d which ha s been bur ied i n the gr ound. The machine was used i n a cave near t he seashor e wher e it i s sai dpi rat es used to hi de gold. The pir at es woul d of ten bury gol d in the cave and t hen fail t o col lect it . Arm ed wit h the new machi ne, a sear ch par ty went he di d not l ike i t. She enjoyed her sel f making t he assistant br ing al most everyt hi ng in the wi ndow bef ore fi nal ly buying t he dress she had f ir st asked f or. Lesson58 A blesi ng in di sgui se? 是因禍得福嗎？ The ti ny vil lage of Fri nley is said to possess a 39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir em en have put out a bi g for est f ir e in Cal if orni a. Si nce t hen, they have been t ryi ng to f i nd out how t he fi re began. For est f ir e ar e of ten caused by broken glass or by ci garet e ends whi ch peopl e car el esly thr ow away. Yester day the f ir em en exami ned t he ground careful ly, but wer e not abl e to f ind any br oken gl ass. They wer e also quit e sur e t hat a cigaret te end did not star t the f ir e. This m orning, however , a fi reman accident al y discovered t he cause. He not iced t he remains of a snake whi ch was wound round t he el ect ri c wi res of a 16,000 volt power li ne. In this way, he was able t o solve the m yst er y. The expl anati on was si mpl e but very unusual . A bi rd had snat che d up the snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to the wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round the wi r es. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and these imm edi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f i ngers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent t he chi ldr en to school and t hen I went to 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 the house was qui et. So I deci ded to m ake some t ar ts for tea. In a shor t im e I was busy m ixing but ter and fl our and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sti cky pastr y. At exactl y that moment, the t elephone r ang. Not hi ng coul d have been m or e annoyi ng. I picked up the r ecei ver between t wo sti cky fi nger s and was di sm ayed when I r ecognized the voi ce of Mrs Bat es. It t ook me t en minutes t o persuade her to ri ng back l at er. At l ast I hung up the r eceiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on my f ingers, on the t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o the ki tchen than the door bel rang l oud enough to wake the dead. This t ime it was t he postman and he want ed me t o si gn f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of fi ndi ng lost tr easure al m ost cam e tr ue recent ly. A new machi ne cal led 39。You don39。Thi s i s the pret ti est car pet I have ever seen,39。Wel , in t hat case, I prefer t o stay on t he bus,39。We are going back now,39。Il l get of f her e.39。t mat er ,39。 39。 said t he conductor suddenly.39。 I asked. 39。 39。 t he conductor sai d. 39。s cl osest fr i ends asked him t o make a speech at a weddi ng r ecept i on. This i s t he sort of t hi ng t hat Geoff r ey l oves. He pr epar ed t he speech car efull y and went to t he weddi ng wi th Jenny. He had i ncl uded a lar ge num ber of f unny st or ies i n the speech and, of course, i t was a gr eat succes. As soon as he had f ini shed, Jenny tol d hi m she want ed to go hom e. Geoff r ey was a lit tl e di sappoi nted by t hi s but he di d as his daught er asked. On the way hom e, he asked Jenny i f she had enj oyed t he spee ch. To hi s sur pri se, she sai d she hadn39。 As she wal ked a way, I f ol l owed her out of t he f ai r. Leson61 Troubl e wit h t he H ubbl e 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 I n f ut ur e, astr onaut s wil l be requi r ed t o descend f rom a spaceshi p whil e it i s st il l in space and t o r et ur n t o i t. The abili t y t o do this wil be neces ary i n f ut ur e f li ghts t o dis tant pla s. Sci enti sts ar e now tr yi ng t o discover i f t his i s possi bl e. The spaceshi p Astr a whi ch left t he ear t h a shor t im e ago, wi l be t ravel li ng t hr ee hundr ed m il es int o space. At a cert ain poi nt , the Ast ra wi l st op f or a shor t tim e and an ast r onaut wil l at tem pt t o leave the stati onar y spaceshi p and t hen r et ur n t o i t. We shal not know whet her t he exper im ent has been successf ul unt il we have r ecei ved a r adi o m essage. The fi rst message i s expect ed t o ar ri ve at 7 o39。 she asked im pat i entl y. 39。 As soon as I went out side, I for got al about Madam Bel li nsky because m y wif e hurr i ed t owards m e. 39。 if he pi cks a l eaf , he wil l di e. Many vil lager s beli eve t hat t he tr ee has alr eady cl ai med a num ber of vi ctim s. The vi car has been asked to have t he t r e cut down, but so f ar he has ref used. He has poi nt ed out t hat t he tr ee is a useful sour ce of i n e as touri st s have ben i ng fr om al part s of the count r y to see it . I n spit e of al t h