【正文】 g walk t hrough one of the mar ket s of Old Delhi, we st opped at a square to have a r est. Af ter a t ime, we not iced a snake charmer wi th two l arge baskets at t he ot her si de of t he square, so we went to have a l ook at hi m. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pipe whi ch was cover ed wit h coins and opened one of the baskets. When he began to pl ay a tune, we had our f ir st gl impse of the snake. I t r ose out of the basket and began to foll ow t he movement s of the pipe. We were very much sur pri sed when t he snake char mer suddenly began to pl ay jazz tunes and moder n pop songs. The snake, however , cont inued to 39。 slowl y. It obviousl y coul d not tel t he dif ference bet ween Indi an musi c and jazz! Lesson43 O ver t he South Pol e 飛越南極 I n 1929, t hree year s aft er hi s fl ight over t he Nort h Pole, the Am eri can explor er , R. E. Byr d, successful ly f lew over the South Pol e f or t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st, Byrd and hi s men wer e abl e to take a great many phot ographs of t he mountains t hat l ay bel ow, t hey soon r an int o ser ious tr ouble. At one poi nt , it sem ed cer tain t hat t hei r plane would cr ash. It could only get over the mountains i f it r ose t o 10,000 f et . Byr d at once or der ed his men t o t hr ow out two heavy f ood sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e to r ise and i t cl ear ed the mountai ns by 400 f eet. Byrd now knew that he would be able to r each t he Sout h Pole whi ch was 300 mi les away, f or there wer e no mor e mountains i n sight. The air craft was able t o f ly over the endles whit e plains wi thout di f icult y. Lesson44 Through the f orest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne St er li ng did not thi nk of the r isk she was taking when she ran t hrough a f orest af ter two men. They had r ushed up t o her whi le she was having a pi i c at t he edge of a f orest wit h her chil dren and t ri ed to steal her handbag. In the str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wit h t he bag i n t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng thr ough t he tr ees. Mr s Ster ling got so angr y t hat she ran af ter them. She was soon out of breath, but she cont inued to run. When she caught up wit h t hem, she saw that they had sat down and wer e goi ng thr ough the cont ent s of the bag, so she r an st raight at them. The men got such a f ri ght t hat t hey dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。 said Mrs St erl ing l at er, 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whol e vil lage soon lear nt that a lar ge sum of money had been lost. Sam Bent on, t he local butcher, had lost his wal et whil e taking hi s savings to the post of fi ce. Sam was sur e that the wal let must have been f ound by one of t he vil lager s, but i t was not ret urned to hi m. Three m ont hs passed, and then one mor ni ng, Sam found his wal let outside his f r ont door. I t had been wr apped up i n newspaper and i t cont ai ned hal f the money he had lost, together wi th a not e which said: 39。but onl y 5o per cent a thi ef !39。 Onl y 25 per cent a t hi ef now! 39。s money was pai d back in t his way. The last not e sai d: 39。 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 , workers began to unl oad a num ber of wooden boxes which contained clot hing. No one coul d acount for the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. I t suddenly occur r ed to one of the wor kers t o open up the box. He was ast oni shed at what he f ound. A man was l yi ng in the box on t op of a pi le of wool len goods. He was so surpr ised at being di scovered t hat he did not even tr y to run away. Aft er he was ar rested, the man a dmi t ed hi ding i n the box befor e the pl ane l eft London. He had had a l ong and unf or table tr ip, for he had been confi ned to t he wooden box for over t en hour s. The m an was or dered t o pay amp。 230 ! Lesson47 A thi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr Ian Thompson is up f or sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise ing f r om t he bar . The next morni ng, he f ound that he door s had been bl ocked by chai r s and t he fur nit ur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thompson had t urned the l ights of f bef ore he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n the m or ning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive empt y whisky bott les whi ch the ghost must have dr unk the night bef ore. When I suggested t hat some vil lagers m ust have e in f or a fr e e dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lager s have told hi m that hey wil l not accept the i nn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me somethi ng? 你想對(duì)我說什么嗎？ Dent ists al ways ask quest ions when it i s im possible f or you to answer. My dent ist had j ust pull ed out one of my teet h and had tol d me t o r est for a whi le. I tr ied t o say somet hi ng, but my mout h was f ull of cot tonwool . He knew I collected bi rds39。t li ke losing my way. I went on an excur si on recent ly, but my t ri p took m e longer than I expected. 39。m goi ng to Woodford Green,39。 but I don39。 39。l l tel l you wher e to get off ,39。 You39。 t he conduct or said. 39。 I s this Woodfor d Gr en ?39。Oh dear ,39。 I for got t o put you of f. 39。It doesn39。 I sai d. 39。l l get of f her e. 39。We ar e going back now, 39。Wel l, i n that case, I pr efer to st ay on the bus,39。This i s the pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。You don39。 Lesson53 H ot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir emen have put out a bi g f orest f ir e i n Cali for ni a. Si nce then, t hey have been tr yi ng to fi nd out how the f ir e bega n. For est f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by cigaret te ends which peopl e car elessl y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir emen exa mi ned the gr ound caref ul ly, but were not abl e to fi nd any br oken gl as. The