【正文】 5o per cent a thi ef ! 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whol e vil lage soon lear nt t hat a l ar ge sum of money had been l ost . Sam Bent on, t he local but cher , had l ost his wal let whil e taking hi s savi ngs t o the post off ice. Sam was sur e t hat the wal let must have been found by one of the vil lagers, but i t was not r eturned t o him. Thr e months pased, and t hen one mor ning, Sam f ound hi s wal et outside hi s fr 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, t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。 said Mr s Sterl ing l at er, 39。 slowl y. I t obvi ously coul d not t el the di f er ence bet wen I ndian music and j az! Leson43 Over the Sout h Pole 飛越南極 I n 1929, thr ee year s af ter his fl ight over the Nor th Pol e, t he Amer ican expl orer, R. E. Byr d, successf ull y fl ew over the South Pol e for t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st , Byrd and his men were able to t ake a gre at many phot ogr aphs of the mount ai ns that lay below, t hey soon ran i nto seri ous tr oubl e. At one point , i t seemed cert ai n t hat their pl ane woul d crash. I t coul d only get over t he mount ains if i t rose to 10, 000 feet. Byrd at once ordered hi s men t o thr ow out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able t o r ise and it cleared t he mountains by 400 f et . Byr d now knew t hat he woul d be abl e t o reach the South Pol e whi ch was 300 m il es away, for t her e were no more mount ains in si ght . The ai rcr af t was abl e t o fl y over t he endl es whi te pl ai ns wit hout di f icult y. Leson44 Through t he f orest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne St er li ng did not t hi nk of the r isk she was taking when she r an 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 chi ldren and t ri ed to steal her handbag. In the str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wi th t he bag in t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng thr ough t he tr ees. Mr s Ster li ng got so angr y t hat she ran af ter them. She was soon out of brea th, 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 ran away. 39。opened one of the basket s. When he began to pl ay a tune, we had our f i rst gl im pse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began t o f oll ow the m ovements of t he pipe. We wer e ver y m uch surpr ised when the snake charmer suddenl y began t o play j azz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued t o 39。dance39。The st rap needs m endi ng, 39。but they di d not steal anyt hi ng.39。A thi ef , yes, 39。 Two months lat er , som e more money was sent to Sam wit h another not e: 39。 In ti me, al l Sam 39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。345 f or t he cost of the t ri p. The nor mal pr ice of a t icket i s amp。 eggs and asked me whether my col lect ion was gr owing. He t hen asked me how m y brot her was and whether I li ked my new j ob in London. In answer to t hese quest ions I ei ther nodded or made str ange noises. Meanwhi le, my t ongue was busy searching out t he hol e where t he tooth had been. I suddenl y fel t ver y worr ied, but could not say anyt hi ng. When the denti st at last r emoved the cott on wool fr om my mouth, I was abl e to tel hi m t hat he had pull ed out t he wrong t oot h. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美 夢告終 Tir ed of sl eping on t he fl oor, a young man in Teher an saved up for years t o buy a r eal bed. For the f ir st im e in hi s li fe, he became t he proud owner of a bed whi ch had spr ings and a mat tr ess. Because t he weat her was ver y hot, he car ri ed the bed on t o the r oof of hi s house. He sl ept ver y wel f or t he fi rst two nights, but on t he thi rd ni ght , a st orm blew up. A gust of wi nd swept the bed of f the r oof and sent i t cr ashing i nto t he cour tyard bel ow. The young m an di d not wake up unt il t he bed had str uck the gr ound. Alt hough t he bed was sm ashed to pi eces, the man was m ir aculously unhurt . When he woke up, he was st il l on t he mat ress. Gl anci ng at he bit s of wood and m etal that lay around him , t he man sadl y picked up t he matr es and car ied i t into his house. Af ter he had put it on t he fl oor , he prompt ly went to sl eep again. Leson50 Taken for a ri de 乘車兜風(fēng) I l ove tr avel ing i n t he countr y, but I don39。 I39。 I said t o t he conduct or as I got on t he bus,39。t know wher e it i s. 39。l t el you where t o get of f, 39。 You39。 the conductor sai d. 39。 39。 I asked. 39。 said the conductor suddenly. 39。 39。t mat er ,39。I 39。 39。 said t he conductor. 39。 I answer ed. Lesson51 Reward f or vi rtue 對美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fr i end, Herbert , has al ways been fat , but t hi ngs got so bad recent ly that he decided t o go on a diet . He began his di et a week ago. Fir st of al , he wrot e out a l ong li st of al t he foods which wer e for bidden. The l ist included most of t he things Her ber t loves: butt er , potatoes, r ice, beer, milk, chocol at e, and sweets . Yest er day I pai d hi m a visi t. I rang t he bel l and was not sur pri sed t o 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 par cel under hi s desk. It was obvious that he was ver y embar ased. When I asked him what he was doi ng, he smi led guil ti ly and t hen put the par cel on t he desk. He expl ai ned that hi s diet was so st ri ct hat he had t o rewar 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 my new