【正文】 tr ip t ook me l onger than I expect ed. 39。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 sal e. Mr Thom pson i s goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me t hat he coul d not go to sl ep one night because he hear d a str ange noise ing fr om t he bar . The next mor ni ng, he f ound that the door s had been bl ocked by chair s and t he fur nit ur e had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had t urned the l ight s of f before he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n the m orning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive em pt y whi sky bott les whi ch the ghost must have dr unk the night before. When I suggested t hat some vi lagers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lager s have told hi m that they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me somethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dentist s al ways ask quest ions when it i s im possible for you to answer. My dent ist had j ust pull ed out one of my teeth and had tol d me t o r est f or a whi le. I tr i ed t o say somet hing, but my mouth was f ull of cot ton wool. He knew I coll ect ed bi rds39。 lesson46 Expensi ve and un fortabl e 既昂貴又受罪 When a pl ane f rom London ar ri ved at Sydney ai rpor t, wor ker s began t o unload a number of wooden boxes whi ch cont ai ned cl othing. No one could account f or t he fact that one of t he boxes was extr em el y heavy. It suddenly occurr ed to one of t he worker s to open up the box. He was astonished at what he found. A m an was lying i n t he box on top of a pil e of wooll en goods. He was so sur pr ised at bei ng discover ed t hat he di d not even t ry t o r un away. Af ter he was ar est ed, t he m an adm it ted hidi ng in t he box bef ore t he pla ne lef t London. He had had a long and unf ort abl e t ri p, f or he had been conf i ned t o the wooden box f or over ten hours. The man was order ed to pay amp。s m oney was paid back i n thi s way. The l ast note said:39。 Only 25 per cent a thief now! 39。but only 5o per cent a t hief! 39。 Leson45 A cl ear consci ence 問心無愧 The whole vi l age soon learnt t hat a l ar ge sum of money had been l ost . Sam Benton, the local but cher , had l ost his wal let whil e t aki ng hi s s avi ngs t o t he post off ice. Sam was sur e t hat t he walet must have been found by one of the vi l agers, but i t was not r etur ned to hi m. Three months passed, and t hen one m orning, Sam f ound hi s wal et out si de his f ront door . It had been wr apped up in newspape r and it cont ained half the m oney he had l ost , t oget her wi th a note whi ch said: 39。 sai d Mr s Ster li ng later , 39。 slowl y. I t obvi ously coul d not t el the di f er ence bet we n 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 ica n 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 great m any phot ogr aphs of the m ount 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 able t o reach the South Pol e which was 300 m il es away, for t her e were no more m ount ai ns in si ght . The ai r cr af t 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 Mrs Anne Sterl ing di d not t hink of the r isk she was taki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo men. They had rushed up t o her whil e she was having a pi i c at the edge of a for est wi th her chi ldr en and t r ied to st eal her handbag. I n the st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi th the bag in their possesion, both m en st ar t ed r unning t hr ough the t rees. Mrs St er li ng got so angry that she r an af ter t hem. She was s oon out of br eath, but she conti nued t o r un. When she caught up wi th t hem, she saw t hat t hey had sat down and wer e going t hrough the contents of t he bag, so she r an str ai ght at them. The men got such a fr ight that they dropped the 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 charm er suddenl y began t o play j azz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued t o 39。dance39。The str ap needs mendi ng,39。but t hey di d not st eal anything.39。A t hi ef, yes, 39。 Two months l ater, some mor e money was sent to Sam wi th another note:39。 I n t ime, al Sam39。 I am 100 per cent honest now!39。345 f or the cost of the t ri p. The nor mal pri ce of a t icket is amp。 eggs and asked me whet her my col lecti on was growi ng. He then asked me how my br other was and whet her I l iked my new job i n London. I n answer to these questions I eit her nodded or made st range noi ses. Meanwhil e, my tongue was busy sear chi ng out the hole wher e the t oot h had been. I suddenly f elt ver y wor ri ed, but coul d not say anything. When t he denti st at l ast removed t he cot tonwool f rom my mout h, I was able t o t el l him that he had pul led out the wr ong tooth. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美夢告終 Ti red of sleeping on t he fl oor , a young man in Teheran saved up for year s to buy a real bed. For the f ir st t ime in hi s li fe, he became t he proud 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 t o the r