【正文】 nd was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I deci ded t o make some t ar ts f or tea. I n a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sti cky pastr y. At exact ly that m oment , the t el ephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r ecei ver between two sti cky f ingers a nd was dismayed when I r ecognized the voice of Mr s Bates. It t ook m e ten m inutes t o per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on m y f inger s, on the tel ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang loud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime it was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l eter ! Leson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure alm ost came t rue r ecentl y. A new m achi ne caled 39。 has been invent ed and it has been used to detect gol d whi ch has been bur ied i n t he gr ound. The machine was used in a cave near t he seashor e wherei t i s sai d pir at es used t o hide gold. The pir at es would of ten bury gol d in the cave and t hen fai l t o coll ect it . Arm ed wit h t he new machi ne, a search part y went he di d not li ke it. She enjoyed hersel f making t he ass istant bri ng al most everyt hing i n the wi ndow befor e fi nal ly buying the dress she had f ir st asked for . Lesson58 A blessi ng in disguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vil lage of Fri nley i s sai d to possess a 39。. Because the t ree was menti oned in a newspaper , t he num ber of visi tors t o Fr inley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was pl ant ed near a church f if ty years ago, but i t i s only i n r ecent years t hat i t has gained an evil r eput at ion. It i s sai d that if anyone t ouches the t ree, he wil l have bad luck。A rel at ion of yours i s c om ing t o se you. She wil l be ar r iving t his eveni ng and int ends 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。Where have you been hi ding ?39。Your sister wi l be her e i n less than an hour and we must be at the st at ion t o meet her . We ar e late al ready.39。cl ock this eveni ng. By that ti me, the Astr a wi l have been f lying through space f or sevent een hour s and wil l have cir cled the ear th a gr eat many t imes. When t he fi rst radio m esages have been r ecei ved, the r esult s of the t ri p wi l be announced imm edi at ely. Lesson62 Aft er the f ire 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ighti ng the f orest fi re f or near ly t hree weeks bef ore t hey could get i t under cont rol. A shor t ti me before, grea t tr ees had cover ed the countr ysi de f or mi les around. Now, smoke sti l r ose up f rom the war m ground over t he desolate hi l s. Wint er was i ng on and the hil ls t hreatened the surr oundi ng vi l ages wi th destr uct ion, for heavy rain woul d not onl y wash away the soil but would cause seri ous fl oods as wel . When the f ir e had at last been put out , t he for est authori ti es or der ed sever al t ons of a speci al t ype of gr asseed which woul d grow qui ckl y. The seed was spr ayed over the gr ound in huge quant it es by aer oplanes. The planes had been pla nti ng seed f or nearl y a mont h when it began t o r ai n. By then, however, i n many places the grass had al ready taken r oot . In pl ace of t he gr eat t rees which had been growi ng there f or cent ur ies, pat ches of green had begun t o appear in the blackened soil . Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不覺得好笑 Geof fr ey Hampden has a l arge cir cle of f ri ends and is ver y popul ar at part ies. Everybody admir es him for his f ine sense of humor ever ybody, that is, except hi s si xyear ol d daught er , Jenny. Recentl y, one of Geoff rey39。t . Geoff rey asked her why t hi s was so and she t old hi m t hat she did not l ike to see so many peopl e l aughing at him ! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 I n l858, a French engi neer , Ai m e Thom e de Gam ond, ar r i ved i n Engl and wi t h a pl an f or a t went y one m i l e t unnel acr oss t he Engl i sh Channel . He sai d t hat i t woul d be possi bl e t o bui l d a pl at f or m i n t he cent r e of t he Channel . Thi s pl at f or m woul d ser ve as a por t and a r ai l way st at i on. The t unnel woul d be wel l vent i l at ed i f t al l chi m neys wer e bui l t above sea l evel . I n 1860, a bet t er pl an was put f or war d by an My dent i st 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 l osi ng my way. I went on an excur si on recent ly, but m y tr ip took me longer t han I expect ed. 39。m goi ng to Woodf ord Green,39。 but I don39。 39。l l tel you where to get off ,39。 You39。 the conduct or said. 39。 39。 I asked. 39。 sai d the conduct or suddenl y.39。 I t doesn39。 I said. 39。l l get off here. 39。 said the conductor . 39。 I answered. Lesson51 Reward f or virt ue 對(duì) 美 德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My f ri end, Herber t, has al ways been f at , but t hings got so bad r ecentl y that he deci ded t o go on a di et . He began hi s diet a week ago. Fir st of al l, he wr ot e out a long l ist of al l t he foods whi ch wer e f orbidden. The l ist included most of the thi ngs Her bert loves: but ter, potatoes, r ice, beer , mil k, chocol a te, and sweets. Yest erday I pai d him a vi si t. I r ang t he bel l and was not surpr ised to see that Herbert was sti l as f at as e ver . He l ed me int o his r oom and hurr iedly hi d a l arge parcel under his desk. I t was obvious t hat he was very embar rassed. When I a sked him what he was doi ng, he smi led guil ti ly and t hen put t he par cel on