【正文】 mi led guil ti ly and t hen put the pa r cel on the desk. He expl ai ned that hi s diet was so st ri ct hat he had t o r ewar d himself occasional y. Then he showed me t he contents of t he par cel . It contained f ive lar ge bar s of chocolate and t hree bags of sweets! Lesson52 A pret y carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have j ust moved i nt o a new house and I have been worki ng har d al mor ning. I have been tr ying t o get m y new r oom in or der. This has not been easy because I own over a thousand books. To m ake m at ter s worse, the r oom is rather sm al l, so I have temporar il y put m y books on t he fl oor. At t he m oment , they cover ever y i nch of f loor space and I act ual ly have t o walk on them t o get in or out of t he room. A shor t whil e ago, my si st er helped m e to car y one of my ol d bookcases up t he st air s. She went into my r oom and got a big surpr ise when she saw al l those books on t he fl oor . 39。 she said. She ga zed at i t for some t ime then added, 39。t need bookcases at al l. You can si t her e i n your spare t ime and r ead the carpet! 39。The Revealer 39。cur sed t ree39。 if he pi cks a l eaf , he wil l die. Many vil lagers beli eve t hat t he tr e has alr eady cl aimed a number of victi ms. The vi car has been asked to have the t ree cut down, but so far he has refused. He has point ed out t hat t he tr e is a usef ul sour ce of i ne as t ouri st s have been ing f rom al part s of the count ry t o see it . I n spit e of al l that has been sai d, t he t our i st shave been pi cki ng leaves and cutt ing t hei r nam es on the t reet runk. So far , not one of them has been st ruck down by sudden death! Leson59 In or out ？ 進(jìn)來(lái)還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to si t out si de our f ront gate and bark. Ever y t ime he want ed to e into the garden he would bar k unti l s omeone opened the gate. As t he nei ghbours pl ai ned of the noise, m y husband spent weeks t rai ni ng him to pres hi s paw on t he latch t o let him sel f i n. Rex soon becam e an expert at openi ng the gate. However , when I was goi ng out shopping l ast week, I noti ced hi m i n t he gar den near the gate. This t ime he was bar king so that som eone woul d let him out ! Si nce then, he has devel oped anothe r bad habit . As soon as he opens the gate f rom the outsi de, he es into the garden and wait s unt il t he gat e shut s. Then he sit s and bar ks unt il som eone l et s him out. Af ter thi s he imm edi ately l ets him sel f in and begins bar king again. Yest erday my husband r emoved the gate and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen hi m si nce. Leson60 The fut ure 卜算未來(lái) At a vi l age fair , I decided t o visit a f ort une tel er cal led Madam Bel li nsky. I went i nto her tent and she t old m e to si t down. Af ter I had given her some m oney, she l ooked i nto a cr yst al bal and sai d: 39。 As soon as I went out side, I f ot al about Madam Bel li nsky because my wif e hurr ied t owar ds me. 39。 she asked im pat ientl y. 39。 As she wal ked away, I fol lowed her out of the f air . Lesson61 Trouble wi t h the Hubble 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 I n f utur e, ast ronauts wi l be r equi red t o descend fr om a spaceship whi le it is st il i n space and to retur n t o it . The abi l i t y to do t his wi l be necessar y i n fut ure f li ght s to distant pl a s. Scienti st s are now tr yi ng to discover if t his i s possible. The spaceshi p Astr a which l ef t the eart h a short ti me ago, wil l be tr avel ing t hree hundred mi les i nt o space. At a cer tai n poi nt, t he Ast ra wil l st op for a short ti me and an astr onaut wil l at tempt t o leave the stat ionar y spaceshi p and then r eturn to i t. We shal l not know whether the exper im ent has been successf ul unt il we have r eceived a r adi o message. The fi rst mesage is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。s cl osest fr iends asked him to make a speech at a weddi ng recept ion. Thi s i s the sort of t hi ng that Geoff rey l oves. He prepared t he speech car ef ull y and went t o t he weddi ng wit h Jenny. He had incl uded a l arge number of f unny st ori es i n t he speech and, of cour se, it was a gr eat succes. As soon as he had f ini shed, Jenny tol d him she want ed to go home. Geoff rey was a li tl e disappoi nted by t hi s but he di d as his daught er asked. On the way home, he asked Jenny i f she had enjoyed the speech. To his surpr ise, she sai d she hadn39。s hospit al . Dressed up as Fat her Chr istmas and acpanied by a 39。 of six pr ety gir ls, he s et off down t he main st reet of t he ci ty ri di ng a baby elephant cal led Jumbo. He, shoul d have known that the poli ce woul d never al ow t his sort of thi ng. A pol iceman approached Jim my and tol d him he ought t o have gone along a si de st reet as Jumbo was hol di ng up the t raf fi c. Though Jimmy agr eed to go at once, Jum bo r ef used t o m ove. Fi ft een pol icemen had t o push ver y har d t o get him off t he mai n st r et. The poli ce had a di f i cult t im e, but they wer e m ost am used. 39。 sai d a pol i ceman aft er war ds, 39。t have t o car ry hi m. Of cour se, we should ar r est hi m, but as he has a good r ecor d, we shal l l et him off t his t im e.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 whet her m y 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. In answer to these quest ions I eit her nodded or made st range noi ses. Meanwhi le, my tongue was busy sear chi ng out t he hole where the t oot h had been. I suddenl y f el t ver y wor ri ed, but coul d not say anyt hing. When the denti st at last removed the cott onwool fr om my mouth, I was able t o tel l hi m that he had pull ed out t he wr ong tooth. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美夢(mèng)告終 Ti red of sl eepi ng on the f loor , a young man i n Teher an saved up f or year s to buy a r eal bed. For