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手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent the chil dr en to school and t hen I went t o market. I t was st il l ear ly when I r etur ned home. The chi ldr en were at school, m y husband was at i nt o t he cave hopi ng to fi nd bur ied t reasur e. The leader of the part y was exam ini ng the soil near t he ent rance to t he cave when t he machi ne showed t hat t her e was gold under the ground. Very excit ed, the par ty dug a hole two feet deep. They f inal y f ound a smal l gol d coi n whi ch was al most wort hl es. The par ty then sear ched t he whol e cave thoroughly but did not fi nd anyt hing except an empty ti n tr unk. I n spi te of t his, many people ar e conf ident that 39。 may reveal somethi ng of val ue f air ly soon. Lesson56 Faster t han sound! 比聲音還快! Once a year a race is held for old car s. A lot of car s ent er ed f or t his r ace l ast year and t her e was a gr eat deal of exci teme nt just bef or e i t began. One of t he most handsome car s was a Roll s Royce Si lver Ghost . The most unusual car was a Benz whi ch had onl y t hr ee wheel s. Bui lt i n 1885, it was t he oldest car taking part . Aft er a great m any loud expl osi ons, the r ace began. Many of t he car s broke down on t he cour se and some dr ivers spent mor e t ime under their c ars t han in t hem ! A few car s, however, pleted t he race. The winning car reached a speed of for ty m iles an hourm uch fast er than any of it s ri val s. I t sped downhil at the end of t he r ace and its dr iver had a lot of tr oubl e tr ying t o stop i t. The r ace gave ever yone a gr eat deal of pl easur e. It was very di f erent fr om m odern car r aces but no less excit ing. Lesson57 Can I help you, madam? 你要買什么,夫人? A woman i n blue j eans stood at the wi ndow of an expensi ve shop. Though she hesi tated f or a moment, she fi nal ly went i n and asked to see a dr es t hat was i n the wi ndow. The assistant who ser ved her did not l ike t he way she was dr esed. Gl anci ng at her scor nfull y, he told her t hat the dr es was sold. The woman wal ked out of the shop angr il y and deci ded t o punis h the assi stant next day. She ret urned to the shop the f ol lowi ng mor ni ng dressed i n a f ur coat, wi th a handbag in one hand and a l ong um br el a in t he other. Af ter seeki ng out t he rude asist ant she asked for t he same dr es. Not reali zi ng who she was, t he a sistant was eager to ser ve her t hi s t i m e wi t h great di f icult y, he cl imbed i nto t he shop wi ndow t o get t he dress. As soon as she saw i t, the wom an sai d s many t ies. 39。And a wom an can39。 she answered. Ten mi nut es later we wal ked out of the shop together. My wi fe was wear ing a hat that looked li ke a li ght house ! Leson42 Not very m usi cal 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a long walk through one of the m ar ket s of Old Delhi, we st opped at a squar e to have a r est . Af t er a t im e, we not iced a snakecharm er wi th two large basket s at t he other si de of t he squar e, so we went to have a l ook at hi m. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pi pe which 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 im pse of the snake. I t r ose out of the basket and began t o f ol low the m ovements of t he pi pe. We wer e ver y much 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。 sl owly. I t obvi ously could not t el l the di f er ence between I ndi an m usi c and jazz! Lesson43 O ver t he South Pol e 飛越南極 In 1929, three years af ter his f li ght over t he Nor th Pole, the Am eri can explor er , R. E. Byrd, succesful ly f lew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t ime. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men wer e able t o take a gr eat many photographs of the mountains t hat l ay bel ow, they soon r an int o ser ious t rouble. At one poi nt, it seem ed cer tain that their plane would cr ash. It could onl y get over the mountai ns if it r ose t o 10,000 f et . Byr d at once or der ed his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy f ood sacks. The pl ane was t hen abl e to ri se and i t cl ear ed the m ount ai ns by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that he would be abl e to r each t he Sout h Pole which was 300 mi les away, f or there wer e no mor e mountains i n sight. The air craf t was able to f ly over the endless whit e plains wi thout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through t he forest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Sterl ing di d not think of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she r an thr ough a for est aft er t wo men. They had rushed up to her whil e she was havi ng a piic at the edge of a forest wit h her chi ldr en and t ri ed to st eal her handbag. I n the str uggl e, t he str ap br oke and, wi th t he bag in t hei r possesion, bot h men st ar ted r unni ng thr ough the tr ees. Mr s Ster li ng got so angry t hat she r an af ter them. She was soon out of breath, but she continued t o run. When she caught up wi th t hem, she saw t hat they had sat down and wer e going t hr ough the contents of the bag, so she r an st rai ght at them. The men got such a f r ight that hey dropped the bag and ran away. 39。 said Mr s Sterl ing l ater, 39。 Leson45 A cl ear consci ence 問心無愧 The whole vi lage soon learnt that a lar 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 et urned t o him. Thr e months passed, and then one mor ning, Sam found hi s walet 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 l ost , t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。but onl y 5o per cent a thi ef !39。 Only 25 per cent a t hief now! 39。s money was pai d back in t his way. The last not e sai d:39。 leson