【正文】 school and then I went to mar ket. It was sti l earl y when I r et ur ned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I decided t o make some tar 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 sticky 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 eceiver between two sticky f ingers and was dismayed when I recogni zed the voice of Mr s Bates. It took m e ten m inutes to per suade her to r ing back lat er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a mess! Ther e was pastr y on m y fi nger s, on t he 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 i t was the postman and he wanted m e to si gn for a r egi stered l et ter ! Leson55 Not a gold mine 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f indi ng lost tr easure alm ost came tr ue r ecentl y. A new machine 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 where i 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 col l ect it . Arm ed wit h the new machi ne, a sear ch part y went he di d not like i t. She enjoyed her sel f making t he assistant bri ng al most everyt hing i n the wi ndow befor e fi nal ly buying t he dress she had f ir st asked for. Lesson58 A blessi ng in disgui se? 是因禍得福嗎？ The t iny vil lage of Fri nley i s said to possess a 39。. Because the t ree was menti oned i n a newspaper, t he num ber of visit ors t o Fr inley has now i ncr eased. The t ree was pl ant ed near a chur ch f if ty years ago, but it i s only i n r ecent years t hat i t has gained an evil r eputat ion. It i s said that if anyone t ouches the t ree, he wil l have bad luck。A r elati on of your s is i ng to see you. She wi l be ar ri vi ng thi s evening and i ntends to stay f or a few days. The moment you l eave thi s tent, you wi l get a bi g surpr ise. 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 t his eveni ng. By that tim e, t he Astr a wil l have been fl ying t hrough space f or sevent en hours and wi l have cir cl ed the eart h a gr eat many t imes. When the f ir st r adio m essages have been r eceived, the r esult s of the t ri p wil l be announced i mmedi at el y. Lesson62 Af t er the f ire 大火之后 Fir em en had been f ighti ng the f orest f ir e f or nearl y t hr ee weeks bef or e t hey could get it under contr ol. A shor t im e bef ore, great tr es had cover ed the count ryside f or mil es ar ound. Now, smoke sti l rose up f rom the war m gr ound over the desolate hi l s. Winter was ing on and t he hil ls t hr eat ened the sur r ounding vi l ages wi th destr uct ion, for heavy r ain woul d not onl y wash away the soil but woul d cause seri ous f loods as wel . When the f ir e had at l ast been put out, t he for est aut hori ti es or der ed several tons of a speci al t ype of gr ass seed which would grow qui ckl y. The seed was spr ayed over the gr ound i n huge quanti ti es by aer opl anes. The pl anes had been planting seed for nearl y a month when it began t o r ai n. By then, however, i n many places the grass had alr eady t aken r oot . In pl ace of t he gr eat t rees which had been growi ng there for cent ur ies, pat ches of gr een 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 large ci rcle of f ri ends and i s ver y popul ar at part ies. Ever ybody admir es him for hi s fi ne 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 his was so and she told hi m that she did not l ike t o see so m any people l aughing at him ! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 I n l858, a French engi neer , Aime Thome de Gamond, ar ri ved i n England wi th a plan f or a t wenty one mil e tunnel across the Engl ish Channel. He said that it would 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 whi l e she was havi ng a piic at the edge of a f or est wi th her chil dr en and tr ied t o steal her handbag. I n t he st ruggle, the str ap broke and, wi t h the bag i n their possessi on, both men start ed running t hrough the t rees. Mrs St erl ing got so angr y that she r an aft er t hem . She was soon out of br eat h, but she conti nued to r un. When she caught up wi th them, she saw that hey had sat down and were goi ng through t he cont ent s of t he bag, so she ran str aight at t hem . The m en got such a fr ight that they dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。 sai d Mrs St er li ng lat er , 39。 Lesson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whole vi l age soon l ear nt t hat a l arge sum of money had been lost . Sam Benton, the l ocal butcher , had lost hi s wal et whi le t aki ng his savi ngs to t he post of fi ce. Sam was sure t hat he wal et m ust have been f ound by one of t he vi l ager s, but it was not retur ned to hi m. Three months passed, and t hen one morning, Sam f ound his wal et out si de his f ront door . It had been wr apped up in newspaper and it contained half the money he had l ost , t oget her wi th a note whi ch sai d: 39。but onl y 5o per cent a t hi ef! 39。 Only 25 p