【正文】 cigaret te ends which peopl e carelessl y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir emen exami ned the gr ound caref ully, but were not abl e t o fi nd any broken glas. They were al so qui te sure t hat a ci gar ete end di d not st ar t the f ir e. Thi s mor ni ng, however , a f ir em an acci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emains of a snake whi ch was wound round the electr ic wir es of a 16, 000 vol t power l ine. In t his way, he was abl e t o sol ve the myster y. The explanation was si mple but very unusual . A bir d had snat ched up t he snake fr om the ground and then dr opped i t on to t he wir es. The snake t hen wound it self r ound the wi res. When it di d so, i t sent sparks down t o t he gr ound and t hese i mmediat el y start ed a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af t er br eakf ast, I sent t he chi ldr en to school and then I went to market. I t was st il l earl y when I r et urned home. The chi ldr en were at school, my hus band was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I deci ded to m ake some t ar ts f or tea. In a short t im e I was busy m ixing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sti cky pastr y. At exactly that moment, the t elephone r ang. Not hi ng coul d have been mor e annoyi ng. I picked up the r ecei ver between t wo sti cky f ingers and was di sm ayed when I r ecognized the voice of Mrs Bat es. It t ook me ten m inutes t o per suade her to r i ng back l at er. At last I hung up the r eceiver. What a m ess! Ther e was pastr y on my f ingers, on the t elephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o t he ki tchen than t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake the dead. Thi s ti me it was t he post man and he want ed me t o sign f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d m ine 并非金礦 Dreams of f inding l ost tr easur e al most came tr ue recent ly. A new machi ne cal led 39。 has been i nvented and i t has been used t o det ect gold which has been bur ied in the gr ound. The machi ne was used i n a cave near the seashore wher e it is saidpi rates used to hi de gol d. The pi rates woul d oft en bur y gold in t he cave and then f ail to col lect i t. Ar med wi th the new m achine, a sear ch par ty went he did not l ike i t. She enj oyed her self m aki ng the assi st ant br ing alm ost ever ythi ng in t he window bef ore f inal y buying t he dr es she had fi rst asked f or. Leson58 A bl esing i n di sgui se? 是因禍得福嗎？ The ti ny vil age of Fr inl ey is said t o posses a 39。. Because t he tr e was mentioned i n a newspaper, the number of visit or s to Fri nl ey has now increased. The tr ee was planted near a chur ch fi ft y year s ago, but it is onl y 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 rela t ion of your s i s i ng to see you. She wil l be ar ri ving t his eveni ng and intends to st ay for a f ew days. The moment you leave this t ent , you wil l get a bi g sur pri se. A woman you know wel wi l r ush towards you. She wi l l speak to you and t hen she wi l l ea d you away f rom thi s pl ace. That i s al .39。Wher e have you been hidi ng ?39。Your si st er wil l be her e in less than an hour and we must be at the stat ion t o m eet her . We ar e late al ready.39。cl ock this evening. By that ti me, the Astr a wi l have been f lyi ng through space f or sevent e en hour s and wil l have cir cled t he ear th a gr eat m any t im es. When t he fi rst radio mesages have been r ecei ved, the r esul ts of the t ri p wi l be announced immedi ately. Leson62 Aft er the fi re 大火之后 Fir emen had been f ighti ng the f orest fi re f or near ly t hree weeks bef or e t hey coul d get it under cont r ol . A short ti me bef or e, gr eat t rees had covered t he countr ysi de for m il es ar ound. Now, sm oke st il l rose up fr om t he warm gr ound over the desol at e hil ls. Wi nter was ing on and the hi l s thr eat ened t he sur roundi ng vil lages wit h dest ructi on, f or heavy r ai n would not only wash away t he soi l but would cause ser ious fl oods as wel l. When t he fi re had at l ast been put out, the f orest aut hor it ies ordered sever al tons of a special type of grass sed whi ch would gr ow quickly. The sed was sprayed over t he ground in huge quantit ies by aeroplanes. The pl anes had been pl ant ing seed for near ly a month whe n i t began t o rai n. By then, however , in many places t he gras had al ready taken root. I n place of the gr eat tr ees which had been gr owing t her e f or centur ies, patches of gr een had begun to appear in t he blackened soi l. Leson63 She was not am used 她并不覺得好笑 Geoff rey Hampden has a l ar ge cir cl e of fr iends and is very popular at par ti es. Everybody admir es hi m f or his f ine sense of humor everybody, t hat i s, except his six year old daughter , Jenny. Recent ly, one of Geof fr ey39。t . Geof fr ey asked her why t hi s was so and she t old hi m t hat she did not li ke to see so many peopl e laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峽隧道 In l858, a French engi neer, Ai me Thome de Gam ond, ar ived i n England wi th a pl an for a t went yone mi le t unnel across the Engli sh Channel. He said t hat i t would be possi ble t o build a platf orm in the cent r e of t he Channe l. Thi s platf orm would serve as a por t and a r ail way st ati on. The t unnel would be wel l vent ilat ed if 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 losing m y way. I went on an excur sion r ecentl y, but my t ri p t ook me longer than I expected. 39。m goi ng to Woodfor d Gr en,39。 but I don39。 39。l l t el l you wher e