【正文】 ngers 粘糊的手指 Af t er br eakfast, I sent t he chi ldr en to school and then I went to market. I t was st il earl y when I r et urned home. The chi ldren wer e at school, my husband 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 and 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 f or a r egi st er ed l et t er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d m i ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of f i ndi ng l ost t r easur e al m ost cam e t r ue r ecent l y. A ne w m achi ne cal l ed 39。 has been i nvent ed and i t has been used t o det ect gol d whi ch has been bur i ed i n t he gr ound. Th e m achi ne was used i n a cave near t he seashor e wher e i t i s sai dpi r at es used t o hi de gol d. The pi r at es woul d of t en bur y gol d i n t he cave and t hen f ai l t o col l ect i t . Ar m ed wi t h t he new m achi ne, a sear ch par t y went m any t i es. 39。And a wom an can39。 she answer ed. 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 the squar e, so we went t o 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 ros e out of t he basket and began t o f ollow the m ovements of t he pipe. We wer e ver y much surpr ised when the snake charm er suddenl y bega n t o play j azz t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however, conti nued t o 39。 slowly. I t obvi ously could not t el l the di f er ence between I ndian music and j azz! Leson43 Over the Sout h Pole 飛越南極 I n 1929, thr ee year s af ter his f li ght over the Nor th Pol e, t he Amer ican expl orer, R. E. Byr d, successf ul ly fl ew over t he Sout h Pole f or the f ir st t im e. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his m en wer e able t o t ake a gr eat many photographs of the mountai ns that l ay bel ow, they soon ran i nto seri ous t rouble. At one poi nt, i t seemed cer tai n that their plane woul d crash. I t could onl y get over the m ount ai ns if i t r ose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or dered his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy food sacks. The pl ane was then abl e t o ri se and i t clear ed the m ount ai ns by 400 feet. Byr d now knew t hat he would be abl e to reach the South Pol e which was 300 mi les away, for there were no mor e mountai ns in sight . The ai rcraf t was abl e to f ly over t he endless whit e plai ns wi t hout dif fi cul ty. Lesson44 Through t he forest 穿過森林 Mr s Anne Ster li ng di d not think of t he ri sk she was t aki ng when she ran t hr ough a for est aft er two men. They had rushed up to her whi le she was havi ng a piic at t he edge of a f or est wi th her chil dr en and tr ied t o steal her handbag. In t he st ruggle, the st rap broke and, wit h the bag i n their possessi on, both men start ed running t hrough t he t r es. Mr s St erl ing got so angr y that she r an af t er them. She was soon out of breath, but she conti nued 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 f ound hi s wal et 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 lost, t ogether wi th a not e which said: 39。but onl y 5o per ce nt 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。 lesson46 Expensi ve and un fortabl e 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane f rom London ar ri ved at Sydney ai rpor t, wor ker s began t o unl oad a number of wooden boxes whi ch cont ai ned cl othing. No one could account for t he fact that one of t he boxes was ext rem el y heavy. It suddenly occurr ed to one of t he workers t o open up the box. He was ast onished at what he found. A man was l ying i n the box on t op of a pil e of woollen goods. He was so sur pr ised at bei ng discovered t hat he di d not even tr y t o run away. Af ter he was ar est ed, the m an adm it ed hidi ng in t he box bef ore t he plane lef t London. He had had a long and unf ort abl e tr ip, f or he had been conf ined t o the wooden box for over ten hours. The man was ordered t o pay amp。230 ! Leson47 A thi rsty ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr I an Thompson is up f or sale. Mr Thompson is goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me that he coul d not go to sleep one night because he heard a st range noise i ng f r om t he bar . The next morni ng, he