【正文】 The asi st ant who served her did not li ke the way she was dressed. Glancing at her scornf ully, he t ol d her that the dress was sol d. The woman walked out of t he shop angri ly and decided to puni sh the asist ant next day. She r etur ned t o t he shop t he foll owing morning dr esed in a fur coat, wit h a handbag i n one hand and a long umbrel la i n the ot her . Aft er seeking out the r ude assistant she asked f or the same dress. Not r eal izing who she was, the assi st ant was eager t o ser ve her t his t im e wit h great dif fi cul ty, he clim bed into the shop window t o get the dress. As soon as she saw it, t he woman sai d s m any t ies.39。And a woman can39。 she answer ed. Ten mi nutes lat er we walked out of t he shop t oget her . My wi fe was wear ing a hat that looked li ke a li ghthouse ! Lesson42 Not very musical 并非很懂音樂 As we had had a long wal k thr ough one of t he markets of Ol d Delhi , we stopped at a squar e to have a r est . Aft er a ti me, we noticed a snake char mer wit h two lar ge basket s at the other side of the squar e, so we went t o have a look at him. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a l ong pi pe which was covered wi th coins and opened one of t he basket s. When he began to play a t une, we had our fi rst gli mpse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began to f oll ow t he movem ent s of the pipe. We wer e very m uch sur pr ised when t he snake char mer suddenl y began t o play j az tunes and moder n pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued to 39。 slowl y. I t obvi ousl y coul d not tel t he di f f erence bet ween Indian m usic and j az! Leson43 Over t he Sout h Pol e 飛越南極 I n 1929, t hr ee year s aft er hi s fl ight over t he Nort h Pole, the Am er ican expl orer , R. E. Byr d, successf ull y f lew over the South Pol e for t he fi rst ti me. Though, at f ir st , Byrd and hi s men were abl e to t ake a great many phot ogr aphs of t he mount ains tha t lay below, t hey soon r an into ser ious tr oubl e. At one point , i t seemed cert ai n t hat t hei r pl ane woul d crash. It coul d only ge t over t he mountains i f it rose t o 10, 000 feet. Byr d at once order ed hi s men t o thr ow out two heavy f ood sacks. The plane was then able t o r ise and it cleared t he mountains by 400 f eet . Byr d now knew that he woul d be able t o r each the Sout h Pole whi ch was 300 mil es away, for t her e wer e no more mount ains in si ght . The ai r cr aft was able t o fl y over the endl es whi te pl ai ns wit hout di f icult y. Leson44 Through the f orest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne St er li ng did not t hi nk of the r isk she was taking when she r an through a f orest af ter two men. They had r ushed up t o her 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 must 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 i n newspaper and i t contained half t he money he had lost , together wit h a note whi ch sai d: 39。but only 5o per cent a thief !39。 Onl y 25 per cent a thi ef now! 39。s money was pai d back i n t hi s way. The last note said: 39。 l esson46 Expensive and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a pl ane fr om London ar ived at Sydney air por t, wor ker s began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clot hi ng. No one could account f or the f act that one of the boxes was extr emely heavy. I t suddenl y occur red t o one of the wor ker s to open up t he box. He was astonished at what he f ound. A man was lyi ng in t he box on top of a pi le of wooll en goods. He was so sur pri sed at being discover ed that he did not even t ry to r un awa y. Af t er he was ar rested, t he man admit ted hi di ng in the box befor e the pl ane l ef t London. He had had a l ong and unfor table t ri p, for he had been confi ned to t he wooden box f or over t en hours. The m an was or der ed t o pay amp。 230 ! Lesson47 A t hi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr Ian Thom pson is up f or sal e. Mr Thom pson i s goi ng to sel i t because i t i s haunt ed. He t ol d m e t hat he coul d not go to sl ep one ni ght because he hear d a st r ange noise i ng f r om t he bar . The next mor ni ng, he f ound that he door s had been bl ocked by chai r s and t he f ur nit ur e had been m oved. Though Mr Thom pson had t urned t he l i ght s of f befor e he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n t he m orni ng. He al so sai d t hat he had f ound fi ve em pt y whi sky bott l es whi ch the ghost m ust have dr unk the ni ght befor e. When I suggest ed t hat some vi l agers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lagers have t ol d him t hat they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gi ves i t away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me som et hi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Denti st s al ways ask quest i ons when i t i s im possi bl e f or you t o answer. 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 kn