【正文】 sum of m oney had been lost. Sam Benton, the l ocal butcher, had lost hi s wal et whi le taking his savings to the post of fi ce. Sam was sure that the wal et must have been f ound by one of t he vil lager s, but it was not ret ur ned to hi m. Three mont hs passed, and then one morni ng, Sam found his wal let out si de his f ront door . It 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。 said Mrs St erl ing l at er, 39。 slowl y. I t obvi ousl y coul d not t el the di f f er ence between I ndi an music and jazz! Lesson43 O ver the South Pole 飛越 南極 In 1929, thr e years af ter his f li ght over the Nor th Pol e, t he Ameri 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 mountai ns t hat l ay bel ow, they soon ran i nt o seri ous t rouble. At one poi nt, it seem ed cer tain that their plane would cr ash. I t could onl y get over the m ountai ns if it r ose to 10,000 f eet . Byrd at once or der ed his m en to t hrow out t wo heavy food 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. Byr d now knew t hat he would be abl e to r each t he South Pole which was 300 mi les away, f or there wer e no mor e mountai ns 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 t he edge of a f orest wi t h her chil dren and tr ied t o steal her handbag. In t he str uggl e, t he st rap br oke and, wit h t he bag i n t hei r possession, bot h men star ted r unni ng through t he tr es. Mr s Sterl ing got so angr y t hat she ran aft er them. She was soon out of br eath, but she cont inued to run. When she caught up wit h them, she saw that they had sat down and were goi ng thr ough t he cont ent s of the bag, so she ran st raight at hem . The men got such a f ri ght t hat t hey dr opped t he bag and r an away. 39。 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 m arkets of Ol d Delhi , we st opped 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 si de 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 cover ed wi th coins and opened one of the basket s. When he began to pl ay a t une, we had our fi rst glim pse of t he snake. I t rose out of t he basket and began to f oll ow t he movem ent s of t he pipe. We wer e very much surpr ised when the snake char mer suddenl y began t o play j az t unes and modern pop songs. The snake, however , conti nued t o 39。And a woman can39。 m ay r eveal som et hing of val ue f ai rl y soon. Leson56 Fast er t han sound! 比聲音還快！ Once a year a r ace i s hel d f or ol d car s. A l ot of car s ent er ed f or thi s r ace last year and t here was a gr eat deal of exci t em ent j ust bef ore i t began. One of t he m ost handsom e car s was a Roll s Royce Sil ver Ghost. The m ost unusual car was a Benz which had only t hree wheels. Bui lt i n 1885, i t was the ol dest car t aki ng par t. Af ter a gr eat m any l oud explosi ons, t he race began. Many of the cars br oke down on the course and som e dri ver s spent m or e t im e under t hei r car s than i n them ! A f ew car s, however , pl eted the r ace. The wi nni ng car r eached a speed of f ort y mi les an hour much f aster t han any of i ts r ivals. It sped downhi l at he end of the r ace and it s dri ver had a l ot of t rouble tr yi ng to st op it . The race gave everyone a great deal of pleasur e. I t was ver y dif fer ent f rom moder n car races but no l ess exci ti ng. Leson57 Can I hel p you, m adam ? 你要買什么，夫人？ A wom an in bl ue jeans st ood at t he window of an expensive shop. Though she hesit at ed for a m om ent , she f inal y went in and as ked t o see a dress that was in t he window. The asist ant who served her di d not li ke the way she was dressed. Glancing at her scornf ul ly, he tol d her that he dress was sol d. The woman walked out of t he shop angri ly and decided to puni sh t he asistant 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 l ong umbrel la i n the ot her . Aft er seeking out the r ude assi stant 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。A man can never have t oo i nt o t he cave hopi ng t o f i nd buri ed tr easur e. The l eader of t he par t y was exami ning t he soil near the entr ance t o t he cave when t he m achi ne showed t hat t her e was gol d under t he gr ound. Ver y exci ted, t he part y dug a hol e t wo f eet deep. They fi nal l y found a sm al gold coi n which was alm ost wor thl ess. The part y t hen searched the whol e cave t hor oughl y but di d not f i nd anyt hi ng except an em pt y t in t r unk. I n spit e of t hi s, m any peopl e ar e confi dent t hat 39。 I f ind it beaut if ul ,39。 I need not r emind you of t hat t er ri ble t ie you bought yesterday.39。t have said t hat ,39。 I remarked suddenly. I r egr et ted saying i t al most at once. 39。t buy things we don39。 m y wi fe answered as she looked at herself in the mi r ror. I sat down on one of t hose m oder n chai rs wi th hol es i n i t and wai ted. We had b