【正文】 46 Expensi ve and unf ortable 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney ai rport , workers began to unl oad a number of wooden boxes whic h contained cl ot hing. No one coul d acount for the f act t hat one of the boxes was ext remely heavy. I t suddenly occurr ed to one of the wor kers t o open up the box. He was ast oni shed at what he f ound. A man was l yi ng in the box on t op of a pi le of wool len goods. He was so surpr ised at being di scovered t hat he did not even tr y to run away. Aft er he was ar rested, the man admi t ed hi ding i n the box bef or e t he pl ane left London. He had had a l ong and unf or tabl e tr ip, for he had been conf ined to the wooden box for over t en hour s. The man was or dered t o pay amp。230 ! Lesson47 A thi rst y ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecentl y bought by Mr Ian Thompson is up f or sal e. Mr Thom pson i s goi ng to sel i t because i t is haunt ed. He told me t hat he coul d not go to sl ep one night because he hear d a str ange noise ing f r om t he ba r . The next mor ni ng, he f ound that the door s had been bl ocked by chair s and t he fur nit ur e had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had t urned the l ight s of f before he went t o bed, t hey wer e on i n the m orning. He also said t hat he had f ound f ive em pt y whi sky bott les whi ch the ghost must have dr unk the night before. When I suggested t hat some vi lagers m ust have e in f or a fr ee dri nk, Mr Thom pson shook hi s head. The vil lager s have told hi m that they wi l not accept t he inn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Di d you want t o t el l me somethi ng? 你想對我說什么嗎？ Dentist s al ways ask quest ions when it i s impossible for you to answer. My dent ist had j ust pull ed out one of my teeth and had tol d me t o r est f or a whi le. I tr i ed t o say som et hing, but my mouth was f ull of cot ton wool. He knew I coll ect ed bi rds39。t l ike l osi ng my way. I went on an excursion r ecentl y, but my tr ip t ook me l onger than I e xpected. 39。m going t o Woodf or d Gr een, 39。 but I don39。 I 39。 answered t he conduct or. I sat i n the f r ont of the bus t o get a good view of the count ryside. Aft er some t ime, t he bus st opped. Looking round, I r eal ized wi th a shock that I was the only passenger l eft on t he bus. 39。l l have to get of f her e, 39。This i s as far as we go.39。 Is t hi s Woodf or d Gr een ?39。Oh dear , 39。 I for got t o put you of f. 39。t m at ter ,39。I 39。 We ar e going back now, 39。Wel l, i n that case, I pr efer to st ay on the bus, 39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。You don39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At last f ir emen have put out a big f orest f ir e i n Cali for ni a. Si nce then, t hey have been tr ying t o fi nd out how the f ir e began. Forest f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by ci gar et e ends whi ch people car el esly throw away. Yester day t he fi remen exami ned t he ground car eful ly, but wer e not able to f ind any br oken gl ass. They wer e also quit e sur e that a cigaret te end did not star t he fi re. This m orning, however , a fi reman acci dent al ly di scovered t he cause. He not iced the r emains of a snake whi ch was wound round the el ect ri c wir es of a 16, 000 volt power l ine. In this way, he was able t o sol ve the m yst er y. The explanati on was si mple but very unusual . A bir d had snat c hed up t he snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped i t on to t he wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round the wi r es. When i t di d so, i t sent spar ks down to t he ground and these imm edi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Aft er br eakf ast , I sent the chil dr en to school and t hen I went t o market. I t was st il l ear ly when I r etur ned home. The chi ldr en were at school, m y husband was at 湖南長沙 西湖文化園 項(xiàng)目 可 行 性 研 究 報(bào) 告 浙江金昌房地產(chǎn)集團(tuán)有限公司 二 OO 七年八月i nt o t he cave hopi ng t o f i nd bur ied t reasur e. The l eader of t he part y was exami ning t he soi l near t he 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 t ed, t he part y dug a hol e t wo feet deep. They f i nal y f ound a sm al l gol d coi n whi ch was al m ost wort hl es. The par t y then sear ched t he whol e cave thor oughly but di d not f ind anythi ng except an em pt y ti n tr unk. I n s pit e of t his, many peopl e are confi dent t hat 39。 may r eveal som et hi ng 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 cars enter ed for t hi s r ace l ast year and t her e was a great deal of excit em e nt j ust bef or e it began. One of t he m ost handsome cars was a Rol l s Royce Si lver Ghost . The m ost unusual car was a Benz whi ch had onl y t hr ee wheel s. Bui lt i n 1885, it was t he ol dest car taking part . Aft er a great m any loud expl osi ons, t he r ace began. Many of the cars br oke down on the cour se and som e dr i ver s spent m ore t im e under t hei r car s than i n them ! A f ew car s, however , pl et ed t he r ace. The wi nni ng car eached a speed of f ort y mi les an hourm uch f ast er t han any of i ts r i val s. It sped downhi l at t he end of t he r ace and i ts dr i ver had a l ot of tr oubl e t ryi ng t o st op i t. The r ace gave ever yone a gr eat deal of pl easure. It was ver y di f fer ent fr om m oder 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 wi ndow of an expensi ve shop. Though she hesit at ed f or a m om ent , she fi nal y went i n and as ked to see a dr ess t hat was i n the wi ndow. The assi st ant who ser ved her di d not l ike t he way she was dr esed. Gl anci ng at her scor nf ul y, he tol d her t hat t he dr ess was sol d. The wom an wal ked out of t he shop angril y