【正文】 d e t o England next year. I f she es, she wi l get a sur pr ise. We ar e now li ving i n a beaut if ul new house in the count ry. Wor k on i t had begun befor e my sister l ef t. The house was pl et ed fi ve months ago. I n m y let er, I t ol d her that she could stay wi t h us. The house has many l ar ge rooms and t her e is a lovely garden. It i s a ver y modern house, so i t looks st range to some people. It m ust be the only moder n house in t he distr ict. Leson24 It coul d be worse 不幸中之萬幸 I enter ed the hotel manager 39。 50 and I felt very upset.39。 I sai d, 39。s not there now. 39。Everyone39。 he said. He st ar ted t o plain about this wicked worl d but was inter rupted by a knock at the door. A gi rl came i n and put an envelope on his desk. I t contai ned amp。I found thi s out si de thi s gent leman39。 she sai d. 39。 I sai d t o the m anager , 39。 lesson25 Do the Engl ish speak Engl ish? 英國人講的是英語嗎？ I ar r ived in London at last. The rai lway stat ion was big, black and dark. I did not know the way to m y hotel, so I asked a port er. I not onl y spoke Engli sh ver y careful ly, but ver y clearl y as wel. The por ter, however , coul d not understand me。I am a for ei gner ,39。You39。 he sai d. I wonder. I n England, each man speaks a dif fer ent l anguage. The Engli sh understand each other, but I don39。about39。about39。 What ar e you doi ng ?39。 I 39。 I answer ed. 39。s a new one. Do you li ke it ?39。 It 39。 she said, 39。t it upsi de down ?39。 No Parking39。t axi39。Pi l atus Port er 39。s f ir st passenger was a doct or who f l ew fr om Bi rm i ngham t o a l onel y vi l age in t he Wel sh m ount ai ns. Si nce t hen, Captai n Fawcet has fl own passenger s t o m any unusual pl aces. Once he l anded on t he roof of a block of fl at s and on anot her occasi on, he l anded i n a desert ed car par k. Captai n Fawcet has j ust ref used a str ange r equest fr om a businessm an. The man wanted t o fl y t o Rockal l, a l onel y island i n t he At l anti c Ocean, but Capt ai n Fawcet di d not t ake him because t he t ri p was t oo danger ous. Lesson30 Foot ball or pol o? 足 球還是水球？ The Wayle is a smal r iver that cut s acr oss t he park near my home. I li ke si t ing by t he Wayle on fi ne af ter noons. I t was warm l ast Sunday, so I went and sat on t he ri ver bank as usual. Some chil dren wer e playing games on the bank and ther e were some people r owing on t he ri ver . Suddenly, one of the chil dr en kicked a bal l ver y hard and i t went t owards a pasi ng boat . Some people on t he bank cal led out to t he man in the boat, but he di d not hear them. The bal str uck hi m so hard that he nearl y f el l int o the wat er . I tur ned t o l ook at t he chi ldren, but t her e wer en39。s bicycl e! Lesson32 Shopping m ade easy 購物變得很方便 Peopl e ar e not so honest as t hey once were. The t em pt ati on to steal is gr eat er t han ever bef oreespecial ly i n l ar ge shops. A detective r ecent ly wat ched a wel l dressed wom an who always went into a large st or e on Monday mor nings. One Monday, there were f ewer people i n the shop t han usual when t he woman came in, so it was easi er for the det ecti ve to watch her. The woman f ir st bought a few smal l ar ti cles. Af ter a l it tl e ti me, she chose one of t he m ost expensive dr esses i n t he shop and handed i t to an assi st ant who wrapped it up f or her as quickly as possi bl e. Then t he woman simpl y took t he par cel and walked out of the shop wit hout paying. When she was ar rested, the detecti ve found out t hat t he shopassistant was her daught er . The gir l39。 her m ot her a fr e dr es once a week ! lesson33 Out of t he darkness 沖出黑暗 Nearl y a week pased befor e the gir l was abl e t o expl ai n what had happened t o her. One af ternoon she set out f r om t he coast i n a smal boat and was caught i n a stor m. Towards eveni ng, t he boat str uck a rock and the gir l jumped i nto t he sea. Then she swam to t he shor e af ter spendi ng the whole ni ght i n t he wat er. Dur ing t hat t ime she cover ed a distance of ei ght m il es. Earl y next mor ning, she saw a l ight ahead. She knew she was near the shor e because the l ight was hi gh up on t he cl if fs. On ar ri vi ng at the shor e, the gir l st ruggled up t he cli f towar ds the l ight she had sen. That was al l she r em em ber ed. When she woke up a day l ater, she f ound her sel f i n hospi tal. Lesson34 Q ui ck work 破案“神速” Ted Robi nson has been wor ri ed al t he week. Last Tuesday he r ecei ved a l et t er f rom the l ocal pol i ce. I n t he l et ter he was asked t o cal l at t he st at i on. Ted wonder ed why he was wanted by t he pol i ce, but he went t o t he stati on yest er day and now he is not worr i ed any m or e. At the stati on, he was t old by a smi li ng poli cem an t hat hi s bi cycl e had been f ound. Fi ve days ago, t he pol icem an t ol d him, t he bi cycl e was picked up i n a sm al l vil age f our hundr ed mil es away. I t is now bei ng sent to hi s hom e by tr ain. Ted was most sur pr ised when he hear d t he news. He was amused t oo, because he never expect ed the bi cycle t o be f ound. It was st ol en t went y years ago when Ted was a boy of f if teen ! Leson35 Stop t hief! 捉賊！ Rov Trent on used t o dr i ve a t axi. A short whi le ago, however, he becam e a bus dri ver and he was not r egret ed it . He i s f i ndi ng hi s new wor k f ar m or e exci ti ng. When he was dri vi ng along Catf or d St r eet r ecent l y, he saw t wo t hi eves r ush out of a shop and r un t owar ds a wai ti ng car . One of them was car rying a bag f ull of money. Roy acted qui ckl y and drove the bus str aight at t he thieves. The one wi th t he money got such a fr i ght t hat he dropped the bag. As the t hieves wer e tr ying t o get away in t hei r car , Roy drove his bus i nt o t he back of it . Whi le t he bat tered car was moving away, Roy stopped hi s bus and t elephoned t he pol ice. The t hieves3