【正文】 he pl anes had been pl ant ing seed for near ly a month when i t began t o rai n. By then, however , in many places t he grass had al ready taken root. I n place of the gr eat tr ees which had been gr owing t her e f or centur ies, patches of gr een had begun to appear in t he blackened soi l. Leson63 She was not am used 她并不覺得好笑 Geoff r ey Ham pden has a l ar ge cir cl e of fr iends and is very popular at par ti es. Everybody adm ir es hi m f or his f ine sense of hum or ever ybody, t hat i s, except hi s si x year ol d daught er , Jenny. Recent l y, one of Geof f r ey39。dance39。The str ap needs mendi ng,39。but t hey di d not st eal anything.39。A t hi ef, yes, 39。 Two months l ater, some mor e money was sent to Sam wi th another note:39。 I n t ime, al Sam39。 I am 100 per cent honest now!39。345 f or the cost of the t ri p. The nor mal pri ce of a t icke t is amp。 eggs and asked me whet her my col lecti on was growi ng. He then asked me how my br other was and whet her I l iked my new job i n London. I n answer to these questions I eit her nodded or made st range noi ses. Meanwhil e, my tongue was busy sear chi ng out the hole wher e the t oot h had been. I suddenly f elt ver y wor ri ed, but coul d not sa y anything. When t he denti st at l ast removed t he cot tonwool f rom my mout h, I was able t o t el l him that he had pul led out the wr ong tooth. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美夢(mèng)告終 Ti red of sleeping on t he fl oor , a young man in Teheran saved up for year s to buy a real bed. For the f ir st t ime in hi s li fe, he became t he proud owner of a bed whi ch had spr ings and a mat ress. Because t he weat her was very hot , he car ri ed the bed on t o the r oof of hi s house. He sl ept very wel for t he fi rst two nights, but on t he thir d ni ght , a st orm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off t he roof and sent it cr ashing i nto t he cour tyard bel ow. The young man di d not wake up unt il the bed had str uck the ground. Alt hough t he bed was smashed t o pieces, t he man was mi raculousl y unhur t. When he woke up, he was sti l on t he mat res. Gl ancing at t he bi ts of wood and met al t hat l ay ar ound hi m, t he m an sadly picked up the mat tr ess and car ri ed it i nto hi s house. Af t er he had put i t on the f loor , he pr omptl y went to sleep agai n. Lesson50 Taken f or a ride 乘車兜風(fēng) I love t raveli ng in the count ry, but I don39。 I39。 I said to t he conductor as I got on t he bus,39。t know wher e it i s. 39。 I 39。 answered t he conductor. I sat i n t he f r ont of the bus t o get a good view of the count ryside. Aft er some ti me, t he bus st opped. Looki ng round, I r eal ized wi th a shock that I was the only passenger left on t he bus . 39。l l have t o get of f her e, 39。This i s as far as we go.39。 Is t his Woodf ord Gr een ?39。Oh dear, 39。 I f ot to put you off .39。I t doesn39。 I said. 39。l get off here.39。We are goi ng bac k now, 39。Wel , in t hat case, I pref er t o stay on t he bus, 39。Thi s is t he pr et iest carpet I have ever seen,39。You don39。 Lesson53 H ot s nake 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 bega n. For est f ir e are of ten caused by br oken gl ass or by cigaret te ends which peopl e car elessl y thr ow away. Yest er day the f ir emen exami ned the gr ound caref ully, but were not abl e t o fi nd any broken glas. They were al so qui te sure t hat a ci gar ete end di d not st ar t the f ir e. Thi s morni ng, however , a f ir em an accidental y discover ed the cause. He noti ced t he remai ns of a snake which was wound r ound t he electr ic wi res of a 16, 000 vol t power li ne. I n thi s way, he was able t o solve t he myst ery. The expl anati on was simpl e but ver y unusual . A bi rd had snatc hed up the snake f rom the gr ound and t hen dr opped it on to the wi res. The snake then wound it sel f round t he wir es. When i t did so, it sent spar ks down to the ground and these im medi ately st ar ted a fi re. Lesson54 St icky f ingers 粘糊的手指 Af ter breakf ast , I sent the chil dren t o school and t hen I went t o mar ket . It was sti l ear ly when I retur ned hom e. The chil dr en were at school , m y husband was at work and t he house was quiet. So I decided to make some tart s for t ea. I n a shor t ti me I was busy mixi ng but ter and fl our and my hands wer e soon covered wi th st icky past ry. At exactl y t hat moment, t he telephone rang. Not hing could have been more annoyi ng. I pi cked up t he receiver bet ween two st icky fi nger s and was dismayed when I recogni zed t he voi ce of Mr s Bates. I t took me t en mi nut es to persuade her t o ri ng back later . At l ast I hung up the r ecei ver . What a mes! There was pastr y on my fi nger s, on t he telephone, and on the door knobs. I had no sooner got back t o t he ki tchen than t he door bel r ang l oud enough t o wake the dead. This tim e it was t he postm an and he want ed me t o sign f or a register ed let er ! Lesson55 Not a gol d mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eams of fi nding l ost tr easure al most came t rue r ecentl y. A new m achi ne cal ed 39。 has been invented and it has been used to det ect gold which has been buri ed in the ground. The machi ne was used i n a cave near the seashore wher eit is saidpir ates used to hi de gol d. The pi rates woul d oft en bur y gold i n t he cave and then f ai l to col lect i t. Ar med wi th the new m achine, a sear ch par ty went he did not l ike it . She enj oyed herself m aki ng the assi st ant br ing alm ost ever ything in t he window bef or e f inal y buyi ng the dr es she had fi rst asked f or . Leson58 A bl essing i n di sguise? 是因禍得福嗎？ The ti ny vi l age of Fr inl ey is said t o posses a 39。. Because t he tr e was ment ioned in a newspaper , the number of vi sitor s to Fri nl ey has now increased. The tr ee was p