【正文】 Though Mr Thompson had turned t he l ight s of f before he went to bed, they were on in t he mor ni ng. He also said t hat he had found fi ve empty whisky bottl es which the ghost must have dr unk t he night bef ore. When I suggest ed t hat some vi lager s must have e in for afr e dri nk, Mr Thompson shook his head. The vi lager s have t ol d him t hat they wi l not accept t he i nn even i f he gives i t away. Leson48 Did you want to t el me som et hi ng? 你想對(duì)我說(shuō)什么嗎？ Denti st s always ask questi ons when i t i s impossi bl e for you to answer. My denti st had just pulled out one of my teet h and had t ol d me to rest f or a while. I t ri ed t o say somet hing, but my mout h was f ul l of cott on wool. He knew I coll ected birds39。t li ke l osing my way. I went on an excur si on r ecent ly, but my t ri p took me l onger than I expect ed. 39。m goi ng t o Woodfor d Green,39。 but I don39。 I39。 answered the conduct or. I sat in t he f ront of the bus to get a good view of t he countr yside. Af ter some time, the bus st opped. Looki ng r ound, I realized wi th a shock that I was the onl y passenger l ef t on the bus. 39。l have to get off her e, 39。This is as f ar as we go.39。 I s this Woodf or d Green ?39。Oh dear ,39。 I f or got to put you of f.39。I t doesn39。 I said. 39。l l get off her e. 39。 sai d the conduct or . 39。 I answer ed. Leson51 Reward f or virtue 對(duì)美德的獎(jiǎng)賞 My fri end, Herbert, has always been f at , but t hi ngs got so bad recently t hat he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. Fir st of al , he wr ot e out a l ong l ist of al l t he f oods which were for bi dden. The l ist i ncluded most of the t hings Herber t l oves: but ter, potatoes, ri ce, be er , milk, chocolate, and sweet s. Yesterday I paid him a visit . I r ang the bel and was not surpr ised to see t hat Her bert was sti l as f at as ever . He l ed me i nt o hi s room and hur ri edly hid a l ar ge parcel under his desk. I t was obvious t hat he was very embar rased. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled gui lti ly and t hen put the par cel on t he desk. He explained that his diet was so str ict t hat he had t o rewar d hi mself occasional ly. Then he showed me t he cont ents of the parcel. It contained f ive large bars of chocolate and t hr e bags of sweet s! Leson52 A pret ty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have j ust moved into a new house and I have been wor ki ng hard al mor ning. I have been t rying to get my new room in or der. Thi s has not been easy because I own over a t housand books. To make maters worse, t he r oom i s r ather smal , so I have temporari ly put my books on t he f loor. At he moment , t hey cover ever y inch of floor space and I actualy have t o wal k on t hem t o get in or out of the room. A short whi le ago, my si ter helped me to car ry one of my ol d bookcases up t he stair s. She went into my r oom and got abi g surpr ise when she saw al those books on t he f loor . 39。 she said. She gazed at i t f or some t ime then added, 39。t ne ed bookcases at al . You can sit here i n your spar e time and read t he car pet !39。The str ap needs mendi ng,39。but they did not steal anything.39。A t hi ef , yes, 39。 Two months l at er , some mor e money was sent to Sam with anot her note:39。 I n time, al l Sam39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。345 for the cost of the tri p. The normal pr ice of a ti cket i s amp。 egs and asked me whether my col l ect ion was growing. He then asked me how my br ot her was and whether I li ked my new j ob in London. In answer t o these quest ions I ei ther nodded or made str ange noises. Meanwhil e, my tongue was busy searching out the hole where the tooth had been. I suddenly f el t very worr ied, but could not say anyt hi ng. When t he dent ist at l ast removed the cott onwool f rom my mouth, I was able t o tel hi m that he had pulled out the wrong toot h. Leson49 The end of a dream 美夢(mèng)告終 Ti red of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up f or years t o buy a real bed. For the fi rst ime in his l ife, he became the pr oud owner of a bed which had spr ings and a mat tress. Because the weather was very hot, he car ri ed t he bed on to t he r oof of his house. He sl ept ver y wel f or the fi rst wo ni ght s, but on t he t hi rd night, a st or m blew up. A gust of wi nd swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into t he cour tyar d below. The young man did not wake up until the bed had str uck t he ground. Although the bed was smashed t o pieces, the man was mir aculously unhurt . When he woke up, he was stil l on t he mat res. Gl anci ng at the bi ts of wood and metal t hat lay ar ound hi m, t he man sadly picked up the mat tress and car ied it into his house. Aft er he had put it on t he f loor , he promptly went t o sl ep again. Lesson50 Taken for a ri de 乘車兜風(fēng) I love travel ling in t he countr y, but I don39。 I39。 I said to t he conduct or as I got on the bus,39。t know where i t i s. 39。l l tel l you wher e t o get of f, 39。 You39。 t he conduct or sai d. 39。 39。 I asked. 39。 said the conductor suddenl y. 39。 39。t mat er ,39。I 39。 We ar e going back now, 39。Wel, in t hat case, I pr ef er to stay on the bus, 39。This i s the pr et tiest car pet I have ever sen, 39。You don39。 Lesson53 Hot snake 觸電的蛇 At l ast f ir emen have put out a bi g forest f ire i n Cal iforni a. Since then, they have been t rying to f ind out how t he f ir e began. Forest f ire are oft en caused by broken glas or by cigar et te ends whi ch people car elessly throw away. Yesterday the fir emen examined the gr ound carefull y, but were not abl e to fi nd any br oken gl ass. They were also quit e sure that a cigarete end di d not star t he f ire. Thi s mor ni ng, however, afi reman acident al ly discover ed t he cause. He not i ced t he r emains of a snake which was wound r ound the el ectr ic wir es of a 16,000 volt power li ne. I n t hi s way, he was abl e t o sol ve t he m yst er y.