【正文】 ped 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 se nt spar ks down to t he ground and these immedi at ely star ted a f ir e. Lesson54 St i cky f i ngers 粘糊的手指 Af t er br eakf ast, I sent t he chi ldr en to school and then I went to market. I t was st il l earl y when I r et urned home. The chi ldr en wer e at school, my husband was at wor k and the house was qui et . So I deci ded t o make some t ar ts f or tea. In a short t ime I was busy mi xing butt er and f lour and my hands were soon cover ed wit h sti cky pastr y. At exact ly that moment, the t elephone r ang. Nothi ng coul d have been mor e annoying. I picked up the r ecei ver between t wo sti cky f ingers and was di sm ayed when I r ecognized the voice of Mrs Bates. It t ook me ten m inutes t o per suade her to r ing back l at er . At last I hung up t he receiver. What a m ess! Ther e was past ry on my f inger s, on the t el ephone, and on t he door knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kit chen t han the door bel l rang l oud enough to wake t he dead. This t ime it was the postman and he want ed me to si gn for a r egistered l et er ! Lesson55 Not a gold mi ne 并非金礦 Dr eam s of fi ndi ng lost tr easure al most came t rue r ecentl y. A new machine cal ed 39。The Reveal er 39。 has been i nvented and i t has been used t o det ect gold which has been bur ied in the gr ound. The machi ne was use d i n a cave near the seashore wher e it is saidpi rates used to hi de gol d. The pi rates woul d oft en bur y gold in t he cave and then f ail to col lect i t. Ar med wi th the new m achine, a sear ch par ty went he did not l ike i t. She enj oyed her self m aki ng the assi st ant br ing alm ost ever ythi ng in t he wi ndow bef ore f inal y buying t he dr es she had fi rst asked f or. Leson58 A bl esing i n di sgui se? 是因禍得福嗎？ The ti ny vil age of Fr inl ey is said t o posses a 39。cur sed tr e39。. Because t he tr e was mentioned i n a newspaper, the number of visit or s to Fri nley has now increased. The tr ee was planted near a chur ch fi ft y year s ago, but it is onl y in recent year s that it has gai ned an evi l reputati on. I t is said t hat i f anyone touches t he tr ee, he wi l have bad luck。 i f he picks a leaf, he wi l die. Many vi l agers bel ieve that the t ree has al ready claim ed a number of vict ims. The vicar has been asked to have t he tr e cut down, but so f ar he has ref used. He has poi nted out that he tr ee is a useful sour ce of in e as touri sts have been i ng fr om al part s of the count ry to see it . In spi te of al that has been said, the t our ists have been picking l eaves and cut ting their names on the t reet runk. So far , not one of them has been st ruck down by sudden death! Leson59 In or out ？ 進(jìn)來還是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to si t out si de our f r ont gate and bark. Every t im e he want ed to e into the garden he would bar k unti l someone opened t he gat e. As t he nei ghbour s pl ained of the noise, m y husband spent weeks t rai ning him t o press hi s paw on t he latch t o l et him sel f in. Rex soon becam e an exper t at openi ng the gate. However , when I was going out shopping l ast week, I noti ced hi m in t he gar den near the gate. This t im e he was bar king so t hat someone woul d let him out ! Si nce then, he has devel oped another bad habit . As soon as he opens the gate f rom the outsi de, he es into the garden and wait s unt il t he gat e shut s. Then he sit s and bar ks unt il som eone l ets him out. Af ter thi s he im medi ately lets hi msel f in and begins barking again. Yesterday my husband removed the ga te and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him si nce. Lesson60 The fut ure 卜算未來 At a vi l age f air , I decided to visit a f ort une tel er cal ed Madam Bel linsky. I went i nt o her tent and she tol d me t o sit down. Aft er I had gi ven her some money, she l ooked int o a crystal bal and sai d: 39。A r elati on of your s is i ng to see you. She wi l be ar ivi ng thi s evening and i nt ends t o stay f or a few days. The m oment you l eave t his t ent , you wi l get a big surpr ise. A wom an you know wel l wil l rush t owar ds you. She wi l speak t o you and then she wil l lead you away fr om t his place. That is al l. 39。 As soon as I went out si de, I f ot al l about Madam Bel li nsky because my wi f e hur r ied towar ds me. 39。Wher e have you been hiding ?39。 she asked im pat ientl y. 39。Your sist er wi l be here in l ess t han an hour and we must be at t he st ati on to m et her. We ar e l at e alr eady.39。 As she walked away, I f oll owed her out of the f ai r . Leson61 Troubl e wi th the Hubbl e 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 I n fut ure, ast ronaut s wi l be requir ed to descend f rom a spaceshi p whi le i t i s sti l in space and to r eturn to i t. The abil it y to do this wi l l be necessary i n f ut ure f li ghts t o distant pla s. Scienti sts are now tr ying t o discover if t his i s pos sible. The spaceshi p Astr a which l eft t he ear th a short t ime ago, wil l be tr avel li ng three hundred m iles i nto space. At a cert ai n point, t he Astr a wil l st op for a short t ime and an astr onaut wi l at em pt t o leave the st at ionary spaceship and t hen r etur n to i t. We shal l not know whether the experi ment has been successful unt il we have r eceived a r adio m essage. The fi rst message is expect ed to ar ri ve at 7 o39。cl ock thi s evening. By t hat ti me, the Ast ra wi l have been f lyi ng thr ough space for seventeen hour s and wil l have ci rcled t he ear th a great m any tim es. When t he fi rst radi o mesages have been recei ved, t he resul ts of t he tr ip wi ll be announced im mediately. Leson62 Af ter t he fi re 大火之后 Fi remen had been fi ght ing t he for est fi re for near l y t hree weeks bef ore they coul d get i t under cont rol . A shor t ti me befor e, gr eat t rees