【正文】 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。This i s the pr et tiest car pet I have ever sen, 39。 she said. She gazed at i t f or some t ime then added, 39。You don39。t ne ed bookcases at al . You can sit here i n your spar e time and read t he car pet !39。 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 this way, he was abl e to sol ve t he myst er y. The expl anation was imple but very unusual. A bir d had snatched up the snake fr om the ground and t hen dropped it on t o the wires. The snake then wound itsel f round the wir es. When it did so, it sent spar ks down to the ground and t hese i mmediately start ed a f ire. Leson54 Sti cky fi ngers 粘糊的手指 Af ter br eakfast , I sent t he childr en t o school and then I went to market. It was stil l earl y when I returned home. The children were at school , my husband was at 年產(chǎn) 5000噸 生物有機(jī)肥項(xiàng)目 可 行 性 研 究 報(bào) 告 長沙萬綠生物科技有限公司（暫擬名） 二〇一二 年 三 月 t he di f er ence between I ndi an musi c and jazz! Lesson43 Over t he South Pole 飛越南極 In 1929, three years after hi s fli ght over the Nor th Pol e, the American expl or er, R. E. Byr d, succesfull y fl ew over t he Sout h Pole f or t he f irst time. Though, at fi rst, Byr d and his men were able to t ake agr eat many photographs of t he mount ai ns t hat lay below, they soon ran into serious troubl e. At one poi nt , i t seemed cert ai n that their plane woul d cr ash. I t coul d only get over the mountains if it r ose to 10, 000 feet. Byr d at once order ed his men to t hr ow out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able to r ise and it clear ed t he mount ai ns by 400 f et. Byr d now knew that he would be able t o reach the South Pole which was 300 mi les away, f or there were no mor e mountains in si ght. The ai rcraft was a bl e to f ly over the endl ess whi te plains without dif ficulty. Lesson44 Through the forest 穿過森林 Mrs Anne Sterl ing di d not think of t he r isk she was taking when she r an thr ough a forest af ter two men. They had r ushed up to her whil e she was having a pii c at the edge of a for est wi th her chi ldren and tr ied to steal her handbag. I n the str uggle, the str ap br oke and, wi th the bag i n thei r possessi on, bot h men started runni ng through the tr es. Mr s St er li ng got so angry t hat she ran af ter t hem. She was oon out of br eath, but she conti nued to run. When she caught up with t hem, she saw that hey had sat down and wer e going through t he cont ents of the bag, so she ran st raight at them. The men got such a fr ight that hey dropped the bag and r an away. 39。The str ap needs mendi ng,39。 said Mr s Ster li ng l at er , 39。but they did not steal anything.39。 Leson45 A clear conscience 問心無愧 The whol e vi l age soon lear nt that a l ar ge sum of money had been l ost. Sam Benton, the local but cher, had lost his walet whi le taking hi s savi ngs to t he post offi ce. Sam was sure t hat the wal let must have been found by one of the vi lager s, but it was not r et urned t o hi m. Three mont hs passed, and then one mor ni ng, Sam f ound hi s wal let outsi de his f ront door . I t had been wrapped up i n newspaper and it contained half the money he had lost , t ogether wit h a note which said: 39。A t hi ef , yes, 39。but onl y 5o per cent a thief! 39。 Two months l at er , some mor e money was sent to Sam with anot her note:39。 Onl y 25 per cent a thief now! 39。 I n time, al l Sam39。s money was pai d back in this way. The last note sai d:39。 I am 100 per cent honest now! 39。 leson46 Expensi ve and unf ort able 既昂貴又受罪 When a plane fr om London ar ived at Sydney ai rport, worker s began t o unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clothing. No one could acount f or t he f act that one of the boxes was extr emely heavy. It suddenly occurr ed t o one of t he workers to open up the box. He was astonished at what he found. A man was lying in t he box on t op of a pi le of woollen goods. He was so surpri sed at bei ng di scovered that he di d not even t ry t o run away. Af ter he was ar ested, t he man admi ted hiding in the box before the plane l ef t London. He had had a l ong and unf or tabl e tri p, f or he had been confined to the wooden box for over t en hour s. The man was or dered to pay amp。345 for the cost of the tri p. The normal pr ice of a ti cket i s amp。230 ! Leson47 A t hi rsty ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A publ ic house which was r ecent ly bought by Mr Ian Thompson is up fo