1、e. At one point, it seemed certain that their plane would crash. It could only get over the mountains if it rose to 10,000 feet. Byrd at once ordered his men to throw out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able to rise and it cleared the mountains by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that he would be ab
2、le to reach the South Pole which was 300 miles away, for there were no more mountains in sight. The aircraft was able to fly over the endless white plains without difficulty. Lesson44 Through the forest 穿过森林 Mrs Anne Sterling did not think of the risk she was taking when she ran through a forest aft
3、er two men. They had rushed up to her while she was having a picnic at the edge of a forest with her children and tried to steal her handbag. In the struggle, the strap broke and, with the bag in their possession, both men started running through the trees. Mrs Sterling got so angry that she ran aft
4、er them. She was soon out of breath, but she continued to run. When she caught up with them, she saw that they had sat down and were going through the contents of the bag, so she ran straight at them. The men got such a fright that they dropped the bag and ran away. The strap needs mending, said Mrs
5、 Sterling later, but they did not steal anything. Lesson45 A clear conscience 问心无愧 The whole village soon learnt that a large sum of money had been lost. Sam Benton, the local butcher, had lost his wallet while taking his savings to the post-office. Sam was sure that the wallet must have been found
6、by one of the villagers, but it was not returned to him. Three months passed, and then one morning, Sam found his wallet outside his front door. It had been wrapped up in newspaper and it contained half the money he had lost, together with a note which said: A thief, yes, but only 5o per cent a thie
7、f! Two months later, some more money was sent to Sam with another note: Only 25 per cent a thief now! In time, all Sams money was paid back in this way. The last note said: I am 100 per cent honest now! lesson46 Expensive and uncomfortable 既昂贵又受罪 When a plane from London arrived at Sydney airport, w
8、orkers began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clothing. No one could account for the fact that one of the boxes was extremely heavy. It suddenly occurred to one of the workers to open up the box. He was astonished at what he found. A man was lying in the box on top of a pile of woo
9、llen goods. He was so surprised at being discovered that he did not even try to run away. After he was arrested, the man admitted hiding in the box before the plane left London. He had had a long and uncomfortable trip, for he had been confined to the wooden box for over ten hours. The man was order
10、ed to pay &345 for the cost of the trip. The normal price of a ticket is &230 ! Lesson47 A thirsty ghost 嗜酒的鬼魂 A public house which was recently bought by Mr Ian Thompson is up for sale. Mr Thompson is going to sell it because it is haunted. He told me that he could not go to sleep one night because
11、 he heard a strange noise coming from the bar. The next morning, he found that the doors had been blocked by chairs and the furniture had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had turned the lights off before he went to bed, they were on in the morning. He also said that he had found five empty whisky bott
12、les which the ghost must have drunk the night before. When I suggested that some villagers must have come in for a free drink, Mr Thompson shook his head. The villagers have told him that they will not accept the inn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Did you want to tell me something? 你想对我说什么吗？ Den
13、tists always ask questions when it is impossible for you to answer. My dentist had just pulled out one of my teeth and had told me to rest for a while. I tried to say something, but my mouth was full of cotton-wool. He knew I collected birds eggs and asked me whether my collection was growing. He th
14、en asked me how my brother was and whether I liked my new job in London. In answer to these questions I either nodded or made strange noises. Meanwhile, my tongue was busy searching out the hole where the tooth had been. I suddenly felt very worried, but could not say anything. When the dentist at l
15、ast removed the cotton-wool from my mouth, I was able to tell him that he had pulled out the wrong tooth. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美梦告终 Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed. For the first time in his life, he became the proud owner of a bed w
16、hich had springs and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot, he carried the bed on to the roof of his house. He slept very well for the first two nights, but on the third night, a storm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below. The young
17、man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground. Although the bed was smashed to pieces, the man was miraculously unhurt. When he woke up, he was still on the mattress. Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him, the man sadly picked up the mattress and carried it into his ho
18、use. After he had put it on the floor, he promptly went to sleep again. Lesson50 Taken for a ride 乘车兜风 I love travelling in the country, but I dont like losing my way. I went on an excursion recently, but my trip took me longer than I expected. Im going to Woodford Green, I said to the conductor as
19、I got on the bus, but I dont know where it is. Ill tell you where to get off, answered the conductor. I sat in the front of the bus to get a good view of the countryside. After some time, the bus stopped. Looking round, I realized with a shock that I was the only passenger left on the bus. Youll hav
20、e to get off here, the conductor said. This is as far as we go. Is this Woodford Green ? I asked. Oh dear, said the conductor suddenly. I forgot to put you off. It doesnt matter, I said. Ill get off here. We are going back now, said the conductor. Well, in that case, I prefer to stay on the bus, I a
21、nswered. Lesson51 Reward for virtue 对美德的奖赏 My friend, Herbert, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a diet. He began his diet a week ago. First of all, he wrote out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden. The list included most of the things Herbert
22、 loves: butter, potatoes, rice, beer, milk, chocolate, and sweets. Yesterday I paid him a visit. I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Herbert was still as fat as ever. He led me into his room and hurriedly hid a large parcel under his desk. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed. W
23、hen I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guiltily and then put the parcel on the desk. He explained that his diet was so strict that he had to reward himself occasionally. Then he showed me the contents of the parcel. It contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets! Lesson52 A
24、 pretty carpet 漂亮的地毯 We have just moved into a new house and I have been working hard all morning. I have been trying to get my new room in order. This has not been easy because I own over a thousand books. To make matters worse, the room is rather small, so I have temporarily put my books on the fl
25、oor. At the moment, they cover every inch of floor space and I actually have to walk on them to get in or out of the room. A short while ago, my sister helped me to carry one of my old bookcases up the stairs. She went into my room and got a big surprise when she saw all those books on the floor. Th
26、is is the prettiest carpet I have ever seen, she said. She gazed at it for some time then added, You dont need bookcases at all. You can sit here in your spare time and read the carpet! Lesson53 Hot snake 触电的蛇 At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California. Since then, they have been t
27、rying to find out how the fire began. Forest fire are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away. Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully, but were not able to find any broken glass. They were also quite sure that a cigarette end did not start th
28、e fire. This morning, however, a fireman accidentally discovered the cause. He noticed the remains of a snake which was wound round the electric wires of a 16,000-volt power line. In this way, he was able to solve the mystery. The explanation was simple but very unusual. A bird had snatched up the s
29、nake from the ground and then dropped it on to the wires. The snake then wound itself round the wires. When it did so, it sent sparks down to the ground and these immediately started a fire. Lesson54 Sticky fingers 粘糊的手指 After breakfast, I sent the children to school and then I went to market. It wa
30、s still early when I returned home. The children were at school, my husband was at work and the house was quiet. So I decided to make some tarts for tea. In a short time I was busy mixing butter and flour and my hands were soon covered with sticky pastry. At exactly that moment, the telephone rang.
31、Nothing could have been more annoying. I picked up the receiver between two sticky fingers and was dismayed when I recognized the voice of Mrs Bates. It took me ten minutes to persuade her to ring back later. At last I hung up the receiver. What a mess! There was pastry on my fingers, on the telepho
32、ne, and on the door-knobs. I had no sooner got back to the kitchen than the door-bell rang loud enough to wake the dead. This time it was the postman and he wanted me to sign for a registered letter ! Lesson55 Not a gold mine 并非金矿 Dreams of finding lost treasure almost came true recently. A new mach
33、ine called The Revealer has been invented and it has been used to detect gold which has been buried in the ground. The machine was used in a cave near the seashore where-it is said-pirates used toe. At one point, it seemed certain that their plane would crash. It could only get over the mountains if
34、 it rose to 10,000 feet. Byrd at once ordered his men to throw out two heavy food sacks. The plane was then able to rise and it cleared the mountains by 400 feet. Byrd now knew that he would be able to reach the South Pole which was 300 miles away, for there were no more mountains in sight. The airc
35、raft was able to fly over the endless white plains without difficulty. Lesson44 Through the forest 穿过森林 Mrs Anne Sterling did not think of the risk she was taking when she ran through a forest after two men. They had rushed up to her while she was having a picnic at the edge of a forest with her chi
36、ldren and tried to steal her handbag. In the struggle, the strap broke and, with the bag in their possession, both men started running through the trees. Mrs Sterling got so angry that she ran after them. She was soon out of breath, but she continued to run. When she caught up with them, she saw tha
37、t they had sat down and were going through the contents of the bag, so she ran straight at them. The men got such a fright that they dropped the bag and ran away. The strap needs mending, said Mrs Sterling later, but they did not steal anything. Lesson45 A clear conscience 问心无愧 The whole village soo
38、n learnt that a large sum of money had been lost. Sam Benton, the local butcher, had lost his wallet while taking his savings to the post-office. Sam was sure that the wallet must have been found by one of the villagers, but it was not returned to him. Three months passed, and then one morning, Sam
39、found his wallet outside his front door. It had been wrapped up in newspaper and it contained half the money he had lost, together with a note which said: A thief, yes, but only 5o per cent a thief! Two months later, some more money was sent to Sam with another note: Only 25 per cent a thief now! In
40、 time, all Sams money was paid back in this way. The last note said: I am 100 per cent honest now! lesson46 Expensive and uncomfortable 既昂贵又受罪 When a plane from London arrived at Sydney airport, workers began to unload a number of wooden boxes which contained clothing. No one could account for the f
41、act that one of the boxes was extremely heavy. It suddenly occurred to one of the workers to open up the box. He was astonished at what he found. A man was lying in the box on top of a pile of woollen goods. He was so surprised at being discovered that he did not even try to run away. After he was a
42、rrested, the man admitted hiding in the box before the plane left London. He had had a long and uncomfortable trip, for he had been confined to the wooden box for over ten hours. The man was ordered to pay &345 for the cost of the trip. The normal price of a ticket is &230 ! Lesson47 A thirsty ghost
43、 嗜酒的鬼魂 A public house which was recently bought by Mr Ian Thompson is up for sale. Mr Thompson is going to sell it because it is haunted. He told me that he could not go to sleep one night because he heard a strange noise coming from the bar. The next morning, he found that the doors had been blocke
44、d by chairs and the furniture had been moved. Though Mr Thompson had turned the lights off before he went to bed, they were on in the morning. He also said that he had found five empty whisky bottles which the ghost must have drunk the night before. When I suggested that some villagers must have com
45、e in for a free drink, Mr Thompson shook his head. The villagers have told him that they will not accept the inn even if he gives it away. Lesson48 Did you want to tell me something? 你想对我说什么吗？ Dentists always ask questions when it is impossible for you to answer. My dentist had just pulled out one o
46、f my teeth and had told me to rest for a while. I tried to say something, but my mouth was full of cotton-wool. He knew I collected birds eggs and asked me whether my collection was growing. He then asked me how my brother was and whether I liked my new job in London. In answer to these questions I
47、either nodded or made strange noises. Meanwhile, my tongue was busy searching out the hole where the tooth had been. I suddenly felt very worried, but could not say anything. When the dentist at last removed the cotton-wool from my mouth, I was able to tell him that he had pulled out the wrong tooth
48、. Lesson49 The end of a dream 美梦告终 Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed. For the first time in his life, he became the proud owner of a bed which had springs and a mattress. Because the weather was very hot, he carried the bed on to the roof of
49、his house. He slept very well for the first two nights, but on the third night, a storm blew up. A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below. The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground. Although the bed was smashed to pieces, the man was miraculously unhurt. When he woke up, he was still on the mattress. Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him, the man sadly picked up the mat
