1、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 answered.
2、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 loves: b
3、utter, 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. When I ask
4、ed 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 pretty c
5、arpet 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 floor. At t
6、he 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. This is the
7、 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 trying to
8、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 the fire. T
9、his 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 snake from
10、 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 was still e
11、arly 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. Nothing c
12、ould 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 telephone, and o
13、n 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 machine calle
14、d 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 to hide gold. The pirates would often bury gold in the cave and then fail to collect it. Armed with the new machine
15、, a search party went he did not like it. She enjoyed herself making the assistant bring almost everything in the window before finally buying the dress she had first asked for. Lesson58 A blessing in disguise? 是因祸得福吗？ The tiny village of Frinley is said to possess a cursed tree. Because the tree wa
16、s mentioned in a newspaper, the number of visitors to Frinley has now increased. The tree was planted near a church fifty years ago, but it is only in recent years that it has gained an evil reputation. It is said that if anyone touches the tree, he will have bad luck; if he picks a leaf, he will di
17、e. Many villagers believe that the tree has already claimed a number of victims. The vicar has been asked to have the tree cut down, but so far he has refused. He has pointed out that the tree is a useful source of income as tourists have been coming from all parts of the country to see it. In spite
18、 of all that has been said, the tourists-have been picking leaves and cutting their names on the tree-trunk. So far, not one of them has been struck down by sudden death! Lesson59 In or out ？ 进来还是出去？ Our dog, Rex, used to sit outside our front gate and bark. Every time he wanted to come into the gar
19、den he would bark until someone opened the gate. As the neighbours complained of the noise, my husband spent weeks training him to press his paw on the latch to let himself in. Rex soon became an expert at opening the gate. However, when I was going out shopping last week, I noticed him in the garde
20、n near the gate. This time he was barking so that someone would let him out ! Since then, he has developed another bad habit. As soon as he opens the gate from the outside, he comes into the garden and waits until the gate shuts. Then he sits and barks until someone lets him out. After this he immed
21、iately lets himself in and begins barking again. Yesterday my husband removed the gate and Rex got so annoyed we have not seen him since. Lesson60 The future 卜算未来 At a village fair, I decided to visit a fortune-teller called Madam Bellinsky. I went into her tent and she told me to sit down. After I
22、had given her some money, she looked into a crystal ball and said: A relation of yours is coming to see you. She will be arriving this evening and intends to stay for a few days. The moment you leave this tent, you will get a big surprise. A woman you know well will rush towards you. She will speak
23、to you and then she will lead you away from this place. That is all. As soon as I went outside, I forgot all about Madam Bellinsky because my wife hurried towards me. Where have you been hiding ? she asked impatiently. Your sister will be here in less than an hour and we must be at the station to me
24、et her. We are late already. As she walked away, I followed her out of the fair. Lesson61 Trouble with the Hubble 哈勃望远镜的困境 In future, astronauts will be required to descend from a spaceship while it is still in space and to return to it. The ability to do this will be necessary in future flights to
25、distant planets. Scientists are now trying to discover if this is possible. The spaceship Astra which left the earth a short time ago, will be travelling three hundred miles into space. At a certain point, the Astra will stop for a short time and an astronaut will attempt to leave the stationary spa
26、ceship and then return to it. We shall not know whether the experiment has been successful until we have received a radio message. The first message is expected to arrive at 7 oclock this evening. By that time, the Astra will have been flying through space for seventeen hours and will have circled t
27、he earth a great many times. When the first radio messages have been received, the results of the trip will be announced immediately. Lesson62 After the fire 大火之后 Firemen had been fighting the forest fire for nearly three weeks before they could get it under control. A short time before, great trees
28、 had covered the countryside for miles around. Now, smoke still rose up from the warm ground over the desolate hills. Winter was coming on and the hills threatened the surrounding villages with destruction, for heavy rain would not only wash away the soil but would cause serious floods as well. When
29、 the fire had at last been put out, the forest authorities ordered several tons of a special type of grass-seed which would grow quickly. The seed was sprayed over the ground in huge quantities by aeroplanes. The planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it began to rain. By then, howeve
30、r, in many places the grass had already taken root. In place of the great trees which had been growing there for centuries, patches of green had begun to appear in the blackened soil. Lesson63 She was not amused 她并不觉得好笑 Geoffrey Hampden has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. E
31、verybody admires him for his fine sense of humor-everybody, that is, except his six-year-old daughter, Jenny. Recently, one of Geoffreys closest friends asked him to make a speech at a wedding reception. This is the sort of thing that Geoffrey loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the
32、wedding with Jenny. He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course, it was a great success. As soon as he had finished, Jenny told him she wanted to go home. Geoffrey was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On the way home, he asked Jenny if
33、she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she hadnt. Geoffrey asked her why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him! Lesson64 The Channel Tunnel 海峡隧道 In l858, a French engineer, Aime Thome de Gamond, arrived in England with a plan for a tw
34、enty-one mile tunnel across the English Channel. He said that it would be possible to build a platform in the centre of the Channel. This platform would serve as a port and a railway station. The tunnel would be well-ventilated if tall chimneys were built above sea-level. In 1860, a better plan was
35、put forward by anoff 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
36、bus, I answered. 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
37、 Herbert 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 embarr
38、assed. When 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! Le
39、sson52 A 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 o
40、n the floor. 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 f
41、loor. This 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 hav
42、e been trying 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
43、start the 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
44、up the snake 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 marke
45、t. It was 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 telephon
46、e rang. 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
47、 telephone, 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
48、new machine 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 to hide gold. The pirates would often bury gold in the cave and then fail to collect it. Armed wit
49、h the new machine, a search party went he did not like it. She enjoyed herself making the assistant bring almost everything in the window before finally buying the dress she had first asked for. Lesson58 A blessing in disguise? 是因祸得福吗？ The tiny village of Frinley is said to possess a cursed tree. Because the tree was mentioned in a newspaper, the number of visitors to Frinley has now increased. The tree was planted near a church fifty years ago, but it is only in rec
