1、scornfully, he told her that the dress was sold. The woman walked out of the shop angrily and decided to punish the assistant next day. She returned to the shop the following morning dressed in a fur coat, with a handbag in one hand and a long umbrella in the other. After seeking out the rude assist
2、ant she asked for the same dress. Not realizing who she was, the assistant was eager to serve her this time with great difficulty, he climbed into the shop window to get the dress. As soon as she saw it, the woman said s many ties.And a woman cant have too many hats, she answered.Ten minutes later w
3、e walked out of the shop together. My wife was wearing a hat that looked like a lighthouse !Lesson42 Not very musical 并非很懂音乐As we had had a long walk through one of the markets of Old Delhi, we stopped at a square to have a rest. After a time, we noticed a snake-charmer with two large baskets at the
4、 other side of the square, so we went to have a look at him. As soon as he saw us, he picked up a long pipe which was covered with coins and opened one of the baskets. When he began to play a tune, we had our first glimpse of the snake. It rose out of the basket and began to follow the movements of
5、the pipe. We were very much surprised when the snake charmer suddenly began to play jazz tunes and modern pop songs. The snake, however, continued to dance slowly. It obviously could not tell the difference between Indian music and jazz!Lesson43 Over the South Pole 飞越南极In 1929, three years after his
6、 flight over the North Pole, the American explorer, R. E. Byrd, successfully flew over the South Pole for the first time. Though, at first, Byrd and his men were able to take a great many photographs of the mountains that lay below, they soon ran into serious trouble. At one point, it seemed certain
7、 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 able to reach the South Pole which w
8、as 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 after two men. They had rushed up to h
9、er 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 after them. She was soon out of breath
10、, 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 Sterling later, but they did not s
11、teal 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 by one of the villagers, but it was n
12、ot 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 thief! Two months later, some more money
13、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, workers began to unload a number of wood
14、en 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 woollen goods. He was so surprised at bein
15、g 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 ordered to pay &345 for the cost of the trip
16、. 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 he heard a strange noise coming from the
17、 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 bottles which the ghost must have drunk the n
18、ight 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？Dentists always ask questions when it is impo
19、ssible 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 then asked me how my brother was and whether
20、 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 last removed the cotton-wool from my mouth,
21、 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 which had springs and a mattress. Because th
22、e 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 man did not wake up until the bed had struc
23、k 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 house. After he had put it on the floor, he p
24、romptly 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 I got on the bus, but I dont know where it is
25、. 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 have to get off here, the conductor said. This i
26、s 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.Lesson51 Reward for virtue 对美德的奖赏My f
27、riend, 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: butter, potatoes, rice, beer, milk, cho
28、colate, 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 asked him what he was doing, he smiled gu
29、iltily 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 carpet 漂亮的地毯We have just moved into a n
30、ew 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 the moment, they cover every inch of flo
31、or 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 prettiest carpet I have ever seen, she
32、 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 find out how the fire began. Forest fire
33、 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. This morning, however, a fireman accident
34、ally 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 the ground and then dropped it on to th
35、e 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 early when I returned home. The children we
36、re 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 could have been more annoying. I picked up
37、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 on the door-knobs. I had no sooner got back
38、 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 called The Revealer has been invented and it has
39、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, a search party went he did not like it. Sh
40、e 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 visi
41、tors 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 die. Many villagers believe that the tree has al
42、ready 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 of all that has been said, the tourists-have
43、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 garden he would bark until someone opened the gate.
44、 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 garden near the gate. This time he was barking so tha
45、t 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 immediately lets himself in and begins barking again.
46、 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 had given her some money, she looked into a cryst
47、al 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 to you and then she will lead you away from this
48、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 meet her. We are late already. As she walked away,
49、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 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 certa
