1、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
2、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 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 excursi
3、on 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. 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,
4、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 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. I
5、ll 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 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
6、, 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, 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
7、 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 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
8、 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 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
9、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 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 bookca
10、ses 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 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! Lesso
11、n53 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 are often caused by broken glass or by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away. Yesterday the firemen examined the ground carefully,
12、 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 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,
13、 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 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.Le
14、sson54 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 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
15、 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 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 ri
16、ng 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 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 le
17、tter !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 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
18、 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. She enjoyed herself making the assistant bring almost everything in the window before finally buying the dress she had first asked for.Lesson58 A
19、 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 recent years that it has gained an evi
20、l 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 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 t
21、ree 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 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
22、? 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. 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 becam
23、e 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 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
24、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. 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
25、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 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 yo
26、u 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 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 hidin
27、g ? 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, 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 whi
28、le 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 ce
29、rtain point, the Astra will stop for a short time and an astronaut will attempt to leave the stationary spaceship 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 eveni
30、ng. By that time, the Astra will have been flying through space for seventeen hours and will have circled the 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 fo
31、rest fire for nearly three weeks before they could get it under control. A short time before, great trees 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 d
32、estruction, for heavy rain would not only wash away the soil but would cause serious floods as well. When 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 b
33、y aeroplanes. The planes had been planting seed for nearly a month when it began to rain. By then, however, 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 Sh
34、e was not amused 她并不觉得好笑Geoffrey Hampden has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody 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 rec
35、eption. This is the sort of thing that Geoffrey loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the 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
36、 was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On the way home, he asked Jenny if 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 Channe
37、l Tunnel 海峡隧道In l858, a French engineer, Aime Thome de Gamond, arrived in England with a plan for a twenty-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 tu
38、nnel would be well-ventilated if tall chimneys were built above sea-level. In 1860, a better plan was put forward by an Englishman, William Low. He suggested that a double railway tunnel should be built. This would solve the problem of ventilation, for if a train entered this tunnel, it would draw i
39、n fresh air behind it. Forty-two years later a tunnel was actually begun. If, at the time, the British had not feared invasion, it would have been completed. Recently, there has again been great interest in the idea of a Channel Tunnel. If it is built, it will connect Britain to Europe for the first
40、 time in history.Lesson65 Jumbo versus the police 小象对警察Last Christmas, the circus owner, Jimmy Gates, decided to take some presents to a childrens hospital. Dressed up as Father Christmas and accompanied by a guard of honour of six pretty girls, he set off down the main street of the city riding a b
41、aby elephant called Jumbo. He, should have known that the police would never allow this sort of thing. A policeman approached Jimmy and told him he ought to have gone along a side-street as Jumbo was holding up the traffic. Though Jimmy agreed to go at once, Jumbo refused to move. Fifteen policemen
42、had to push very hard to get him off the main street. The police had a difficult time, but they were most amused. Jumbo must weigh a few tons, said a policeman afterwards, so it was fortunate that we didnt have to carry him. Of course, we should arrest him, but as he has a good record, we shall let
43、him off this time.Lesson66 Sweet as honey! 像蜜一样甜!The Hatheld Puffin is a modern aero-plane, but its designer, Mr John Wimpenny, is finding it difficult to get it off the ground. The reason for this is that this plane is also a bicycle. Its pilot has to pedal hard to get it into the air. After Mr Wim
44、penny had the plane built, it was tested thoroughly. In 1961, it was the first man-powered aircraft to fly half a mile. While being flown by a champion amateur cyclist in 1963, the plane crashed on an airfield. Since then, Mr Wimpenny has had it rebuilt. He has had the length of the wings increased
45、so that they now measure 93 feet-almost as long as those of a Dakota. Many people have shown interest in this new and unusual sport. But though air cyclists may learn how to fly over short distances, and may, eventually, even get across the English Channel, it is doubtful whether they will ever cycl
46、e across the Atlantic.Lesson67 Volcanoes 火山Haroun Tazieff the Polish scientist, has spent his life-time studying active volcanoes and deep caves in all parts of the world. In 1948, he went to lake Kivu in the Congo to observe a new volcano which he later named Kituro. Tazieff was able to set up his
47、camp very close to the volcano while it was erupting violently. Though he managed to take a number of brilliant photographs, he could not stay near the volcano for very long. He noticed that a river of liquid rock was coming towards him. It threatened to surround him completely, but Tazieff managed
48、to escape just in time. He waited until the volcano became quiet and he was able to return two days later. This time, he managed to climb into the mouth of Kituro so that he could take photographs and measure temperatures. Tazieff has often risked his life in this way. He has been able to tell us mo
49、re about active volcanoes than any man alive. Lesson68 Persistent 纠缠不休I crossed the street to avoid meeting him, but he saw me and came running towards me. It was no use pretending that I had not seen him, so I waved to him. I never enjoy meeting Bert Dykes. He never has anything to do. No matter how busy you are, he always insists on coming with you. I had to think of a way of preventing him from following me around all morning.Hullo, Bert, I said. Fa