Lesson41 Do you call that a hat? 你把那个叫帽子吗？

'Do you call that a hat ?' I said to my wife. 'You needn't be so rude about it,' my wife answered as she looked at herself in the mirror. I sat down on one of those modern chairs with holes in it and waited. We had been in the hat shop for half an hour and my wife was still in front of the mirror.

' We mustn't buy things we don't need,' I remarked suddenly. I regretted saying it almost at once.

'You needn't have said that,' my wife answered.' I need not remind you of that terrible tie you bought yesterday.'

' I find it beautiful,' I said. 'A man can never have too many ties.'

'And a woman can't have too many hats,' she answered.

Ten minutes later we walked out of the shop together. My wife was wearing a hat that looked like a lighthouse !

 “你把那个叫帽子吗？”我对妻子说。

    “你说话没必要这样不客气，”我的妻子边回答边照着镜子。

    我坐在一个新式的满是网眼儿的椅子上，等待着。我们在这家帽店已经呆了半个小时了，而我的妻子仍在镜子面前。

    “我们不应该买我们不需要的东西，”我突然发表意见说，但马上又后悔说了这话。

    “你没必要这么说，”我妻子回答说，“我也不必提醒你昨天买的那条糟糕透了的领带。”

    “我觉得它好看，”我说，“男人有多少领带也不会嫌多。”

    “女人有多少帽子也不嫌多。”她回答。

    10分钟以后，我们一道走出了商店。我妻子戴着一顶像灯塔一样的帽子。

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 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 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!

 当我们穿过旧德里的市场时走了很长一段路，我们在一个广场上停下来休息。过了一会儿，我们注意到广场的那一边有一个带着两个大筐的耍蛇人，于是就走过去看看。他一见我们，就拿起了一个长长的上面镶有硬币的管乐器，并掀开了一个筐的盖子。当他开始吹奏一支曲子时，我们才第一次看到那条蛇。它从筐里探出身子，随着乐器的摆动而扭动。当耍蛇人突然又吹奏起爵士乐和现代流行乐曲时，我们感到非常惊奇。然而那蛇却还是缓慢地“舞动”着。显然，它分辨不出印度音乐和爵士乐！

Lesson43 Over the South Pole 飞越南极

In 1929, three years after his 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 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 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.

 美国探险家 R.E. 伯德在飞越北极3年之后，于1929年第一次飞越了南极。虽然开始时伯德和他的助手们拍下了飞机下面连绵群山的大量照片，但他们很快就陷入了困境。在有个地方，飞机似乎肯定要坠毁了。只有在飞至10,000英尺的高度时，它才能飞过这些山头。伯德马上命令他的助手们把两个沉重的食物袋扔掉，于是飞机可以上升了，它在离山头400英尺的高度飞越了过去。伯德这时知道他能够顺利飞抵300英里以外的南极了，因为前面再没有山了。飞机可以毫无困难地飞过这片茫茫无际的白色原野！

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 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, 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 steal anything.'

 安.斯特林夫人在穿过森林追赶两个男人时，她并没有考虑到所冒的风险。刚才，当她和孩子们正在森林边上野餐的时候，这两个人冲到她跟前，企图抢走她的手提包。在争抢中，手提包的带断了，包落入这两个人手里，他们拔腿跑进了树林。斯特林夫人非常气愤，向着他们追了过去。只追了一会儿便上气不接下气了，但她还是继续追赶。当她赶上他们时，发现他们已经坐了下来，正翻着包里的东西。于是她直冲过去。这两个人吓了一跳，扔下提包逃跑了。“这提包带需要修理，”斯特林夫人事后说道，“不过他们什么也没偷走。” 

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 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 thief!' Two months later, some more money was sent to Sam with another note:' Only 25 per cent a thief now!' In time, all Sam's money was paid back in this way. The last note said:' I am 100 per cent honest now!'

 整个村子很快知道，有一大笔钱丢失了。当地的屠户萨姆.本顿在把存款送往邮局的途中把钱包丢了。萨姆确信那钱包一定是被某个村民捡到了，可是却不见有人来送还给他。3个月过去了，后来在一天早晨，萨姆在自己的大门外发现了他的钱包。钱包是用报纸包着的，里面有他丢失的钱的一半，而且还附着一张纸条，上面写着：“一个小偷，是的，但只是一个50%的小偷！”又过了两个月，又有一些钱送还给了萨姆，又附了一张字条：“这回只是25%的小偷了！”很快，萨姆全部的钱都用同样的方式还了回来。最后的那张字条上写道：“我现在是一个100%的诚实人了！”

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 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 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 ordered to pay &345 for the cost of the trip. The normal price of a ticket is &230 !

 当一架来自伦敦的飞机抵达悉尼机场时，工人们开始卸下装有服装的一批木箱。其中有只箱子特别重，可谁也弄不清是怎么回事。突然一个工人想到打开箱子看看。看到的情景使吃惊，箱内有一个人正躺在一堆毛织品之上。他由于被人发现而感到非常吃惊，甚至都没有企图逃跑。此人被逮捕后，承认他是在飞机离开伦敦前躲进箱里的。他经历了一次漫长而又难受的旅程，因为他在那木箱里闷了18个多小时。此人被责令交付旅费3,500英镑，而正常票价是2,000英镑！ 

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 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 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.

 伊恩.汤普森先生最近才买的一个小酒店现在又要卖出去。汤普森先生之所以想卖它，是因为那里常闹鬼。他告诉我有天夜里他怎么也睡不着，因为他听到酒吧里传来一阵奇怪的响声。第二天早上，他发现酒吧间的门被椅子堵上了，家具也被挪动过。虽然汤普森临睡觉时把灯关了，但早晨灯却都亮着。他还说他发现了5只空的威士忌瓶子，肯定是鬼魂昨天晚上喝的。当我暗示说一定是村里有些人来喝不花钱的酒时，汤普森先生摇了摇头。村里的人已经告诉他，即使他把小酒店白送人，他们也不要。  

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 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 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, I was able to tell him that he had pulled out the wrong tooth.

 牙科医生们总是在你无法作出回答的时候向你提出问题。我的牙科医生刚刚给我拔掉了一颗牙，叫我休息一会儿。我想说点什么，但我嘴里塞满了药棉。他知道我收集火柴盒，于是问我收藏的米柴盒是否在增加。接着他又问我的兄弟近来如何，问我是否喜欢伦敦的新工作。作为对这些问题的回答，我不是点头，就是发出奇怪的声音。与此同时，我的舌头正在忙着寻找刚拔掉的那颗牙的伤口。我突然非常着急起来，但却什么也说不出来。当那位牙医最后将药棉从我嘴中取出时，我总算有可能告诉他，他拔错了牙。

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 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 mattress and carried it into his house. After he  had put it on the floor, he promptly went to sleep again.

 德黑兰的一个人年轻人由于对睡地板感到厌倦，于是积蓄多年买了一张真正的床。他平生第一次自豪地拥有了一张既有弹簧又带床垫的床。由于天气很热，他便把床搬到了他的屋顶上。头两天晚上，他睡得非常好。但第三天晚上起了风暴。一阵大风把床从屋顶上刮了下来，把它摔碎在下面的院子里。那年轻人直到床撞到地上才醒了过来。尽管床摔成了碎片，但年轻人却奇迹地没有受伤。他醒来时，仍然躺在床垫上。年轻人看了一眼周围的碎木片和碎金属片，伤心地捡起了床垫，把它拿进了屋。他把床垫往地板上一放，很快又睡着了。   

Lesson50 Taken for a ride 乘车兜风

I love travelling in the country, but I don't like losing my way. I went on an excursion recently, but my trip took me longer than I expected.  ' I'm going to Woodford Green,' I said to the conductor as I got on the bus,' but I don't know where it is.' ' I'll 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.

 ' You'll 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 doesn't matter,' I said. 'I'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.

我喜欢在乡间旅行，但却不愿意迷路。最近我作了一次短途旅行，但这次旅行所花费的时间比我预计的要长。

    “我要去伍德福德草地，”我一上车就对售票员说，“但我不知道它在那儿。”

    “我来告诉您在哪儿下车，”售票员回答说。

    我坐在汽车的前部，以便饱览农村风光。过了一些时候，车停了。我环视了一下身旁，惊奇地发现车里就只剩我一个乘客了。

    “您得在这里下车，”售票员说，“我们的车就到此为止了。”

    “这里是伍德福德草地吗？”我问道。

    “哎呀，”售票员突然说，“我忘了让您下车了。”

    “没关系，”我说，“我就在这儿下吧。”

    “我们现在要返回去，”售票员说。

    “好吧，既然如此，我还是留在车上吧。”我回答说。        

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: 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. 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!

 我的朋友休一直很胖，但是近来情况变得越发糟糕，以致他决定节食。他是一星期前开始节食的。首先，他开列了一张长长的单子，上面列了所有禁吃的食物。这张单子上的大多数食物都是休喜欢吃的：黄油、土豆、米饭、啤酒、牛奶、巧克力和糖果。昨天我去看望了他。我按响了门铃，当看到休仍和往常一样胖时，我并不感到惊奇。他把我领进屋，慌忙把一个大包藏到了桌子下面。显然他感到很尴尬。当我问他正干什么时，他内疚地笑了，然后把那个大包拿到了桌上。他解释说，他的饮食控制得太严格了，以致不得不偶尔奖赏自己一下。接着他给我看了包里的东西。里面装了5大块巧克力和3袋糖果！    

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 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 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 said. She gazed at it for some time then added, 'You don't need bookcases at all. You can sit here in your spare time and read the carpet!'

 我们刚刚搬进一所新房子，我辛辛苦苦地干了整整一个上午。我试图把我的新房间收拾整齐，但这并不容易，因为我有1,000多本书。更糟糕的是房间还非常小，所以我暂时把书放在了地板上。这会儿，书把地板的每一点空隙都占据了，我实际上是踩着这些书进出房间的。几分钟前，我妹妹帮我把一个旧书橱抬上了楼。她走进我的房间，当她看到地板上的那些书时，大吃一惊。“这是我见过的最漂亮的地毯，”她说。她盯着“地毯”看了一会儿，又说：“你根本用不着书橱，空闲时你可以坐在这儿读地毯！”    

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 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 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 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.

 消防队员们终于扑灭了加利福尼亚的一场森林大火。从那时起，他们一直试图找出起火的原因。森林火灾时常由破碎的玻璃或人们随手扔掉的香烟头引起。昨天，消防队员仔细查看了地面，但未能发现碎玻璃。他们还十分肯定火灾也不是由烟头引起的。然而今天上午，一个消防队员偶然发现了起火的原因。他发现了缠绕在16,000伏高压线上的一条死蛇。就这样，他解开了起火之谜。解释很简单，却异乎寻常。一只鸟把蛇从地上抓起来，然后把它扔到了电线上。于是蛇就缠住了几根电线。当它这样做时，把火花送到了地面，这些火花立刻引起了一场大火。   

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 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 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 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 !

 早饭后，我送孩子们上学，然后就去了商店。我回到家时，时间还早。孩子们在上学，我丈夫在上班，家里清静得很。于是我决定做些肉馅饼。不一会儿我就忙着调拌起了黄油和面粉，很快我的手上就沾满了粘粘的面糊。恰恰在此时，电话铃响了。没有什么能比这更烦人了。我用两个沾满面糊的手指捏起了话筒。当听出是海伦.贝茨的声音时，非常丧气。我用了10分钟的时间才说服她过会儿再来电话。我终于挂上了话筒。真是糟糕透了！我的手指上、电话机上以及门的把手上，都沾上了面糊。我刚回到厨房，门铃又响了起来，响声足以把死人唤醒。这次是邮递员，他要我签收一封挂号信！   

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 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 into the cave hoping to find buried treasure. The leader of the party was examining the soil near the entrance to the cave when the machine showed that there was gold under the ground. Very excited, the party dug a hole two feet deep. They finally found a small gold coin which was almost worthless. The party then searched the whole cave thoroughly but did not find anything except an empty tin trunk. In spite of this, many people are confident that 'The Revealer' may reveal something of value fairly soon.

 最近，找到失踪宝藏的梦想差一点儿变成现实。一种叫“探宝器”的新机器已经发明出来，并被人们用来探测地下埋藏的金子。在靠近海边的一个据说过去海盗常在里面藏金子的岩洞里，这种机器被派上了用场。海盗们过去常把金子埋藏在那个洞里，可后来却没能取走。一支用这种新机器装备起来的探宝队进入了这个岩洞，希望找到埋藏着的金子。当这个队的队长正在检查洞口附近的土壤时，那台机器显示出它的下面埋有金子。队员们异常激动，就地挖了一个两英尺深的坑，但最后找到的是一枚几乎一钱不值的小金币。队员们接着又把整个洞彻底搜寻了一遍，但除了一只空铁皮箱外什么也没找到。尽管如此，很多人仍然相信“探宝器”很快就会探出值钱的东西来。