Whydoesthevicarrefusetocutdownthetree?ThetinyvillageofFrinleyissaidtopossessa'cursedtree'.Becausethetreewasmentionedinanewspaper,thenumberofvisitorstoFrinleyhasnowincreased.Thetreewasplantednearthechurchfiftyyearsago,butitisonlyinrecentyearsthatithasgainedanevilreputation.Itissaidthatifanyonetouchesthetree,hewillhavebadluck;ifhepicksaleaf,hewilldie.Manyvillagersbelievethatthetreehasalreadyclaimedanumberofvictims.Thevicarhasbeenaskedtohavethetreecutdown,butsofarhehasrefused.Hehaspointedoutthatthetreecutdown,butsofarhehasrefused.Hehaspointedoutthatthetreeisausefulsourceofincome,astouristshavebeencomingfromallpartsofthecountrytoseeit.Inspiteofallthathasbeensaid,thetouristshavebeenpickingleavesandcuttingtheirnamesonthetree-trunk.Sofar,notoneofthemhasbeenstruckdownbysuddendeath!Newwordsandexpressions生词和短语blessingn.福分,福气disguisen.伪装tinyadj.极小的possessv.拥有cursedadj.可恨的increasev.增加plantv.种植churchn.教堂eviladj.坏的reputationn.名声claimv.以……为其后果victimn.受害者,牺牲品vicarn.教区牧师sourcen.来源incomen.收入trunkn.树干参考译文据说弗林利这个小村里有一棵“该诅咒的树”.就因为报上提到过这棵树,所以现在来弗林利参观的人越来越多.该树是50年前栽在教堂附近的,但只是近几年才得到了一个坏名声.据说,谁要是触摸了这棵树,谁就会交上恶运；如果谁摘了一片树叶,谁就会死去.很多村民相信此树已经害了不少人.人们曾请求教区的牧师叫人把树砍掉,但他直到现在也没有同意.他指出,由于人们从全国各地纷纷前来参观这棵树,它成了一个有用的财源.尽管有上述种种说法,但游客们还是照常摘树叶和把他们的名字刻在树干上.然而到目前为止,还没有一个人暴死呢!我觉得还不错!