Uncle Tom gave little Vicki Black a birthday gift one week before her birthday. He told her not to open it until her birthday. She knew her mother wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect to the kind man who helped them out after Vicki’s father passed away; besides, Vicki didn’t want Uncle Tom to get angry. But little Vicky didn’t want to just hold it and guess what was in it. After all, she looked forward to his coming to show her interesting things, like how to turn an old sock into a doll.
All the day, Vicki couldn’t stop thinking about the gift while her teacher was giving a lecture. Vicki sat still in her seat, drawing paper dolls inside the box. When school was done, she raced home. Walking into the room, again, she shook the present, but she heard nothing. Holding her breath, she opened the box and looked inside. Seconds later, she cried. When Mrs. Black saw the box, she said angrily, “Didn’t I tell you to leave it alone?” Vicki sobbed and said, “Mommy, you don’t understand.”
“Don’t cry to me. You have missed everything now, just because you couldn’t wait,” Mrs. Black accused. “What will Uncle Tom think now?”
“Uncle Tom gave me nothing,” Vicki cried and handed the empty box to her mother. “He played a trick on me.”
Mrs. Black said doubtfully, “Uncle Tom is not like that. You must have dropped it.”
Vicki kept crying. Only a rapid knock on the door made the house quiet. It was Uncle Tom. He looked at the empty box. “You have already done it? I told you to wait for your birthday.”
“You didn’t give me a gift.” Fresh tears filled her eyes.
“I try to give you something. I know your birthday is a special day. I tell myself to give you something valuable to last your whole life. I think hard and get the idea to give you an important lesson. If you open it on birthday, I see you learn. Then I will make a big party to celebrate. Maybe next year you listen and then you will understand the gift better.
Vicki’s cheeks flushed（脸红）.
No one can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read correctly the signs around us, we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting(天气预报).
For many centuries and in all countries, people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Rings around the sun are a sign of coming rain. That many people feel their joints(关节) hurt is a sign of wet weather. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming, but they fly near the ground if rainy or stormy weather is on the way. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. Such rainbows come in the evening. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If a fog appears in the morning just above a river, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in colour, then the following day will be fine. If a rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably come.
Most of the above sayings have been made by the people who have used their eyes and brains to make weather forecasting.
Feel tired lately? Has a doctor said he can’t find anything wrong with you? Perhaps he sent you to a hospital, but all the advanced equipment there shows that there is nothing wrong with you．
Then, consider this: you might be in a state of subhealth (亚健康)．
Subhealth, also called the third state or gray state, is explained as a borderline state between health and disease．
According to the investigation by the National Health Organization, over 45 percent of subhealthy people are middle-aged or elderly．The percentage is even higher among people who work in management positions as well as students around exam-week．
Symptoms(征兆)include a lack of energy, depression(压抑),slow reactions, insomnia(失眠),agitation, and poor memory．Other symptoms include shortness of breath, sweating and aching in the waist and legs．
The key to preventing and recovering from subhealth, according to some medical experts, is to form good living habits, alternate work and rest, exercise regularly, and take part in open air activities．
As for meals, people are advised to eat less salt and sugar．They should also eat more fresh vegetables, fruits, fish because they are rich in nutritional elements…vitamins and trace elements …vitamins and trace elements…that are important to the body．
Nutrition(营养)experts point out that it is not good to eat too much at one meal because it may cause unhealthy changes in the digestive tract(消化系统)．They also say that a balanced diet is very helpful in avoiding subhealth．
You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight．They hit one another hard．At the start they only fight with their fists．But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs．And so it goes on until one of the men crashes through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below．He is dead! Of course he isn’t really dead．With any luck he isn’t even hurt．Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars of even catching fire, are professionals．They do this for a living．These men are called stuntmen．That is to say, they perform tricks．There are two sides to their work．They actually do most of the things you see on the screen．For example, they fall from a high building．However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress．Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training．Often a stuntman’s success depends on careful timing．For example, when he is “blown up” in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives．They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed．A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff a thousand feet high．His parachute failed to open, and he was killed．In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only．Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action．For nowadays there are stuntwomen too.
A thief entered the bedroom of the 30th President of the United States, who met him and helped him escape punishment.
The event happened in the early morning hours in one of the first days when Calvin Coolidge came into power, late in August, 1923. He and his family were living in the same third-floor suite(套房) at the Willard Hotel in Washington that had occupied several years before. The former President’s wife was still living in the White House.
Coolidge awoke to see a stranger go through his clothes, remove a wallet and a watch chain.
Coolidge spoke, “ I wish you wouldn’t take that.”
The thief, gaining his voice, said, “ Why?”
“ I don’t mean the watch and chain, only the charm(表坠). Take it near the window and read what is impressed on its back,” the president said.
The thief read, “ Presented to Calvin Coolidge.”
“ Are you President Coolidge?” he asked.
The president answered, “ Yes, and the House of Representatives（众议院）gave me the watch charm. I’m fond of it. It would do you no good. You want money. Let’s talk this over.”
Holding up the wallet, the young man said in a low voice, “ I’ll take this and leave everything else.”
Coolidge, knowing there was 80 dollars in it, persuaded the young man to sit down and talk. He told the President he and his college roommate had overspent during their holiday and did not have enough money to pay their hotel bill.
Coolidge added up the roommate and two rail tickets back to the college. Then he counted out 32 dollars and said it was a loan(借款).
He then told the young man, “ There is a guard in the corridor.” The young man nodded and left through the same window as he had entered.
Six people were traveling in a compartment (包厢) on a train. Five of them were quiet and well behaved(举止文明), but the sixth was a rude young man who was causing a lot of trouble to the other passengers.
At last this young man got out of the station with his two heavy bags. None of the other passengers helped him, but one of them waited until the rude young man was very far away, and then opened the window to him, “ You left something behind in the compartment!” Then he closed the window again.
The young man turned around and hurried back with his two bags. He was very tired when he arrived, but he shouted through the window, “ What did I leave behind?”
As the train began to move again, the passenger who had called him back opened the window and said, “ A very bad impression!” Of the six passengers in the compartment ___.
| A．five of them were rude and badly behaved | B．one of them was rude and badly behaved |
| C．five were always causing trouble on the train | D．only one was quiet and well behaved |
When the rude young man got off the train ___.
| A．he left his two bags behind |
| B．he was thrown out through the window |
| C．the other five passengers didn’t help him |
| D．one of the other passengers opened the window for him |
The passenger who had called him back wanted
| A．to punish him for his bad behavior |
| B．to have a word with him about his behavior |
| C．to help him with his behavior |
| D．to return him the things he had left on the train |