I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago. Her husband died because of traffic accident. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insights with us.
The class was clearly over. She said,＂Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you an important thought.” “Each of us is on Earth to learn, share, love and *appreciate. We must *cherish every single day.”
Her eyes beginning to water, she went on, “So I would like you to make me a *promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful. It could be a *scent----perhaps of freshly baked bread, or it could be the sound of the *breeze slightly *rustling the leaves in the trees.”
“Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound * trite, these things are the *stuff of life. They are the little things on Earth to enjoy. They are the things we often take for *granted. We must try to notice them because it can be easily taken away at any time.”
The class was completely quiet. We picked up our books and went out of the room silently. That afternoon I noticed more things on my way from school than I had that whole semester.
I often think of that teacher and try to appreciate all off those things that sometimes we *overlook.
Take notice of something special you see on your lunch time today. Walk *barefoot along the beach at *sunset. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we regret, but the things we didn’t do.In the writer’s eyes , the high school teacher was ________________________.
| A．weak | B．happy | C．strict | D．special |
The words “insight” in the first paragraph means_____________________.
| A．promise | B．thought | C．love | D．thing |
From the underlined sentence in the third paragraph we know the writer’s teacher suggests ____________.
| A．cherishing every single day |
| B．finding something beautiful |
| C．cherishing even very little things |
| D．taking for granted |
The best title for the passage may be __________________________.
| A．My high school days | B．Making a promise |
| C．My teacher’s insights | D．Little things in life |
Fun Facts about animals
| ●After killing an animal, a cheetah waits half an hour to catch its breath. |
●The biggest horses are the Shire horses. The tallest on record is 198cms from shoulder to leg. |
●The only mammal that can fly is the bat. Bat’s wings are overgrown hands. |
| ●Gorillas are actually very gentle animals although they have bad reputation (声誉). ●Gorillas build nests in tree tops to sleep in. |
●The rhino has the thickest skin of any animal. Its skin is 2cms thick and covers their body like armor. |
●An elephant’s trunk has no bones in it, only 100,000 muscles!!! ●Elephant babies take 22 months to develop inside their mothers before they are born. |
| ●A kitten is born blind and helpless and stays close to its mother for protection. In just nine weeks, it can grow big enough to leave its mother and look after itself. |
●A camel’s hump is actually used to store food. It is made of extra (多余的) fat. ●They have long legs to keep them as far away from the ground as possible |
● Bears usually walk on 4 legs, but when they are frightened, they stand up and walk on two legs to make themselves appear bigger. |
After a cheetah kills an animal, it .
| A．waits thirty minutes to catch its breath |
| B．waits half an hour for the animal to catch its breath |
| C．eats the food immediately |
| D．doesn’t eat the food until its friend comes. |
It takes 22 months to develop inside their mothers before they are born.
| A．Baby gorillas | B．Baby bears |
| C．Kittens | D．Baby elephants |
Which statement is NOT true according to the reading material?
| A．The tallest Shire horse on record is 198cms from shoulder to leg. |
| B．Bat’s wings are overgrown legs. |
| C．The rhino’s skin is 2cms thick and covers their body like armor. |
| D．The camel has long legs to keep them cool in the desert. |
The Clockwork Radio
The British inventor Trevor Baylis created this really clever ′wind-up radio′ for people from Third World countries. in some parts of the Third World countries, it’s very hard for people to get or pay for enough energy. This radio uses no batteries (电池) and does not need any electricity to run it. A clockwork generator (发电机) is put inside the radio and works as the power. When it is fully wound up (上弦), the radio can work for long periods.
The clock work product is not a new invention. The Victorians had already put it in wide use. We may find them used in toys as well. Then what is new about this clockwork radio? Baylis has used this simple but effective (高效的) way of creating electricity to both help the people of the Third World and to develop a product which is selling well in Western Europe.
Even former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandella has one of these radios and personally recommends this product to others. What does the clockwork radio use to run it?
| A．Batteries. | B．Electricity. |
| C．A clockwork generator. | D．Wind power. |
The Third World countries are in the world.
| A．the rich countries | B．the poor countries |
| C．Western European | D．Victorian countries |
Which sentence is true according to the passage?
| A．the clockwork radio can work for only a short period of time. |
| B．Trevor Baylis created the world’s first clockwork product. |
| C．The clockwise radio is also a toy for people of the Third World. |
| D．Nelson Mandella owns one of the clockwork radios. |
Interested in Chinese calligraphy (书法) experiences? By joining our Beijing Tours Xi’an Tours or Guilin Tours, visitors can add Chinese calligraphy classes to the tour at, very reasonable prices.
Most of the big museums in China have calligraphy collections. See our Museums Tours.
For travelers who are interested in the history and culture of Chinese calligraphy, Museum of Chinese Characters in Anyang City, Henan Province is a good choice. The Stele Forest Museum in Xi’an City houses many works of famous ancient calligraphers as well as precious stone sculptures (雕塑).
Contact us for a tailor-made tour.Where can we find this piece of writing?
| A．In a story book. | B．In a textbook. |
| C．In a cookbook. | D．In a travel magazine. |
What can we see in the Stele Forest Museum in Xi’an City?
| A．Statue of ancient calligraphers. |
| B．Precious stone sculptures. |
| C．City houses |
| D．Famous workers. |
Which road sign tells us that we must NOT turn right?
Outside our school there’s a sign like this
. What should the drivers to when they see it?
| A．They must stop the car immediately and wait there. |
| B．They must take a U-turn there. |
| C．They mustn’t even stop the car in that area. |
| D．They mustn’t drive the car into that area. |
Where in the world can you take an hour’s train ride, and pass a forest, a London street, a scene from the Wild West, and a burning building that never burns down? There’s only one place, and that’s Hollywood, in California. The scenes you see from the tourist train are film sets（布景） in the Universal Studios, one of the oldest and largest movie companies(公司) in the USA.
A visit to Universal Studios brings back memories of great days of Hollywood, the films and the stars. But they are only memories. Hollywood isn’t quite the same as it used to be. Costs have gone up and confidence has gone down. Movie-makers are afraid to spend their money on expensive new ideas. Instead, they repeat old ones.
The film industry is changing fast. Teenagers still go out to the movies. The theatre is a good place to meet friends away from home. But older people mostly stay home to watch series, like Dynasty have become as important to Hollywood as expensive movies. These “soap opera”, as they are called, show rich, powerful families living in beautiful homes and wearing beautiful clothes. But the actors and actresses are nearly all middle-aged, like many of the people who watch them.
Though it is soap operas that are keeping the film-makers of Hollywood in Business, big films are still being made in America. But more and more of them are made outside Hollywood. New York is the most important new center, but there are many others as well. Movie-makers have realized that they don’t need Hollywood any more. Modern cameras and real houses instead of expensively made copies in a studio. Other states, especially Florida and Texas, are working hard to take the film business away from California. They are offering better working conditions and lower cost.
But Hollywood is fighting back. The state of California is trying hard to keep its best-known industry.From the passage, we know Universal Studios is ______.
| A．a very large park | B．a busy London street |
| C．a famous movie company | D．an old Hollywood movie |
The movie industry in California isn’t as successful as before because ______.
| A．young people don’t go to movie theatres any more |
| B．there is strong competition from other states |
| C．its movie companies are in neeed of young stars |
| D．the state hasn’t put a development plan into action |
Which of the following seems to be a threat（威胁）to Hollywood？
| A．The use of modern cameras and other equipment |
| B．The interest of middle-aged film stars |
| C．The making of TV series like Dynasty |
| D．The expensively made copies of scenes |