Deep in the forest lives David, who loves books. As soon as he reads one book, he brings home1.
Soon the house2 books. His wife, Alice, is angry. You3do something! "
David thinks hard and has4 idea. "I can bring my books into the faraway hills and share5. I have with the children."
Every week, David sets off across the countryside to faraway villages with his two donkeys. Early6a sunny morning, David and his donkeys stop at a river7. Then, from deep in the shadows, a bandit (山贼) jumps out! "Please let us pass," David says. "The children8." The bandit takes one book and shouts, “Next time I want9!"
They move on until at last, David sees some houses below. The children run to meet10. David reads them a story first.11the story ends, it's time for everyone to choose a book. The children hold their books close as they say good-bye and run home12. David and his donkeys head back, over and around the hills, and into the sunset.
At home, Alice feeds her hungry husband and the donkeys. But then, instead of13, David picks up his book,14reads deep into the night. And far away in the hills, candles and lanterns bum as the children read borrowed books deep into their night,15.
One sunny morning, when Zebra (斑马) visited the river for a cool drink, he heard a tiny voice. "Help me，Zebra!"
Zebra looked around and found Wasp (黄蜂)1in a spider web in a thornbush (荆棘丛). Carefully，Zebra reached into it, but the thorns2him. "Ouch!" Zebra stepped back and was leaving.
"Please help me," said Wasp. "One day I will3your help."
Zebra laughed. "I'm fast and strong. Besides, I have a big family. Why would I need help from a4wasp?"
"Please try one more time," Wasp said. Zebra knocked at the web. 5, this time it was enough to free Wasp. "Try to stay out of trouble," Zebra said. "I might not be nearby the next time a spider gets6." Then he left.
All day, Zebra stayed with his family until he noticed his favourite fruit—some berries! The hungry Zebra ran to7the berries.
Wasp was resting in the bushes when she saw Zebra. She also found Lion biding quietly ahead. If Zebra got too close to Lion…
Thinking quickly, Wasp flew down and gave Lion a sudden sting. The8lion cried. "Roooooaaar!" Zebra heard the loud cry. In a second, he turned around and ran back 9.
A moment later, Wasp flew around Zebra's head. "Try to stay out of trouble, Wasp said with a10. " I might not be nearby the next time a lion gets hungry."
"Amy! Milk!" Mama called.
Milk. It was Amy's turn to get it. Amy sighed and shut her first-aid (急救) book.
Amy tied the cow close to a tree. Somewhere down the mountain, some volunteer doctors were teaching medical skills to village nurses. Amy heard Betty dive off hours ago. "She should have taken me with her. She thinks I'm too young. "Amy thought. "But she's wrong. I am already 15!"
Amy carried the milk back to Mama, then wandered up the road. Roy, a village boy, was trying to stand on a horse's back. "No wonder they don't trust kids with anything important," Amy thought.
She had just turned away when she heard a heavy fall and a few cries. Roy was on the ground. "Roy!" The kids nearby ran towards him. "Get Betty," one said. Amy shook her head. "Betty's gone to the city."
The kids didn't know what to do. Amy ran to Roy and saw one of his legs out of shape. A broken leg! She remembered what the first-aid book said about it.
"Victor!" Amy called to one of the boys. "Go get Roy's mama, and find someone with a truck," She turned to the others. "Give me your shirts. We need something to tie his leg with."
Amy then found a strong, straight stick. She carefully wrapped the shirts around Roy's leg and the stick. Roy cried out in pain. "I know it hurts," Amy said softly. "But this will hold it still until you get to the hospital."
When Amy was done, she looked up and saw Roy's mama and a man watching beside a truck. "Thank you，Amy, " Roy's mama said. Amy helped them lift Roy into the truck, then they drove down the hillside towards the hospital.
The next day, Betty came to Amy's home. "I heard what you did," Betty said. "You kept your head in an emergency. That's an important skill. "
Amy's face turned red. "I was afraid..."
Betty shook her head. "It's OK for a nurse to be afraid, as long as she has a clear head. The volunteer doctors are coming tomorrow with vaccines. We need some more hands. Can you help?"
"I'd love to." Amy replied at once.
"Come early，then. There is a lot to learn."
Amy smiled. "I'll bring my first-aid book."
a. She found a proper stick. b. She helped lift Roy into the truck.
c. She asked the boys for some shirts. d. She tied the shirts around the broken leg.
e. She sent someone to get Roy's mum and a truck.
How would you like to build a time machine? Paper, sticks, glue and string are all you need. Put them together to build a kite. A kite connects you to the past.
No one knows who flew the first kite. It was probably someone in China or perhaps Indonesia. Indonesia. Indonesian fishermen hung fishhooks on kites and sent them out to sea to catch fish. Starting 2,000years ago, Chinese farmers flew kites to welcome the New Year and bring good luck to Earth.
In China, people also used kites during wartime. One Chinese story tells how soldiers put noise makers on kites and flew them at night over the enemy camp. The enemies were frightened by the noise and ran away.
About 1,300 years ago, Chinese travelers took kites to Japan. Soon kites filled the skies there. Kites reached Thailand about 700 years ago. During floods, Thai farmers flew kites over their fields. They hoped the kites would drive away the clouds and stop the rain. Over time, kites flew their way out of Asia. Today, kites are a passion all over the world. Kite fens meet at festivals in many parts of the world and have great fun.
Over the years, Kites have also helped people understand the natural world. In 1749, for example, thermometers were tied to kites to measure temperatures. In 1906, cameras hanging from kites took pictures of San Francisco, California after an earthquake. The photos helped people plan what to do.
Kites also helped inventors find out how to make airplanes. The Wright brothers studied how kites flew, which helped them make the first successful airplane.
Since the ancient Chinese first set their kites into the air, people have loved flying kites. Kites give us ways to celebrate, relax and explore. So go fly a kite! Enjoy the feeling of wonder that kite flyers have felt for centuries.
Five interesting sports
Our most unusual sports from around the world
Every country has a national sport and some popular sports are now played across the world. However, in most countries, people also play unusual sports, with strange or interesting rules. Here are our top five unusual sports from around the planet.
Man vs. Horse Marathon
This race takes place in a small town in Wales, about 200 miles from London. It's called a marathon (马拉松),but it's actually 35.4km, not 42.2km like a usual marathon. People race against horses across the hills and mountains. It started in 1981, but a human did not win until 2004.
Camel Wrestling
In Turkey, camel (骆驼) wrestling is a very old sport. The largest camel wrestling competition takes place every year and thousands of people come. In the sport, two camels fight against each other. Sometimes the camels do not want to fight and they run through the crowds, which can be dangerous.
Dragon Boat Racing
Every year in China, thousands of people watch dragon boat races. A dragon boat is a traditional Chinese boat with a painted dragon's head on one end. There can be up to 36 people or more racing in each boat in the water. Dragon boat racing is also popular in some other Asian countries.
Caber Toss
In this sport, players compete to throw a large piece of wood called a caber as far as they can. There is no rule about the size of the caber, but it's usually the size of a small tree. It's an ancient Scottish sport. Visitors to the UK can check it out.
Chess Boxing
A good chess boxer needs to be both strong and smart. Players play a round of chess, followed by a round of boxing. There are eleven rounds in total. Chess boxing was invented in 1992 by an English comic book writer. The sport is more popular in England and Germany.
B . 
C . 
D . 
What will astronauts (宇航员) eat when a space trip takes years?
"Lots of fresh vegetables," says Dr. Janet Williams, whose team have spent the last 10 years learning how to grow plants in a space station. And it's a good thing that she has already started her work, because space gardening can be really hard.
As usual, astronaut George White looked into the closed plant room. He had planted Dr. Williams's quick-growing seedlings in it, but none of the stems were showing. He opened the room to check and found the problem. The stems weren't growing upward and the roots weren't growing downward. On Earth, gravity (重力) helps a plant's stems and roots to find "up" and "down". However, in the space station, there was almost no gravity.
Dr. Williams suggested a solution: give the plants more light, as plants also use sunlight to find their way. And it worked. When the plants had more light, the stems turned up and the roots went down.
Now Dr. Williams was free to worry about the next problem: Would her baby plants live to flower? Can we grow food on a space journey?
Many plants died in the space station. Dr. Williams thought she knew why: the space plants were hungry for air. Plants live by taking up CO2 from the air. Since a plant uses it up in the air around, the plant needs moving air to bring more CO2 close to its surface! On Earth, the air is always moving. Gravity pulls down cold air, and warm air rises. And with these air movements, plants get enough CO2.
Many earlier experiments with plants in space had used closed rooms. Dr. Williams tried a new greenhouse that had a fan to keep the air move. The plants loved it. They flowered and even produced more seeds. Using Dr. Williams's method, astronaut George completed the first seed-to-seed experiment in space, and moved one plant closer to a garden in space.
"And this," says Dr. Williams, "is good news for long-term space travel."
Storytelling
Storytelling has caught the human imagination for thousands of years. People everywhere have told stories to amuse, to teach, to remember, and just to pass the time. People started telling stories long before writing was invented.But people all over the world still tell one another stories out loud. A person who can tell a good story nearly always finds listeners.
Before people developed writing, storytelling was the most important way to pass along information. Anything a culture wanted to protect—its beliefs, its history, and its traditions—had to be told out loud. Each generation would tell the culture's stories to the next.Knowledge passed on in this method is called the spoken tradition. Even cultures that know how to write still pass along some information in this way.
In other cultures only special storytellers were trusted to do this important job. A culture's best storytellers had good memories. They could also make the stories very interesting, so people would listen and remember them. Sometimes people would sing the stories or tell them in the form of poems.
However, stories told aloud change over time as different people tell them. A storyteller might change a story in order to make it better. Or a teller may simply not remember all the details of a story. Unlike written stories, the spoken tradition is not created by any one person. Sometimes the stories are collected and written down long after they have been created.
|
A. In this way the stories were passed along. B. In some cultures everyone would pass along the stories. C. Songs and poems can both make stories easier to remember. D. Instead, a whole culture helps shape the changing stories throughout history. E. Today stories are also written down in books and acted out in movies, TV shows, and plays. |
|
From |
Bob |
Kate |
Lily |
You |
|
To |
parents |
good friend |
foreign teacher |
（请补充） |
|
What |
soup | Photo album | Paper cutting | （请补充） |
| Why | thanks and love | friendship | culture | （请补充） |
注意：
1）词数：80词左右（短文的开头己给出，不计入词数）：
2）不得透露学校、姓名等任何个人信息，否则不予评分。
In today's English class, we had a discussion on "A valuable gift I gave". Here is what we shared in our group. ...
