It was a beautiful spring day in a forest in ancient China. High up in a tree, a mother bird was watching 1 six baby birds come out of the eggs lovingly. Five of them were strong. They chirped loudly. But 2 last one that came out was not strong at all. This little one 3 Little Six. He was weak and quiet. He was not fast enough 4 the worms (虫子) Mama Bird brought back. Little Six ate 5 food, so he was always hungry. And he didn't like that.
Little Six didn't have a strong body. 6 he had a strong will. He decided 7 he would get stronger. He would do exercises and flap (拍动) his wings every day.
Every morning, Little Six would rise 8 the sun even came up. When his brothers and sisters woke, Little Six had already finished all his exercises. Morning after morning, he practiced 9 his wings, and they were getting stronger and stronger. He always got the first worms Mama brought back home.
All through the spring. Little Six woke up 10 than his brothers and sisters. Week after week, he worked harder than they did. He 11 eat big meals and did not go hungry any more.
After a couple of months, all the baby birds had grown well. Mama Bird brought them together and 12 them to fly. 13 everyone's surprise, Little Six was the first to start flying!
"Chirp! Chirp! 14 at me!" Little Six cried 15 while his brothers and sisters still fought hard, trying to fly up.
Almost everyone has a dream job, and for Susan, it is being a whale (鯨) trainer at her city's aquarium (水族馆). Last year, Susan finally had a (n) 1 , but it was more than just signing up. People who wanted this job had to take part in a competition. They need to show how 2 they could go down into the seven-metre-deep pool that housed the whales and how long they could stay there. The one who could reach the deepest and stay the longest underwater would get the job.
Susan signed up to try out, and everything went 3 at first. But then, as she went down to about five metres under the icy water, her legs stopped 4 . The cold water caused a huge pain in her legs. She was unable to swim back to the surface. She was in great fear and couldn't think. This only caused her to 5 farther into the pool. Just as Susan 6 hope, she suddenly felt herself being pushed to the surface.
It was Mila, a whale in the pool. She noticed Susan's 7 , held her leg in her mouth and pushed Susan up to the surface. Susan was 8 , thanks to Mila's quick action. The aquarium spokesperson said Susan was really 9 , because Mila had realized Susan needed help before any of the working group did, which saved valuable time.
"Whales are 10 animals-they live and play together. In the wild, they show great interest in humans and often swim close to boats and divers."
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My friend keeps copying my look, but I like looking special. What should I do?-Ann
The important thing is to tell your friend the truth without hurting her feelings. To do that, you can talk to her using kind words and not feeling angry. You can offer her your advice on popular dressing or even suggest wearing clothes that go together. This way you'll still look like each other, but not twins! My room is always messy. No matter what I do, I can't keep it clean!- Here are some great ways to make your room a bit tidier. Start by picking up things you don't use or want anymore. You can give them away to those in need. Less things means less mess! Then, try to make it a habit to put away things after you use them. Done with your sports shoes for the day? Back where they should be. Finally, set a timer for five minutes each night to clean any mess! I'm sad because I have to go to a summer camp. I just want to have a summer like my friends. Help me out!-Jessie We're sorry you're feeling this way! The best thing to do is to look at things on the bright side. There, a new group of kids will become your friends. They'll know exactly how you feel and help you. What's more, going to a summer camp doesn't mean a terrible summer. You'll still have fun in the sun with your friends. The only question is, what are you guys going to do together?!
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Come on, Amy. You must TRY HARDER. Amy told herself silently. She was in her class' Second-Day-of-School Game with her teammates, whom she only met yesterday. This was her first chance to make new friends, and she was nervous.
So far Amy hadn't given any useful suggestions-after all, she was totally new to this town. Luckily, no one seemed to care about it. This relaxed her a lot.
Since the Blue Team left the park, they had worked out the first two clues (线索) and had been to the post office. Now they were in front of the cinema.
Henry was reading aloud the third clue: Go to our town founder's last resting place.
I know THIS ONE! Amy thought, excited.
"To the cemetery (墓地)" Cindy said.
"No, wait!" Amy said. "I've read about it. The founder was buried near the library."
"Wow. I've walked by every day," Tyler said. "Never knew that!"
"Good job! That will save valuable time, "Cindy smiled at Amy.
"We still need to hurry," Tyler reminded, pointing to the Yellow Team coming near.
"I know a shortcut!" Henry suggested. "Follow me!" No one moved.
"No, seriously," Henry said. "You know I'm always running late. I know every shortcut in town. "The others finally agreed.
A few sharp turns, and they were there! This time Amy read the clue aloud: Now go to the place where the football is running around!
"The football stadium!" They called out together and started to run…
Now they'd got the final clue: Look where you've been, see where you are. Use your map wisely and you'll be a star!
Looking closely at the map, everyone thought hard.
"Aha! A star!" Cindy suddenly broke the silence. She quickly took out a pencil.
As they watched her drawing lines on the map, everyone understood.
They began running back to where they started. They were closer and closer, and finally crossed the finish line-just one step behind the Red Team!
"So…close…" Tyer made a face, and they all laughed together.
"Nice job, new girl," Cindy gave Amy a high-five.
"That was really fun," said Henry. "I hope we'll be on the same team soon."
"Me, too, "Amy agreed, smiling.
Computer scientist Mary has an idea for a new robot to help her work with children. How should it look? The robot should have arms to be able to lift things. And if it is going to communicate with people, it will also need a face. Scientists believe that giving a robot a face can make it seem more friendly. Humans would also like to pay more attention to robots with faces. But what kind?
For Mary, she wants to make sure that her new robot doesn't look too much like a human. She wants people to just treat it as a machine-person. If it looks more like a human than a machine, she thinks users might find it a bit creepy and feel afraid. Mary also believes that robot faces don't need to look a lot like ours. Her research shows that we can enjoy communicating with robots whether or not they look like humans, because our brains are able to look for faces. Just put two circles on top of a robot's body, and we will see a face.
Dave feels differently. He believes that although at first we might be afraid when seeing a robot with a lifelike face, we may soon get used to it. If robots are going to work closely with humans, they should look as much like us as possible. After all, faces are an important part of the way we communicate.
To make his robots look as much like real people as possible, Dave invented a special skin 皮肤) for their faces. With this skin, robots can show human-like expressions and appear to be angry, sad, happy or surprised. Dave's robots are also programmed to copy expressions. How? Just imagine his robot is looking at you. The cameras in its eyes send pictures of your face to its central computer!
People believe that every word has its correct meaning(s). When we are not sure, we usually check online, or turn to our teachers or dictionaries. But do you know how dictionaries were made in the past?
Dictionary writers first read the important books of the period or the subject that the dictionary was about. As they read, they copied necessary information on cards: interesting words, common words-both in their daily uses and unusual uses, and also the sentences where they were used. That is to say, the words, along with the uses of each word, were collected. For a really big dictionary, millions of such cards were collected. This task could last for years. As the cards were collected, they were put in alphabetical order (A-Z). When this was done, there would be several hundred cards for each single word.
Then, to define (定义) a word, the dictionary writer placed its hundreds of cards before him. He read the cards closely, threw away some, read the rest again, and divided up the cards according to what he thought were the common uses of the word. Finally, he wrote the definitions, following the hard-and-fast rule: each definition must come from an example on a certain card in front of him.
So, the writing of a dictionary was not a task of inventing meanings of words, but a task of recording their meanings. The writer of a dictionary was a historian, not a law maker.
As time develops, the way of producing dictionaries has greatly changed. Nowadays, we can use online dictionaries too. When choosing our words in speaking or writing, we can be guided by the dictionary. However, we cannot be controlled by it, because new situations, new experiences, new inventions, and new feelings, are always pushing us to give new uses to old words.
Years ago, green was simply a color. Now it's much more! In the 1970s, some people began to worry about what we did to mother Earth. It is a big idea that touches governments all over the world, and a small idea that touches us all in our homes.
Architects (建筑师) and building engineers are thinking about how to make buildings greener. These days, green architecture is becoming more and more popular.
We need to be very careful about the materials (材料) we use. It is better to choose renewable materials-those that the Earth replaces quickly. Also, for those materials that are not renewable, we need to use them as little as possible. Our mother Earth has offered us many other possibilities, such as wind and solar power.
Planners must think about the needs of those who will spend time in green buildings. In many cases, green energy is more comfortable for people. Natural lighting is often kinder to the eyes than electric lighting. In fact, many people who live or work in green buildings report feeling happier and healthier.
For example, they might try to use as little land as possible. If a building covers a large area, there will be less space for plants and trees. They also have to think about cutting down waste and pollution while the building work is going on.
Although green buildings are more expensive to build, they are less expensive to run.
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A. Or we can reuse some materials. B. As a result, green thinking was born. C. To understand it, we have to look at three different areas. D. For example, natural wind brings people cleaner and fresher air. E. Architects must consider what the building will do to the environment. |
Today is Duanwu Jie, or Dragon Boat Festival, one of the most important festivals in China. Chinese people r the great patriotic poet (爱国诗人) QuYuan by rowing dragon boats and making zongzi on this day.
My village is famous for its great protection of traditional c and we have the best dragon boat race team of the city. Every year, villagers raise our dragon boats from under the river about a month before the festival. And then it is c cleaned and repainted. Our dragon boat is already 40 years old. Made of a special kind of wood, it is still strong enough to l for a long time.
This year, my elder brother is accepted into our dragon boat race team as its youngest member. He's only 18, and I'm so p of him.
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Theme |
Healthy You and Me |
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Time |
8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. |
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Place |
Sports Center |
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Activities |
… |
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Purpose |
… |
注意：1. 可在内容提示的基础上适当拓展信息；
2. 词数80词左右（邮件的开头已给出，不计入词数）；
3. 不得透露学校、姓名等任何个人信息，否则不予评分。
Dear Sam,
Thank you for joining us in our voluntary work next Saturday.
……
Yours,
Li Hua
Mike