Light travels at a very fast speed. It is about a million times 1 than the speed of sound. You can get some idea of this 2 by watching the start of a race (赛跑). If you stand some distance away from the starter, you can see smoke from his gun before the sound gets to your 3
This great speed of light4some strange facts. Sunlight 5about 8 minutes to get to us. If you look at the light of the moon tonight, 6 that the light rays (光线) left the moon 1.3 seconds before they got to you. The nearest star is so 7 away that the light which you can see from it tonight started to 8 towards you several years ago. In some cases, the light from one of tonight's stars had started on its journey to you before you were born.
So, to be exact, we can't say, "The stars are shinning 9." We have to say instead, "The stars 10 pretty. They were shining several years ago, but their light has only just got to the Earth."
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The History of Basketball Dr. Naismith started the basketball game in 1891. He was a teacher. He wanted a sport that the students could play inside in winter. In 1936, basketball became a sport at the Olympic Games. Now, it is very popular and more than 3 million people play it around the world. |
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The History of Tea It is said that (据说) the emperor Shen Nong discovered tea by accident when he was boiling water over an open fire. Some leaves from a nearby bush fell into the water and produced a pleasant smell. He tasted the hot mixture (混合物). It was quite delicious. In this way, he invented tea. Tea was popular among the people, but it didn't appear in the Western world until 1610. |
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The History of Potato Chips A cook called George Grum invented potato chips by mistake in 1853. He wanted to play a trick on a customer. He cut the potatoes really thin and cooked them for a long time until they were crispy (脆的). Then he sprinkled (撒) lots of salt on them so they were salty. But in fact, they were crispy and delicious. The customer loved them very much. |
In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married to the emperor (皇帝). Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favorite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.
One day, a priest (牧师) passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life?
The priest made a puppet (木偶) out of bits of clay (黏土). He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.
The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife was spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.
"You'll think twice about plucking your eyebrows (拔眉毛) you find their important role," says Greg Foot. They are one of most expressive(有表现力的) parts of our bodies. your eyebrows, you can tell your feelings to other people. is that their only purpose (目的)?
Over several thousand (year), we have lost lots of body hair, so it's strange that hair still (remain) on our brows. Some scientists say that eyebrows mainly work as special form of protection for the eyes. In fact, their job is so (importance) that some researchers are sure that if we didn't have (they), we'd have evolved (进化) some other facial features to (do) the same task.
