Did you know that tea, the most popular drink in the world was invented by accident? Many people believe that tea was first 1 about 5,000 years ago. It is said 2 a Chinese ruler called Shen Nong was the first 3 tea as a drink. One day Shen Nong was boiling drinking water 4 an open fire. Some leaves from a tea plant fell into the water and remained there for 5. It produced a nice smell so he tasted the brown water. It was quite 6, and so, one of the world's favorite drinks was invented. A few 7 years later, the book called Cha Jing described how tea plants 8 and used to make tea. The tea trade from China to Western countries 9 in the 19th century. This helped to spread the 10 of tea and tea plants to more places around the world.
Have you ever offered a helping hand to those who are in trouble?
One day, two 1 were walking along the road to school when they saw an old woman carrying a large basket of pears. They thought the woman looked very 2. They went up to her and said, "Are you going to town? If you are, we will help carry your basket."
"Thank you," 3 the woman, " you are very kind. You see I'm weak and ill." Then she told them that she was now going to market to 4 the pears which grew on the only tree in her little garden.
"We are all going to the 5." said the boys. "Let us have the basket." And they took hold of it, one each side. They walked 6 with the heavy basket, but happily.
The other day, I saw a little girl stop and 7 a piece of orange peel, which she threw into the dustbin（垃圾桶）, "I wish 8 would throw that on the sidewalk," said she. "Someone may step on it and fall."
Perhaps some may say that these are not 9 things. That is right. But such a little thing shows that you have a thoughtful mind and a feeling heart. We must not wait for the 10 to do great things. We must begin with little things of love.
An English traveler found himself in Norway（挪威） with only enough money to buy the ticket for his journey back home. As he knew that it would take him only two days to get to England, he decided that he could easily spend the time without food. So he bought a ticket and went aboard the ship. The man closed his ears in order not to hear the sound of the lunch bell. When dinner time came , he didn't go to the dining room, saying that he was not feeling very well.
The next morning he still didn't have breakfast and at lunchtime he again stayed in his room.But at dinner time he was so hungry that he went to the dining room and ate everything the waiter put in front of him. He got ready for a quarrel.
"Bring me the bill," he said. "The bill, sir?" said the waiter in surprise. "There isn't any bill. On our ship meals are included in the money for the ticket," said the waiter.
As a rule, we have a test about some usual things in our life every two months. During my second month of nursing school, our teacher gave us a pop test as usual.
I was a serious, hard-working and careful student, so I passed the questions easily until I read the last one, "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"
I thought this was sure some kind of joke. I saw the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark hair and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.
Before the class ended, one student named Nancy asked our teacher if the last question would count toward our test grade. This was also all the students' question. We all wondered why he gave this question in the test, because we all felt it meaningless.
"Certainly," said our teacher. "In your life you will meet many people. All of them are important. They should get your attention and care, even if all you do is smile or just say an easy 'hello' ." We all kept silent after hearing this.
I've never forgotten that special lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.
The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th of the first month of lunar calendar（阴历）. This day is always the first full moon in the new year. Ancient people also called it Shangyuan Festival. Celebrations and traditions on this day began from Han Dynasty（朝代）and became popular in the Tang Dynasty.
Watching the red lanterns is one of the main traditions. Lanterns of different shapes and sizes are usually put on trees, or along river banks on show. It is said that sky lanterns were first used by Zhuge Kongming to ask for help when he was in trouble. Today, when the lanterns slowly rise into the air, people make wishes.
Another tradition is guessing lantern riddles(字谜). The riddles are usually short, wise, and sometimes humorous. The answer to a riddle can be a Chinese character（汉字）, a famous person's name, or a place name.
The most important thing is to eat sweet dumplings with different tastes. In northern China, they are called yuanxiao while in southern part of China they're named tangyuan. Because making sweet dumplings is like a game or an activity, they are usually done happily by a group of friends or family members.
In old times. The Lantern Festival was also romantic. Watching lanterns gave young people a chance to meet each other. A line from 辛弃疾 , a poet during the Song Dynasty, shows this:
Hundreds and thousands of times I searched for her in the crowd. Suddenly I turned, and there she stood, in the dim（昏暗的）light.
A new report shows what life might be like in 100 years . It describes skyscrapers that are much taller than today's buildings, underwater "bubble" cities and holidays in space. The report is from a company. It asked experts（专家）on space and architecture(建筑学), as well as city planners, to give their ideas on the life in 2117. They said the way we live, work and play will be completely different from how we do these things today. The experts used the Internet as an example. They said that 25years ago, people could not imagine how the Internet and smartphones would change our lives. The Internet has completely changed the way we communicate, learn and do daily things. The experts said the changes in the next century would be even more unbelievable.
Researchers questioned 2,000 adults about the predictions（预言）they thought were most likely（很可能的）to happen in the future. They predicted that in the future, few people will go to an office but will work at home and have work meetings online. People will have highly developed 3-D printers that will let you download（下载）a design for furniture or a food recipe and then "print" the sofa, table or pizza at home. There will also be less need for visits to the doctor. We will all have a home health instrument that will tell us what the problem is and give us treatment. We will also be going into space for holidays and to get resources that we have run out of on Earth. A prediction that is missing is whether people will still need to study English.
C: What can we do this weekend, Jill? I don't want to do my homework all day.
J：I know, Cindy.
C: No, we can't. My dad has to work at home. Molly's going to see a film. We can go with her.
J:
C: Maybe we can do some shopping. There's a new cartoon shop opening on Saturday.
J:
C: On the corner of Second Street.
J: How do we get there?
C: Well, should we go there by bike? My brother's going to visit the museum. We can take him there by bike, and then we can go shopping together.
J:
A. Where is the shop? B. How about watching a film? C. Let's have a party at your house! D. That's a great idea. No, I don't want to see a film |
decide against they run job profession hobby agree grow train |
Many teenagers have . But sometimes these can get in the way of schoolwork. Liu Yu is a star on his school team. His dream is to be a runner when he up. His parents won't allow him so much although they have nothing running. They think their son needs to think about other possible. Liu Yu with them. He thinks his parents are too strict with him. He also thinks it's very important for himself. Only in this way can he have a chance to achieve his dream.
