閱讀理解

　　Have you ever seen people building houses? To build a house, you need workers．They use their hands, tools(工具)and machines to put things together．Building the ISS(國際太空站)is the same．The difference is that the workers are astronauts．They walk in space and use robots’ arms and hands to do their work．

　　In the space station ,astronauts are comfortable．The temperature there is about 21℃．But outside the station, it can be too hot or cold for people．In the sunlight, it’s about 120℃．In the shadow(陰暗處)of the station, it’s about -85℃．So when astronauts walk in space, they have to wear heavy clothes----spacesuits．

　　Spacesuits also keep astronauts safe from flying rubbish(垃圾)in space．Each time people go into space, they leave rubbish there．So astronauts should be careful because there’s a lot of rubbish, some rubbish goes many times as fast as a plane!

　　Space walking is not easy, and it can be dangerous．So getting ready for it takes a lot of time to learn．Astronauts will need to do 160 space walks to finish their work in the ISS．That will take about 1,900man-hour of work．

閱讀理解

　　Do you know Marc Yu(余俊承)．He is very famous．He is only nine years old．He is a Chinese American．His mother is from Macao．He likes music very much and he has great musical talent(天賦)．He can play forty pieces of classical music now．

　　After hearing Mary Had a little Lamb one time at the age of three, he began playing it on the piano．Before that, he didn’t learn the piano at all．He started to take the piano lessons at the age of three．His first public performance(表演)was at the age of three, too．

　　Now he can play great music for people on the stage．He wants to be a famous musician like Lang Lang in the future．He likes LangLang very much．Lang Lang is his idol．

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October 21^st,2011

Dear Vincent,

　　I’m a middle school student in Zhejiang, China．My English teacher, Ms．Li gave me your name and address．I want to be your pen friend．

　　English is my favourite subject．That’s why I want to practise English with an American student．I also like art．It’s so interesting and useful．I like history, too．Our history teacher always tells us a lot of interesting historical stories．We all have a good time in history classes．

　　In my free time, I enjoy playing computer games．It’s exciting and fun．Do you like it? I also like to go to the movies．I saw Harry Potter and the DeathlyHallows：Part 1 yesterday．It was a great film．But I don’t like sports, so I never enjoy P．E．classes．

　　How about you? What subjects do you like? What do you look like? What do you want to do when you get older? I hope I can get your letter soon!

Yours,

Zhao Gang

閱讀理解

　　Hello, I’m a middle school student from Hainan．My Chinese name is Li Ying．My English name is Alice．I am Chinese．I’m in No．26 Middle School．I am a good student．Now I am thirteen years old．

　　Our school is very nice．Ms Smart is my English teacher．I like her and she loves us very much．

　　There are three people in my family．This is my father．He is a teacher．This is my mother．Her name is Han Jing．I love them very much．

閱讀理解

　　He was driving home one evening when he saw an old lady standing by the road．He could tell she needed help．So he stopped his car in front of her car and got out．

　　He smiled at her, but she was worried．Was he going to hurt her? He looked poor and hungry．

　　He said：“I’m here to help you ma’am．Why don’t you wait in the car? By the way ,my name is Joe．”

　　She had a flat tire(輪胎癟了)．Joe crawled under the car and soon he was able to change the tire．But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt．She said that she couldn’t thank him enough for his help．Joe just smiled as he closed her trunk(后備箱)．

　　She asked him how much she owed(欠)him．But Joe wasn’t thinking about the money．This was helping someone in need．He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she should lend a hand．

　　He waited until she had driven off and felt good as he headed for home．

　　A few miles down the road the lady saw a small café．She went in to get a bite to eat．The waitress brought a clean towel for her to wipe her wet hair．The waitress was nearly eight months pregnant(懷孕的)．It was tiring for her to move about．But she did it all with a sweet smile on her face．The lady was moved by the wonderful service the waitress was giving．After the lady had finished her meal, and the waitress had gone to get her change(零錢)from a ￥100 bill, the lady slipped(溜)out the door．At her table, the waitress found something written on a napkin．

　　There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady had written．It said：“You don’t owe me a thing．I know life is hard for you right now．Someone once helped me out, the way I’m helping you．If you really want to pay me back, don’t let the chain(鏈)of love end with you．”

閱讀理解

　　If we are driving a car or crossing a street, we will stop when the traffic lights turn red．Why do we use red rather than other colors?

　　As we know, scattering(散射)happens when light goes through the air．For the same media, if the wavelength(波長)is long, the scattering will be short．If the wavelength is short, then the scattering will be long．

　　Of all light we can see red has the longest wavelength, so the scattering is the weakest．That means the red light travels far．In fact, it travels farther on rainy days．

　　Using the red light can help drivers in farther areas see the lights．It helps drivers slow down or stop in time．If drivers don’t see the red light until they are close, they may not be able to stop the car in time．An accident may happen．Red can also excite people．We can act more quickly when we see the color red．

　　In a word, red light helps drivers stop in time and help prevent accidents．

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　　One day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk．As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying “You don’t say!” I was puzzled, and I thought, “Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about．” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?”

　　“Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it．The Great Wall is wonderful!” “Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world．And people of many countries have come to visit it．” As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, “You don’t say!”

　　I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?”

　　“Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised．

　　“Did you say ‘You don’t say!’?” I asked again．

　　Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly．He began to explain, “‘You don’t say!’ means ‘Really’．Perhaps you know little about English idioms(慣用語)．”

　　Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms．

閱讀理解

　　Doctor Seuss was born in 1904．By the middle 1950s, he had become one of the best-loved and most successful children’s book writers in the world．His books are very popular with young readers．They enjoy the invented words and the pictures of unusual funny animals and plants．

　　In 1954, life magazine published(刊登)a report about some school children who could not read．The report said many children’s books were not interesting．Doctor Seuss strongly hoped to help children and decided to write books that were interesting and easy to read．He used words with the same ending sound, 1ike fish and wish．He did not receive training in art．Yet, he drew the pictures for most of his books．

　　In 1957, Dr．Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat．He used less than 230 words to write the book and even a six-year-old should be able to read it．It was a fun story and easy to read．Children loved it．Their parents loved it，too．Today it is still one of the stories they like best．The success of The Cat in the Hat made him want to write more books for children．In 1960, he wrote a book using less than fifty words．The book is called Green Eggs and Ham．

　　In 1984．Doctor Seuss won a Pulitzer Prize(普利策獎(jiǎng))．He was honored for the education and enjoyment his books provided American children and their parents．

　　He died at the age of 87, but his influence remains．Millions of his books have been sold worldwide．People say his books helped change the way American children learned to read．Yet, his books are loved by people of all ages．Doctor Seuss once said, “I do not write for children．1 write for people．”

閱讀理解

　　Almost every day，we discuss the topic of health，especially for kids．But what is health? “Health” means eating well, getting enough exercise，and having a healthy weight．Let’s read the following rules．They can help you stay healthy．

　　1．Eat a variety of food，especially fruit and vegetables．We all know that eating fruit and vegetables can help us stay healthy，but many of us only eat our favourite food．Remember that we can only get the nutrition(營養(yǎng))we need by eating different kinds of food，especially fruit and vegetables．

　　2．Drink water and milk most often．Everyone knows that water is important．Besides that, kids need plenty of calcium(鈣)to grow strong bones，and milk is rich in it．Every day, you should drink at least three cups of milk，when you are 9 years old or older．You should also try to have less sugary drinks，like soda and coca．They include a lot of sugar．Sugar only includes calories(熱量)，not important nutrition．

　　3．Listen to your body．When you are eating，notice how your body feels．When your stomach feels comfortably full, stop eating．Eating too much makes you feel uncomfortable．If you do if too often, it can make you unhealthy and fat

　　4．Limit screen time．What’s screen time? It’s the amount of time you spend watching TV, movies and playing computer games．The more time you spend on these sitting-down activities, the less time you spend playing sports, like basketball，and doing other activities like riding and swimming．Try to spend no more than 2 hours a day on screen time．

閱讀理解

　　Many children love to play with snow in winter．But Long Chuan has come to hate it．

　　This year his hometown suffered from snowstorms for nearly a month．The heavy snow stopped cars and trains．broke the electricity(電)tower and turned tap water to ice．

　　Every day Long Chuan had to walk several kilometers to carry drinking water．“I couldn’t ride a bike and it took me 3 hours to walk to schoo1．I can’t remember how many times l slipped(滑倒)on the hard ice．” said Long Chuan．

　　Long is not alone．This year millions of people in central and southern China had a freezing winter without enough water and electricity．The biggest snowstorms in 50 years killed more than 100 people．They also cost the country 111.1 billion yuan．

　　Experts(專家)say a special type of climate condition，La Nina，caused the storms．During a La Nina，the water in the Pacific Ocean(太平洋)near the equator(赤道)becomes colder than usual．It changes the weather around the world．

　　Besides China，Canada，the USA and Middle Eastern countries also met with heavy snowstorms this winter．The special climate caused the recent flood in Australia, too．

　　However，experts say that people have destroyed the environment．Global warming(全球變暖)may be causing these terrible weather events to happen more and more often．