閱讀理解

　　Building a house costs quite a lot of money．Suppose you plan to build a house．Your first step will be to find a right piece of land．Your choice(選擇)will depend on many different things．You will probably try to find a sunny place, with pleasant surroundings(環(huán)境)near shops and bus stops, not too far from your friends and the place where you work．

　　Next you will find a good builder, and together with the builder you will work out a plan．The builder will draw the plan．It will show the number of rooms, their position and size, and other parts, which must be noticed, such as windows, doors, and electric outlets．The builder will work out how much money is needed to build your house．He will work out the cost of the wood, bricks, the glass, and everything else that must be used in building the house．Later on, when he starts to build, this estimate(預(yù)算)must be corrected and revised(修訂)．His estimate is based on existing prices, but prices of such things may change, and many other things may happen between the time when he makes the estimate and the time when he builds the house．

　　When the builder gives his estimate, you may wish to change your plan．(You may also wish to change your builder, if his estimate is too high!)You may find that the house you wanted at first costs too much, or that you can spend a little more and add something to your plan．The builder's estimate depends on the plan, but the final plan depends on the builder's estimate．

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閱讀理解

　　Hundreds of years ago, life was harder than it is today．People didn’t have modern machines．There was no modern medicine, either．

　　Life today has brought new problems．One of the biggest is pollution．Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty．It kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water．Noise pollution makes us talk louder and become angry more easily．Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution to all living things in the world．

　　Cars, planes and factories all pollute our air every day．Sometimes the polluted air is so thick that it is like a quilt(被狀物)over a city．This kind of quilt is called smog．

　　Many countries are making rules to fight pollution．Factories must now clean their water before it is thrown away, and they mustn’t let dirty smoke go into the air．

　　We need to do many other things．We can put waste things in the dustbin and do not throw them on the ground．We can go to work by bus with our friends in the same car．If there are fewer people driving, there will be less pollution．

　　Rules are not enough．Every person must help to fight pollution．

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　　For several years, Americans have enjoyed tele shopping---watching TV and buying things by phone．Now tele-shopping is starting in Europe(歐洲)．In a number of European countries, people can turn on their TVs and shop for clothes, food, toys and many other things．

　　Tele shopping is becoming popular in Sweden, for example．The biggest Swedish company sells different kind of things on TV in 15 European countries, and in one year it made $100 million．In France there are two about $20 million a year to buy things through those channels．

　　In Germany, until last year tele-shopping was only possible on one channel for 1 hour every day．Then the government(政府)allowed more tele-shopping．Other channels can open for tele-business, including(包括)the largest American tele-shopping company and a 24－h(huán)our tele-shopping company．German businesses are hoping this new tele shopping will help them sell more things．

　　Some people like tele-shopping because it allows them to do their shopping without leaving their homes．With all the problems of traffic in the cities, this is an important reason．But at the same time, other Europeans do not like this new way of shopping．They call tele-shopping “Junk(垃圾)on the air”．Many Europeans usually worry about the quality(質(zhì)量)of the things for sale on TV．Good quality is important to them, and they believe they cannot be sure about the quality of the things on TV．

　　The need for high quality means that European tele-shopping companies will have to be different from the American companies．They will have to be more careful about the quality of the things they sell．They will also have to work harder to sell things that the buyers cannot touch or see in person．

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閱讀理解

　　For many people the subject of hiccups(嗝)is a joke, but for Harry Mendes, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy from Birmingham, it was something quite different．

　　His hiccups began one Sunday lunchtime and continued day and night for two weeks．After the first week, Harry's parents took him to hospital, but it took another week for the doctors to cure his attack．

　　Harry, who is now back at school, described what happened to him．

　　“When I began to hiccup, I drank a glass of water but that didn't do any good．That evening I had hiccups every four seconds．We tried everything to stop them．I held my breath and drank cold drinks．My father even tried to give me a shock but that didn't work either．”

　　After a week of sleepless nights, he went to hospital．The doctors took an X-ray of his chest but they couldn't find anything wrong．

　　“They gave me some medicine and my hiccups slowed down, but it was another week before the medicine worked completely and my hiccups stopped．”

　　Harry was very lucky．The world record holder is the American farmer Charles Osborne, who hiccupped for sixty-eight years．He stopped in 1990 at last, but nobody knows why．

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閱讀理解

　　In a small village in England about 150 years ago, a mail coach(郵車)was standing on the street．Around the coach many people were talking to one another about it．

　　Mail coach did not come to that village so often in those days．People had to pay a lot of money to get a letter．The person who sent the letter did not have to pay．The person who got the letter had to pay the postage(郵資)．

　　“Here’s a letter for Miss Alice Brown,” said the mailman．Everyone turned to a girl of about eighteen who was standing by the coach．“I’m Alice Brown,” she said in a low voice．The mailman gave her the letter．

　　Alice looked at the envelope for a minute, and then handed it back to the mailman．

　　“I’m sorry I can’t take it,” she said．“I don’t have enough money to pay the postage．”

　　The people standing around were very sorry for the girl．They were silent for a while．Then a gentleman came up to the mailman and paid the postage for Alice’s letter．

　　When the gentleman gave her the letter, she said with a smile, “Oh, thank you very much, sir．This letter is from the young man I’m going to marry．His name is Tom．He went to London to look for work．He has to get enough money for our marriage(結(jié)婚)．I’ve waited a long time for this letter, but now don’t need it．I don’t have to open the envelope because there is nothing inside．”

　　“Really?” the gentleman said in surprise．“How do you know that?” “He told me that he would put some signs on the envelope．Look, sir, this cross in the corner means that he is well, and this circle means he has found work．That’s very good news．”

　　The gentleman was Sir Rowland Hill．He did not forget Alice and her letter．

　　“The postage to be paid by the receiver has to be changed,” he said to himself．He thought and thought for many years．At last he had a good plan．

　　“The postage has to be much lower,” he said．“What about a penny(便士)for a letter? And the person who sends the letter pays the postage．He has to buy a stamp and put it on the envelope．”

　　“A good idea!” people said when they heard of his plan．

　　The Government decided to adopt(采納)the plan．The first postage stamp was put out in 1840．It was called the “Penny Black”．It had a picture of the Queen on it．

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　　On November 18th, 1908, three men went up in a balloon．They started early in London．The headman was Auguste Gaudron, and the other two men were Tannar and Maitland．They had a big balloon, and they were ready for a long way．

　　Soon they heard the sea below them．They were carrying the usual rope , and it was hanging down from the basket of the balloon．At the end of the rope they had tied a metal box．This could hold water．Or it could be empty．So they were able to change its weight．They were also carrying some bags of sand．

　　After the sun rose, the balloon went higher．It went up to 3,000 meters, and the air was very cold．The water in the balloon became ice．Snow fell past the men’s basket, and they could see more snow on the ground．There was also some snow on the balloon, and that made it very heavy．It began to go down towards the ground．The men tried to throw out some more sand; but it was hard．They tried to break the icy sand with their knives, but it was not easy．The work was slow and they were still falling; so they had to drop some whole bags of sand．One of them fell on an icy lake below and made a black hole in the ice．

　　At last they pulled the box into the basket．It was still snowing; so they climbed to get away from the snow．They rose to 5,100 meters! Everything became icy．They were so cold that they decided to land．They came down in Poland heavily but safely．They had traveled 1,797 kilometers from London!

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　　Watson won his most important game and became Southern Chess Master(大師)in 1977．He was given the silver cup．

　　“It isn’t rightly mine,” he said, when he was holding the cup．” “It was won two years ago when I was on holiday in…”

　　“A family was staying at my hotel at that time．Mrs．Prig, the mother, was told that I played chess; and she begged me to give her young son a game．‘He’s only ten．’ she said, ‘I’ve been told that he plays quite well．’

　　“Well, as you can guess, I wasn’t too happy．A player likes the opponent(對(duì)手)to play as well as he does．But it was holiday time and I agreed to play．We placed the board(棋盤(pán))in the garden．The game began．I hoped it would be quick----and so it was．

　　“Isoon knew that David Prig was no learner．After ten minutes his sister came outside and began to play tennis against a wall．The boy seemed to lose interest in our game．He moved a piece(棋子)without care．I gave my attention to the board．

　　“ Call me when you are ready, Mr．Watson,” he said．

　　When I was ready? I looked up．He had gone off to play with his sister．I studied the board, and found I was driven into corner．So it went on with David：a quick move, then tennis, back to the board, then back to his sister．My difficult condition became impossible to change．I was beaten．Oh, so easily, by a ten-year-old chess player．He was the winner── in twenty-eight minutes．

　　“David Prig, a name to remember．I had a chance to use his game today, and it won this cup for me．To him, of course, it is only one of a hundred, or perhaps a thousand, winning games．”

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　　Almost everyone likes dogs, and almost everyone likes to read about dogs．I have a friend．He has a big police dog with the name Jack．Police dogs are very clever．Every Sunday afternoon my friend takes Jack for a long walk in the park．Jack likes these long walks very much．

　　One Sunday afternoon a young man came to visit my friend．He stayed a long time．He talked and talked．Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for a walk．But the visitor still stayed．Jack became much worried．He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the visitor and looked at him．But the visitor paid no attention(注意)to Jack．He went on talking．At last Jack got angry．He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later．He sat down again in front of the visitor, but this time he took the visitor’s cap in his mouth．

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　　People often say, “Children can’t do math problem, it’s because parents can’t do their children’s homework．” Here’s an example to show what I mean．

　　The other day my daughter brought home her math homework．“I have to subtract(減)179 from 202,” she said．

　　“It’s quite easy,” I said．“You put the 202 over the 179．”

　　“But we need a 10 here．Where is the 10?”

　　“I don’t know where the 10 is．Let’s just subtract 179 from 202．Nine from two is three．You carry one and add it to seven．Eight from zero is two．The answer is 23．”

　　“We can’t do it that way．We have to use the 10．”

　　“Well, I’m going to call your teacher to see how she subtracts 179 from 202．”

　　Over the telephone, I said that I was having a bit of trouble with the homework she had given to my daughter．The teacher said, “In the right-hand column(欄)we have units of one．The two in that column counts for two ones．The zero in the center counts for zero tens．The two in the left-hand column counts for hundreds．Are you clear?” But I didn’t think I was clear．

　　I hung up and found my way to the medicine box．My head was now hurting．I started putting pills of medicine into my mouth．“How many did you take?” my wife asked．“I took one and then I took another…I know one and one was two, but don’t ask me what it is now．”

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　　There was once a man called Mr．Flowers, and flowers were his only joy in life．He spent all his free time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions(比賽)．He tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup(銀杯)for the Rose of the Year．

　　Mr．Flowers’ glass-houses were very near to a middle school．Boys of around thirteen of age were often tempted(引誘)to throw a stone or two at one of Mr．Flowers’ glass-houses．So Mr．Flowers did his best to be in or near his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school day．

　　But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times．Mr．Flowers had tried in many ways to protect his glass, but nothing that he had done had been useful．He had been to school to report to the headmaster; but this had not done any good．He had tried to drive away the boys that threw stones into his garden; but the boys could run faster than he could, and they laughed at him from far away．He had even picked up all the stones that he could find around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw; but they soon found others．

　　At last Mr．Flowers had a good idea．He put up a large notice(布告)made of good, strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses．On it he had written the words：DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE．After this, Mr．Flowers had no further trouble; the boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice than at the glass-houses．

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