閱讀理解

A man was sitting in the doctor’s office．He was telling the doctor about his problem．“I like football, doctor,” he said．“ Please help me．My life has never been a good one since I became interested in football, and it is getting worse and worse．I can’t even get away from it in my sleep．When I close my eyes, I am out there on the football field and running after a flying football．When I wake up, I am more tired than I was when I went to bed．What am I going to do?” The doctor sat back and said, “First of all, you have to do your best not to dream about football at all．When you close your eyes, try to think about something else．Try to think that you are in a party and someone is going to give you several million dollars．” “Are you crazy, doctor?” The man shouted．“I’ll miss my ball．”

閱讀理解

VISIT THE EAST GARDEN ZOO

　　Come and see the new polar bears from Canada．The pandas are waiting to meet you, and the dolphins are waiting to swim for you．The cranes are waiting to sing for you and the mynahs are waiting to say hello to you．The snakes are waiting to dance for you．

　　Tickets　　Adults(成人)：＄4　　children：Over 12　　　＄2

　　Under 12 　　＄1

　　Opening Time

　　9∶00～16∶00 on weekdays

　　9∶30～17∶00 at weekends

　　KEEP THE ZOO CLEAN!

　　DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS

閱讀理解

　　A student was going to spend his holiday in a cool mountain village．That evening he stayed at an inn(小旅館)near the railway station(火車站)．Before going to bed，he went to the boss of the inn and said, “Excuse me, sir．Will you please wake me up at a quarter to five tomorrow morning? I’ll take the five o’clock train．”

　　“Oh, sorry, sir, ”the boss said in a hurry, “I’m afraid I can’t．I won’t be able to get up so early．”

　　The student was disappointed(失望)．When he began to return to his room, be stopped and asked, “Have you got an alarm-clock(鬧鐘)?Maybe it can help me．”

　　“Wait a minute，then．”The boss said and brought out an alarm-clock．“Here you are, sir．”

　　“Thank you very much, ”The student said happily．But he found it was rusty(銹的)when he had a look at it．And it sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t．He asked, “Will it ring in time?”

　　“I don’t know, either．”said the boss，“But it doesn’t matter．You just give it a good shake at a quarter to five．And it will ring on time．”

閱讀理解

　　Once Effendi(阿凡提)had a joke with the Prime Minister(宰相)．He said the Minister would die the next day．The next day it really happened that the Minister fell from his horse and died．When the king heard this, he got angry and sent his men to catch Effendi at once．

　　After Effendi had been brought to him, the king shouted angrily, “Effendi, since you knew my Minister would die, you must also know the date of your own death．Say it out, or you’ll die today．”

　　Looking at the king, Effendi answered, “I’ll die two days earlier than you．”

　　Hearing that his own death would follow if Effendi was killed, the king thought he must keep Effendi alive(活著)as long as possible, so he let him go．

閱讀理解

　　Tom Smith was a writer．He wrote detective(偵探)stories for magazines(雜志)．One evening he could not find an end for a story．He sat with his pen in front of him, but had no idea．So he decided to go to the cinema．

　　When he came back, he found that someone had broken into(闖入)his house．The man had a drink, smoked several of Tom’s cigarettes(香煙)and read the story．The man left a note(便條)．

　　“I have read your story and I don’t think much of it．please read my advice(建議)and you can write a wonderful story．By the way, I am a thief．I am not going to steal anything tonight．But if you become a famous writer, I will return．”

　　Tom read the thief’s advice．Then he sat down and finished the story．Tom is still not famous now, but when he goes out in the evening, he always leaves a half-finished story on his desk．

閱讀理解

　　Old Mr Black loved shooting bears(熊), but his eyes were not good any more．Several times he nearly shot people instead of bears, so his friends were always very careful when they went out hunting(打獵)with him．

　　One day, a young friend of his wanted to have a joke, so he got a big piece of white paper and wrote on it very big letters “I AM NOT A BEAR”．Then he tied it to his back and went off．His friends saw it and laughed a lot．

　　But it did not save him．After a few minutes Mr Black shot at him and knocked his hat off．

　　The young man was frightened and angry．“Don’ t you see this piece of paper?” he shouted to Mr Black．“Yes, I did．” said Mr Black．

　　Then Mr Black went nearer, looked carefully at the paper and said, “Oh, I’m very sorry．I did not see the word ‘NOT’．”

　　In English－as in any other language －we do not always say what we mean or mean what we say．This is true of some of the things we say every day．For example, “How do you do?” “How are you?” This is what people say on meeting．Sometimes they stop and shake hands．“How are you?” looks like a question．It is written with a question mark(問號)after it．And sometimes “How are you?” is a question．One person may want to know if another is well or ill－h(huán)ow his health is－and so on．

　　When these are questions, they are almost always said as if(好像)the person who says them wants an answer．

　　But most of the time they are said in a way which does not ask for any answer．When these words are said so, we do not answer “I am tired, ” or “I have a bad cold,” or “I am not well．” We say the same thing back to the other person．“How are you?” or “Hello”．Such words are like a smile or a wave of the hand．

　　In the same way, when we meet someone in the morning we may say “Good morning!” The weather may be very bad but we say “Good morning!” and the other person will say “Good morning” back to us．We are not talking about the weather or about how good or bad the morning is．

　　Again, when people are parting(分手), they may say “Good morning!” or “Good afternoon!” or “Good evening!” or “Good night!” to one another instead of “Good-bye!” They are not talking about the weather but saying “May all be well with you at this time!”

　　You will find few people today who know that “Good -bye!” is a short way of saying “God be with you”．(上帝保佑你)．But in past times, when religion(宗教)had more place than it now has in education, a child could be taught this very young as part of his knowledge of English．

閱讀理解

　　Donald was not very good at maths．He could not understand the teacher’s explanations(解釋)．Ever when the teacher explained something a second time, Donald still could not understand it．“Never mind, ” Donald told himself．“I’m quite good at other subjects, I’ll cheat(作弊)in the maths exam, then I won’t be in trouble．”

　　“I’ll sit next to the boy who’s best at maths, ” he thought, “and copy down his answers．” The day of the exam came, and Donald sat next to Brian Smith, who always was at the top of the class in maths, Donald carefully copied Brian’s answers onto his own exam paper．At the end of the exam, the teacher collected the papers and graded(批改)them．Then she said, “Well, boys and girls．I’ve decided to give a prize to the student who got the highest grade．It’s difficult for me to decide who to give the prize to, however, because two students Donald and Brian, got the same grade．”

　　“Let them share it, ” one of the other students said．

　　“I’ve thought about that, ” the teacher said, “but I’ve decided to give the prize to Brian．” Donald was angry when he heard this．He stood up and said．“That’s not fair．I got the same grade as Brian．”“That’s true, ” the teacher said．“However, Brian’s answer Question 18 was’I don’t know’, your was ‘Neither do I’．”

閱讀理解

　　We spent a day in the country and picked a lot of flowers．Our car was full of flowers inside! On the way home we had to stop at traffic lights, and there my wife saw the bookshelf．

　　It stood outside a furniture(家具)shop．“Buy it,” she said at once, “We’ll carry it home on the roof-rack(車頂架)．I’ve always wanted one like that．”

　　What could I do?Ten minutes later I was twenty dollars poorer, and the bookshelf was tied on to the roof-rack．It was tall and narrow, quite heavy too．

　　As it was getting darker, I drove slowly．Other drivers seemed more polite than usual that evening．The police even stopped traffic to let us through．Carrying furnit ure was a good idea．

　　After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind．Why don’t they overtake(超車)?”

　　Just at that time a police car did overtake．The two officers inside looked at us seriously when they went past．But then, with a kind smile they asked us to follow their car through the busy traffic．The police car stopped at our village church．One of the officers came to me．

　　“Right, sir, ” he said．“Do you need any more help now?”

　　I didn’t quite understand．“Thanks, officer, ” I said．“You’ve been very kind．I live just down the road．”

　　He was looking at our things：first at the flowers, then at the bookshelf．“Well, well, ”he said and laughed．“It’s a bookshelf you’ve got there!We thought it was…or, something else．”

　　My wife began to laugh．Suddenly I understood why the police drove here．I smiled at the officer．“Yes, it’s a bookshelf, but thanks again．” I drove home as fast as I could．

閱讀理解

　　His songs are a bit sad, but his boy-like smile can quickly warm you up．And a lot of people love A-do(阿杜)for both reasons．

　　He has been singing for only two years, but he’s already a big star in Asian’s pop world．The Singaporean(新加坡的)singer has already made three albums．Together they have sold over five billion copies across Asia．

　　Last Friday, China’s Music Radio named him“the Asian King of Pop”．A-do said he did not expect the award．“It is great for me．It makes me want to work even harder．”

　　His new album“Hello” came out in December．He sing with the same rough voice, and he puts in some rock music．In the“Hello” music video, Vicky Zhao(趙薇)is with A-do outside on a cold day in Northern China．

　　A-do used to be a house builder．Every day after work, he would sing by himself．His workmates heard him and said, “You can go in for a contest．”

　　A-do hasn’t changed much．He still gets nervous in front of cameras．One of his fans said, “He is real and he never shows off．He is an everyday hero and shows anyone can do well if they work hard．”