閱讀理解

　　One morning, a blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet．He held a sign which said,“I am blind．Please help me．”

　　There were only a few coins(硬幣)in the hat．A man was walking by．He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat．He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it．He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words．

　　Soon the hat began to fill up．A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy．That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were．The boy recognized his footsteps and ask,“Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”

　　The man said,“I only wrote the truth．I said what you said, but in a different way．”

　　What he had written was,“Today is a beautiful day, but I can't see it．”

　　Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

　　Of course both signs told people the boy was blind．But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat．The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind．

　　The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind．

　　There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story．

　　The first is：Treasure(珍惜)what you have．Someone else has less．Try your best to help those who need your help．

　　The second is：Be creative．Think differently．There is always a better way．

閱讀理解

　　Dear Reader,

　　Think about an 11-year-old child spending her days washing clothes, looking after a baby brother, and doing hard work on the farm．

　　Think about a little girl．She knows there will not be enough food for dinner, and has no water to drink because it is not clean．She has watched her father, brother and sister lose their lives as the family has no money to send for a doctor．

　　Hard to believe? For Maria Pastora, these are the facts of life．

　　Maria would gladly walk to school, but her mother, now alone, really needs her at home．Maria had to leave school to work for her poor family．

　　But for five dollars a week, you can help out a child like Maria．Show her that somewhere, someone will help her．Through Save the Children, you can help Maria's mother get better crops(收成)from their farm, and earn the money to buy clothes and things for school．

　　To help Maria most, your money is to put together with other helpers, so hardworking people can help themselves．Build a school or a hospital, make their farm better, bring in clean water…This is what Save the Children has been about since 1932．

　　For you there are many returns．You can write letters to each other, get photos, or study reports．Know you are helping and saving another person in the same world as you．That's how Save the Children works．But without you, it can't work．Please take a moment to fill in this form to help a child like Maria and her village．

　　It can make such a difference in her life and yours．

Save the Children

David L．Guyer

Chairman

閱讀理解

Every child has his own dream．Every child hopes to be an adult．However, is it truly like what they imagine? As a boy who lives in modem times and in a modern city, I feel greater pressure on me with the city's development．Although we seldom worry about money, we still have a lot of others such as competitions among classmates and expectations from parents．These experiences are very helpful to our future．But in fact, they really give me a lot of pressure．I still clearly remembered the happiness of my childhood．Unluckily, we had to face the fact with time passing by．We began to feel this invisible(無形的)pressure come upon us．We get up before sunrise and return after sunset．we work and study like an adult, even harder．What we do is to get an excellent mark．Oh, growing up is completely boring．We must try to find happiness while growing up．I think the friendship among our friends, the support from our parents and the encouragement from our teachers can help us．Why not enjoy the pleasure of growing up and its delicious taste?

閱讀理解

We surveyed 300 young people on what they like to do at weekends．One hundred people are from the ages of 11-18, one hundred 19-26 and one hundred 27-35．The following shows their answers：

閱讀理解

　　Once upon a time there lived an old man．He had three sons．One day, he called them together and said, "Sons, I will die soon．To my oldest son I give half my camels, to my second, one-third(三分之一), and to my youngest, one-ninth(九分之一)．" Soon after that he died．

　　Now, the old man had seventeen camels, and the three brothers didn't know how to do as their father said．They thought a long time about the problem, and it seemed that they must either kill some of the camels and cut them into pieces, or disobey their father．At last they went to their father's old friend and asked for his advice．As soon as he heard their story, he said, "I will help you．I was a good friend of your father's．I am old．I have only one camel, but take it-it is yours．"

　　The three sons thanked the old man and took his camel．Now they found it was easy to do as their father wished, The oldest took half- that was nine camels; the second took one-third, that was six; and the youngest took one-ninth, that was two．

　　After each had got his camels, they found that there was still a camel there．So, to show their thanks to their father's friend, they gave the camel back to him．

閱讀理解

The word “day” has two meanings．When we talk about the number of days in a year, we are using “day” to mean 24 hours．But when we talk about day and night, we are using “day” to mean the time between sunrise and sunset．Since the earth looks like a ball, the sun can shine on only half of it at a time．Always one half of the earth is having day and the other half night．A place is moved from day into night and from night into day over and over by the spinning(旋轉(zhuǎn))of the earth．At the equator(赤道)day and night are sometimes the same length(長度)．They are each twelve hours long．The sun rises at 6 o'clock in the morning and sets at 6 o'clock in the evening．For six months the North Pole is tilted(傾斜)toward the sun．In those months the Northern Hemisphere(半球)gets more hours of sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere．Days are longer than nights．South of the equator nights are longer than days．For the other six months the North Pole is tilted away from the sun．Then the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight．Days are longer than nights．North of the equator nights are longer than days．Winter is the season of long nights．Summer is the season of long days．

閱讀理解

Joe Brown had a shop．He sold(賣)meat in his shop．One Thursday a woman came into his shop at five to one．“I'm sorry I'm late,” she said．“I need some more meat for my dinner tonight．” Joe had only one piece of meat in his shop．He took it out of the fridge and said, “This is＄6.50．” “That piece is too small．” the woman said, “haven't you for anything bigger?” Joe went into the room behind his shop, put the piece of meat into the fridge, took it out again and closed the door with lots of noise．Then he brought the piece of meat to the woman and said, “This piece of meat is bigger and more expensive．It's ＄8.75．” “Good,” the woman said with a smile,“give me both of them．”

閱讀理解。

There is a new park near Andy's home．It's fine today．Andy and his family are in the park now．On their left, there is a café．On their right, there is a big lake．There are many flowers and trees around the lake．There's a small hill behind the lake．Near the lake, there are two signs．One says, “Don't swim in the lake!” The other says, “No fishing!” But you can go boating on the lake．There is a beautiful garden in the middle of the park．There are green grass and beautiful flowers in it．There are some small shops between the lake and the garden．The park is so nice．Andy and his family like it very much．

閱讀理解。

　　One day, in an English class, the students are having their lessons．Their teacher, a young woman is very happy．She sings some nice songs with them and then she goes to the blackboard and writes “SMILES” on it．“This is the longest(最長)word in English,” she says to the class．

　　A girl stands up and says, “It has only six letters．How can it be the longest word in English?”

　　The teacher smiles and says, “Oh, look! There is a mile(英里)between the first letter and the last one．”

閱讀理解。

　　Hi! My name is Hunt．Here is a picture of my class．Joan is short and is wearing a yellow dress．She is good at maths．David is tall and has black hair．He is good at playing basketball．He is on the school team．Mike is big．He has small eyes．He is funny．He can play football．Lily has long hair, she can speak Japanese．

　　Helen is a black girl．She has short hair．She likes swimming．She is on the swimming team．I like music．Can you find me? I'm the boy with glasses．Becky is new here．She comes from Hong Kong．She has black hair and black eyes．She speaks English well．And she is very good at computer．