阅读理解

　　Scientists have always wanted to know more about the universe．

　　Years ago they knew many things about the moon．They knew how big it was and how far away it was from the earth．But they wanted to know more about it．They thought the best way was to send men to the moon．

　　The moon is about 384,000 kilometres away from the earth．A plane cannot fly to the moon because the air reaches only 240 kdlometres away from the earth．But something can fly even when there is no air．That is a rocket(火箭)．

　　How does a rocket fly?There is gas(气体)in the rocket．When the gas is made very hot inside the rocket, it will rush out of the end of the rocket, so it can make the rocket fly up into the sky．

　　Rockets can fly far out into space．Rockets with men in them have been to the moon．Several rockets without men in them have flown to another planet(行星)much farther away than the moon．One day rockets may be able to go to any place in space．

阅读理解

　　Mr Jones had always wanted to make a trip into the middle of Africa to shoot wild animals, but first he had not had enough money, and then he had married, and his wife had not wanted him to leave her．Then at last his wife agreed to the trip if he allowed her to come too．

　　“But it will be very uncomfortable,”Mr Jones warned her．“It will be very hot and we shall live in a tent－and it may be dangerous．”

　　“I don't care,”said his wife．“I want to come with you．”So they bought a big tent, camp beds, a refrigerator which did not need electricity and many other things which would make life comfortable, and went off to the middle of Africa．

　　On the first morning, before Mr Jones took his gun and left the tent, he gave his wife a bell and explained to her,“If you're in danger and you need me, ring this bell

and I'll come at once．”Then he went．

　　After a few minutes, he heard the bell and returned quickly to the tent．“What's the matter?”he asked．“Nothing,”answered his wife．“I was only testing the bell．”

　　Mr Jones went off, but after a quarter of an hour, the bell rang again．Mr Jones hurried back to the tent, but his wife said,“I'm sorry, I was cleaning our tent, and I knocked the bell over by mistake．”

　　Mr Jones returned to his hunting, but soon he heard the bell once more．This time, when he got back to his camp, the tent was burning, and Mrs Jones was lying of the ground, with blood running from a big cut on her shoulder．“That's better!”said Mr Jones．“This time the bell had been used correctly!”

阅读理解

　　The Chinese New Year is now known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the beginning of spring．Though there are some sayings about its origin(起源), all agree that the word Nian, which in modem Chinese means“year”,was originally the name of a beast(野兽)that start-ed to eat people the night before the beginning of a new year．

　　One story goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would take in a great many people at one time．People were very afraid．One day, an old man came to their help and said he would stop all this．To Nian he said,“I hear that you are very strong, but can you eat up all the beasts on earth instead of people who are too weak to be your enemy(敌人)?Yes,”Nian agreed with him and went to kill many of the beasts on earth．People were very happy because those beasts also did bad things to people and killed their farm animals from time to time．

　　After that, the old man, who was a god(神), rode on the beast Nian and left．Nian was gone, and other beasts also went into forests; people began to enjoy their happy life．Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper-cuts on their windows and doors at each year's end to drive Nian away, because red is the colour the beast felt most afraid of．

　　From then on, every year at the beginning of spring, people“Guo Nian”．The word“Guo Nian”means“Go through the Nian safely”．Putting up red paper cuts to drive Nian away and making dumplings for a better new year are still an every-year doing by the Chinese people．However(但是)people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, they just feel the colour and the food make the New Year very enjoyable．

阅读理解

　　Last Sunday the elephant keeper at London Zoo, Jim Robson, was killed by one of the elephants he loved．This was terrible, and it could be a big problem for the future(将来)of London Zoo-and maybe for all of Britain's city zoos．

　　London Zoo said that it would move its three elephants to a wild(野生的)animal park outside London．Its director-general(总经理), Michael Dioxn, said,“We are sorry that the elephants are leaving; there have been elephants at Lon-don Zoo since 1831．”

　　One British newspaper said that though many small animals were very interesting, most people wanted to see big animals－and most of all elephants．

　　London Zoo is not only losing its elephants．The tigers will also leave soon and most of the bears(熊)have already gone．Outside the elephant house at London Zoo, a woman called Mary said she hoped the zoo could keep big animals．“This is the only way the young people can see animals without travelling to other countries,”she said．

　　Zoos are not very good places for animals, but they can help to well keep them．Children can also learn a lot about the animals when they visit zoos．

　　Another visitor, a man called Alan, was very angry．“If we send them back to the wild they will die．If you take away big animals, people will stop visiting London Zoo．It can survive(继续生存)at the moment, but it won't survive in the future．”

　　However, Mary Rosevear, directory of the Federation(联合会)of Zoos, believes(相信)that city zoos can survive without keeping large animals．

阅读理解

　　Hong Kong has about forty public beaches(公区海滩), some of the beaches are among the best in the world．People can go there for a swim．You can go to most of them by bus．To go to some beaches you must take a boat．There are toilets, changing rooms and places to buy food and drinks on most of the beaches．

　　You will swim there without danger if you remember these instructions(提示)：1．Never swim alone．2．Never swim after a meal or when you feel hungry or tired．3．Do not stay in the water too long．4．Never go out in a boat if you cannot swim．

　　Remember：A red flag means that it is dangerous for anyone to go into the water．A blue flag means that it is dangerous for children．

阅读理解

　　Father's Day has a very short history．It was started because there was a Mother's Day, and just because some Americans thought that if we had a Mother's Day, we should also have a Father's Day．Father's Day has become important in North America．And businesses found it was a good way to get people to buy a present for their father, a present from their shops．

　　By the way, very few countries have a Father's Day, though some have a children's Day, or a special day for boys and another for girls．More and more countries are having Mother's Day, so maybe Father's Day will also become popular before too long．Now, what do people in North America do on Father's Day?The newspapers, radios, and TV tell children what they should do-buy, buy, buy, buy, buy a Father's Day present for your father．They even tell a wife to buy, buy, buy a Father's Day present-not for her father but for her husband, even if he is not yet a father．And they tell grandchildren to buy, buy, buy a Father's Day present for their grandfathers．

　　The important thing to remember about Father's Day is that American Children can show their love to their fathers in a more open way．

阅读理解

　　The United States has many different kinds of climates(气候)．On the northwest coast(海岸), the temperature changes very little between summer and winter, but the

north central(中部的)states have a very different kind of climate．In those states, people wear light clothes in summer, and they need heavy woollen clothes in winter．

　　In the southwest coast, the climate is rainy and warm during the winter, but the summer is dry and hot．

　　In the northeast of the United States, summer temperatures are very different from winter temperatures．Summer is usually hot, and winter is usually cold．Spring temperatures are warm, and fall temperatures are cool．

　　Years ago, people in the cold parts of the United States didn't often get fresh(新鲜的)vegetables and fresh fruits during the summer．Today, however(然而), trucks and trains carry fruits and vegetables very quickly to all parts of the United States．In this way, Americans“send their climates”to people in other states．

阅读理解

　　When you want to go shopping, you should decide first how much money you can pay for new clothes．Think about the kind of clothes you really need．Then look for those clothes on sale, that is to say, you can buy some new clothes at a lower price．

　　There are labels(标签)inside all new clothes．The labels tell you how to take care of your clothes．The label for a shirt may tell you to wash it in warm water．A sweater label may tell you to wash it in cold water．The label on a coat may say“Dry Clean Only”, Washing may ruin(破坏)this coat．If you do as the directions say on the label, you can keep your clothes looking their best．

　　Many clothes today must be dry cleaned．Dry-cleaning is expensive．When you buy new clothes．You should look at them carefully to make sure if they need to be dry-cleaned．You will save money if you buy clothes that can wash easily．

　　If you buy some well-made clothes, you can save money because they can last longer．They look good even after they have been washed many times．Sometimes some clothes cost more money, but it does not mean that they are always better made, or they always fit(合身)better．In other words．some less expensive clothes look and fit better than more expensive clothes．

阅读理解

　　Jeffery Poe, a student who does computer studies at Texas University, found his own parents with the help of Internet(互联网)．The news got around soon and many of his friends came to share his happiness．Some of them even asked him to help them find jobs on the Internet．

　　Before he turned to Internet for help．Jeffery had spent one year looking for his parents who left him 26 years ago when he was a baby．Using knowledge on computer and network(网络), Jeffery found out his birth information(信息)and sent a notice to Internet in the hope of finding his parents．Only one day later, Jeffery's dream came true．

　　When Jeffery flew to Los Angeles to meet his father, Stephen, they embraced(拥抱)each other lovingly and warmly．They enjoyed the family meeting．Later on Mother's Day, Jeffery met his mother Silvia．

　　Three years ago Stephen himself also tried hard to look for his son．but his hard try ended in nothing．Jeffery's try on the Internet has turned to be a happy ending．

阅读理解

　　In the 13th century(世纪), the famous Italian traveller, Marco Polo, travelled a long way to China．During his stay in China, he saw many wonderful things．One of the things he discovered was that the Chinese used paper money．In western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15th century．However(然而), people in China began to use paper money in the 7th century．

　　A Chinese man called Cal Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago．He made it from wood．He took the wood from trees and made it into paper．He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book．

　　Now paper still comes from trees．We use a lot of paper every day．If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth．If there are no trees, there will be no paper．Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons(吨)of paper in our city．It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper．This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day．

　　Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now．If we don't, we will not have enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper．

　　So how can we save paper?We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes．We can choose drinks in bottles instead of those in paper packets(袋)．We can also use cotton handkerchiefs(手帕)and not paper ones．

　　When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags．If the shop assistant(店员)does give us a paper bag, we can save it and reuse it later．

　　Everyone can help to save paper．If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees．But we should do it now before it is too late．