阅读理解

　　Tom Brenna was working in a Philadelphia office building when he noticed a black bag．The bag contained a book．

　　This chance discovery ended a 12-day search by the Library Company of Philadelphia for a historical treasure－a 120-page diary kept 190 years ago by Deborah Logan, “a woman who knew everybody in her day, ”James Green, the librarian told the magazine American Libraries．

　　Most of the diary is a record of big events in Philadelphia．It is also includes a description of British soldiers burning Washington, D．C．in the war of 1812．She describes President James Madison on horseback as“perfectly shaking with fear”during the troubled days．George Washington, she writes, mistook her for the wife of a French man, and praised her excellent English．

　　The adventure of the lost book began September 4 when Cory Luxmoore arrived from England to deliver the diary of his ancestor(祖先)to the library Company, which he and his wife considered to be best home for the diary．

　　Green told American Libraries he had the diary in his possession“about five minutes”when Luxmoore took it back because he had promised to show it to one other person．On returning his hotel after showing the precious book to Green, Luxmoore was shocked to realize that he had left it in the taxi．

　　Without any delay, Green began calling every taxi company in the city, with no luck．“I've felt sick since then, ”Luxmoore told reporters．

　　According to Green, no one has yet learned how the diary came to the office building．Tom Brennan received a reward of ＄ 1,000, Philadelphia．gained another treasure for hit history．And Luxmoore told reporters,　“It's wonderful news．I'm on high．”

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　　We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers．With the car full of flowers we were going home．On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard(橱柜)outside a furniture shop．It was tall and narrow．“Buy it, ” my wife said at once．“We'll carry it home on the roof rack．I've always wanted one like that．”

　　What could I do?Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack．It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too．

　　In the gathering darkness I drove slowly．Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening．The police even stopped traffic to let us through．Carrying furniture was a good idea．

　　After a time my wife said, “There's a long line of cars behind．Why don't they overtake, I wonder?”

　　In fact a police car did overtake．The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed．But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour 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?”

　　I was a bit puzzled．“Thanks, officer, ”I said．“You have been very kind．I live just on the road．”

　　He was staring at our car; first at the flowers, then at the cupboard．“Well, well, ” he said, laughing．“It's a cupboard you've got there!We thought it was something else．”

　　My wife began to laugh．The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes．I smiled at the officer．“Yes, it's a cupboard, but thanks again．”I drove home as fast as I could．

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　　Radioactivity is dangerous．It may cause skin burns, it may destory good tissues(组织)and it may cause illness that could be passed on to our children and grandchildren．In case of exposure(暴露)it may even cause death．

　　In the early days of radioactivity, scientists did not realize these dangers．Marie and Pierre Curie, after having worked for a while with radioactive materials, noticed that their fingers were reddened and swollen(红肿)and the skin was peeling off．Henry Becquerel carried a small tube with radium in it in his waistcoat pocket, and was surprised to find a burn on his chest．Other early workers also reported burns and harm of different kinds．

　　The strange fact is that it can harm without causing pain, which is the warning signal we expect from harmfulness．Pain makes up pull back our hands from a fire or a hot object, but a person carrying radioactive materials had no way of telling whether he is touching something too“hot”for safety．Besides, the“burns”or other harmfulness that radioactivity produces may not appear for weeks．A person may have been hurt without knowing it for some time．

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　　Let children learn to judge their own work．A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time：if corrected too much, he will stop talking．He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use．Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's．In the same way, children learning to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle, compare(比较)their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes．But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself．We do it all for him．We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to．Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not．

　　If it is a matter of right answer, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book．Let him correct his own papers．Why should we teachers waste time to such routine work?Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can't find the way to get the right answer．Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know．

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　　University researchers tested the effects of different colored walls on two groups of visitors．For the first group, the room was painted white; for the second, dark brown．The movement of each group was followed by an electric system hidden under the carpet．The experiment showed that those who entered the dark brown room walked more quickly, covered more area, and spent less time in the room than the people in the white environment．Dark brown stimulated(刺激)more activity, but the activity ended sooner．

　　Not only the choice of colors but also the appearance(外表)of a room has effect on those inside it．In a second experiment the researchers prepared subjects with photos of faces．Three groups of subjects were used; each was shown the same photos, but each group was in a different kind of room．One group was in an“ugly”room that seemed to be a messy(零乱的)storeroom．Another group was in a common room－an office．The third group was in a beautiful living room．

　　Results showed that the subjects in the beautiful room appeared to give higher ratings(评价)to the faces than those in the ugly room did．

　　Other studies suggest that students do better at tests taken in comfortable rooms than in ordinary-looking or ugly rooms．

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　　Reading skills are quite important．Experts estimate(估计)that it is possible for any normal adult(成年人)English speaker to read 1,000 words a minute(and more)with special training．Yet most students read only about 300 words per minute．The following principles might be helpful for foreign students who wish to increase their reading skills：

　　1．Always read faster than it is comfortable．The faster your normal rate of reading becomes, the better your understanding will be．

　　2．While reading, do not allow yourself to regress(回头), but keep reading ahead in every sentence, even when you come across a new word．If some word, term or phrase has clouded your understanding, you should reread it only after you have read the entire paragraph through once．

　　3．Read selectively．As you read, make a conscious effort to screen(筛选)nouns, pronouns, and verbs from the other words, since these are the words that meaning to what you have read．In fact you should really read nouns, pronouns, and verbs and merely see the rest of the words in the sentence．

　　Because much of the past learning experience of foreign students may have been for the purposes of passing examinations, they might be inclined(倾向于)to put off studying until late in the term．Such behavior can result in failure in the United States system, where assignments(作业)must be completed on time and done regularly each day．

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　　Feeling hopeless and sick at heart, Tom turned away．For a quick moment his eyes met those of the cook, and he saw there a light of such hatred(憎恨)and fear that no words could describe．

　　The cook moved quietly closer．He whispered to Tom in a rough voice．“Don't be too clever．Mark my words．”And he went away．

　　Tom's thoughts did not delay going for long on the cook and his words．His friend was in trouble, how could he help him?He decided to slip(溜走)away as soon as possible in search of information that would clear Jay of all doubts and bring the true criminal to justice(法院)．

　　He has noticed a piece of old sailcloth(帆布)lying on the ship floor．With this and a length of string(绳子)he made a package which looked very much like the one the police had seized(逮捕)．His plan was to step to the shore and to hand it over just as the cook had ordered Jay to, hoping in this way to learn the truth about the criminals”activities．He could then persuade the police of his friend's innocence(无罪)．

　　By now it was dark．Taking the blankets out of Jay's empty bed．Tom piled them up in his own in the shape of a sleeping figure．How real it looked．With the blanket pulled up high around the figure's head he could almost believe he saw it breathing．Pleased with this, Tom moved quietly to the door．

　　He was about to open it when he felt it secretly turned to other way．Someone was outside and about to come in．Was his plan failed?Slipping quickly back behind the door as it opened．Tom waited．

　　It was the cook who was leaning(倚靠)forward now over the figure in the bed．His arm swung(挥舞)up．For an instant(立即)a long knife cut into it．

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　　What makes a person a scientist?Does he have ways－or tools－of learning that are different from those of others?The answer is“no”．It is not the tool a scientist uses but how he uses these tools which makes him a scientist．You will probably agree that knowing how to use a power is important to a carpenter．You will probably agree, too, that knowing how to investigate(调查), how to discover information, is important to everyone．This scientist, however, goes one step further：he must be sure that he has a reasonable answer to his question and that his answer can be confirmed by other persons．He also works to fit the answers he gets to many questions into a large set of ideas about how the world works．

　　The scientist's knowledge must be exact．There is no room for half right or right just half the time．He must be as nearly right as the conditions permit．What works under one set of conditions at one time must work under the same conditions at other times．If the conditions are different, any changes the scientist observes in a demonstration must be explained by the changes in the conditions．

　　This is one reason that investigations are important in science．Albert Einstein, who developed the theory of relativity, arrived at this theory through mathematics．The accuracy(正确性)of his mathematics was tested through investigations．Einstein's ideas were shown to be correct．A scientist uses many tools for measurements．Then the measurements are used to make mathematical calculations that may test his investigations．

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　　There's no end of dangerous sports to try out in Southern Africa－bungee jumping, sky-diving, water rafting．But for a new rush, how about swimming face to face with a killer shark(鲨鱼)！

　　The public seems interested in finding danger in this activity．Cape Town's aquarium(水族馆)has been filled with divers who want to swim with the sharks since it opened its tanks to paying visitors last month．Around 70 tourists aged between 12 and 40 have paid 275 rand(＄ 55)each to spend up to an hour with Maxine, Dee and Floyd, the aquarium's three sharks．

　　And conservationists(自然资源保护论者)say the project should help change the damage done to the shark's image by the popular movie Jaws．

　　“People will always pay money to be a bit daring, ”said Paul Loetter, an aquarium diver．“Most people think every shark is dangerous, but they've got the wrong idea．”

　　Each visitor can swim with the sharks and other fish that share their tank, guarded by aquarium divers armed only with a stick to keep off any over-friendly sharks．

　　“This is part of a communication and education programme to show sharks one not as bad as everyone makes out, ”said Tony McGyre, operations manager at the aquarium．

　　Len Compagno, head of the South Afican shark research centre, agreed, “It's no joke to play around with a big dog．In the same way, a three-metre-long shark could put a few holes in you, ”he said．

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　　Buying insurance is a way in which people can protect themselves against large losses．Protection against fire is one kind of insurance．Large numbers of people pay small sums of money to an insurance company．Although thousands of people have paid for fire insurance, only a few will lose their homes by fire．The insurance company will pay for these homes out of the small sums of money it had collected．

　　The first modern fire insurance company was formed in London in the 1740s．A great fire had just destroyed most of the city and people wanted protection against further losses．The first company grew rapidly．Some other companies were founded in other areas．

　　Benjamin Franklin helped form the first fire insurance company in America in 1752, and then a new kind of insurance for farmers was suggested．The new insurance would provide protection against the loss of crops from storms．

　　Later on another new insurance company was started in America．This company, which offered life insurance, collected small sums of money regularly from many different men．If a man died, his family was given a large sum of money．

　　Over the years, insurance companies have offered new kinds of insurance protection．The new kinds of insurance cover from such accidents as car and plane crashes．Today, most people have some kind of insurance．

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