My parents were in a huge argument, and I was really upset about it．I didn't know who I should talk with about how I was feeling．So I asked Mom to allow me to stay the night at my best friend's house．Though I knew I wouldn't tell her about my parents’ situation, I was looking forward to getting out of the house．I was in the middle of packing up my things when suddenly the power went out in the neighborhood．Mom came to tell that I should stay with my grandpa until the power came back on．

　　I was really disappointed because I felt that we did not have much to talk about．But I knew he would be frightened alone in the dark．I went to his room and told him that I’d stay with him until the power was restored．He was quite happy and said, “Great opportunity．”

　　“What is?” I asked．

　　“To talk, you and I,” he said, “To hold a private little meeting about what we’re going to do with your mom and dad, and what we re going to do with ourselves now that we re in the situation we are in．”

　　“But we can’t do anything about it, Grandpa,” I said, surprised, that here was someone with whom, I could share my feelings and someone who was in the same “boat” as I was．

　　And that’s how the most unbelievable friendship between my grandfather and me started．Sitting there in the dark, we talked about our feelings and fears of life－from how fast things change, to how they sometimes don't change fast enough．That night, because the power went out, I found a new friend, with whom I could safely talk about all my fears and pains, whatever they may be．

　　Suddenly, the lights all came back on．“Well,” he said “I guess that means you'll want to go now．I really like our talk．I hope the power will go out every few nights!”

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阅读理解：

　　Wind is the great maker of waves．There are exceptions, such as the tidal(潮汐的)waves sometimes produced by earth-quakes under the sea．But the waves most of us know are produced by winds blowing over the sea．

　　Now before constructing an imaginary life history of a typical wave, we need to know certain physical things about it．A wave has height, from trough(low point)to crest(high point)．It has length-the distance from this crest to that of the following wave．The period of the wave means the time it takes for succeeding crests to pass a fixed point．None of these things stays the same-for all depend upon the wind, upon the depth of the water and many other matters．

　　The water that makes up a wave does not advance with it across the sea．Each drop of water turns around in a little circle with the passing of the wave, but returns very nearly to its original position．And it is fortunate that this is so．For if the huge masses of water that make up a wave actually moved across the sea, sailing would be impossible．

　　If we want to find the speed of a wave we may use the following way：

　　Speed＝wavelength X frequency

　　Here, wavelength is the distance between two high points(crests), frequency means the number of cycles per second．

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阅读理解：

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　　There are about 22 million non-European Americans, mainly Black Americans, Red Indians, Latin Americans and other peoples．

　　The Red Indians number about 600,000．They are the natives of America．They look somewhat like Tibetans．They are not red, but brown．They were called Indians by mistake．When Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, he thought he had landed in India and called the people Indians．

　　The Black people had a sad history．Nearly all of them are descendants(后裔)of Africans brought from Africa to America sold as slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries．Today, they are about 21 million in number or 11 percent of total American population．Most of them lived in the South till the 1930s and since then more and more were leaving the South to look for work in the industrial North．Today, 60 percent of Black Americans live in New York, Chicago and other big cities．

　　Mexicans who belong to Latin Americans are the 2nd biggest minority nationality．Most of them are immigrant(移民)farm workers．The Puerto Ricans, from the island of Puerto Rica off the coast of Florida, live mostly in the slums(贫民窟)of big cities like New York and Chicago．These two peoples like the Afro-Americans mostly live below the poverty line．

　　There are Chinese people living in America, too－almost a quarter of million(the exact figure is 236,000)．Many of them went to America about 100 years ago to build the railways there．They suffered a great deal．Today, most Chinese Americans live in California(a state facing the Pacific Ocean)and New York, and also in Hawaii, and archipelago(群岛)in the mid-Pacific, which is counted as the 50th state of the U．S．A．

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阅读理解：

　　Wind is the great maker of waves．There are exceptions, such as the tidal(潮汐的)waves sometimes produced by earth-quakes under the sea．But the waves most of us know are produced by winds blowing over the sea．

　　Now before constructing an imaginary life history of a typical wave, we need to know certain physical things about it．A wave has height, from trough(low point)to crest(high point)．It has length-the distance from this crest to that of the following wave．The period of the wave means the time it takes for succeeding crests to pass a fixed point．None of these things stays the same-for all depend upon the wind, upon the depth of the water and many other matters．

　　The water that makes up a wave does not advance with it across the sea．Each drop of water turns around in a little circle with the passing of the wave, but returns very nearly to its original position．And it is fortunate that this is so．For if the huge masses of water that make up a wave actually moved across the sea, sailing would be impossible．

　　If we want to find the speed of a wave we may use the following way：

　　Speed＝wavelength X frequency

　　Here, wavelength is the distance between two high points(crests), frequency means the number of cycles per second．

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阅读理解：

　　Cancer is among the top killer diseases in our society today and scientists have found out that stress helps to bring it on．It is worthwhile to consider, therefore, what are the causes of stress in our life, and whether we can do anything about them．

　　Are we underemployed, or overburdened with too many responsibilities?Do we have a right balance of work and leisure in our lives?Are our relationships with family, friends or fellow workers all they should be?

　　All these things can be a cause of stress, and it is best to face them honestly, and to bring our frustrations into the open．People who have a good row and then forget it are doing their health better than those who bottle up their feelings．

　　If our self-examination has brought any causes of stress to light, let us consider what we can do about them．It is possible to change jobs．We can make more leisure and fill it more happily, if we will accept a different living standard．We can improve our personal relationships by a different attitude．It is we who allow other people to make ourselves unhappy．Often the little things that disturb us are not worth an hour's anger．The teaching in the Bible "Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath" is good advice from the health point of view as well as the religions．

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阅读理解：

　　Suppose we built a robot(机器人)to explore the planet Mars．We provide the robot with seeing detectors(探测器)to keep it away from danger．It is powered entirely by the sun．Should we program the robot to be equally active at all times?No．The robot would be using up energy at a time when it was not receiving any．So we would probably program it to stop its activity at night and to wake up at dawn the next morning．

　　According to the evolutionary(进化的)theory of sleep, evolution equipped us with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking for the same reason．The theory does not deny(否认)that sleep provides some important restorative functions(恢复功能)．It merely says that evolution has programmed us to perform those functions at a time when activity would be inefficient and possibly dangerous．However, sleep protects us only from the sort of trouble we might walk into; it does not protect us from trouble that comes looking for us．So we sleep well when we are in a familiar, safe place, but we sleep lightly, if at all, when we fear that bears will nose into the tent．

　　The evolutionary theory explains the differences in sleep among creatures．Why do eats, for instance, sleep so much, while horses sleep so little?Surely cats do not need five times as much repair and restoration as horses do．But cats can afford to have long periods of inactivity because they spend little time eating and are unlikely to be attacked while they sleep．Horses must spend almost all their waking hours eating, because what they eat is very low in energy value．Moreover, they cannot afford to sleep too long or too deeply, because their survival(生存)depends on their ability to run away from attackers．

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　　The first newspaper was written by hand and put up on walls in public places．The earliest daily newspaper was started in Rome in 59 B．C．．In the 700's the world's first printed newspaper was published．Europe didn't have a regularly published newspaper until 1600, when one was started in Germany．

　　The first regularly published newspaper in England was printed in Amsterdam in 1620．In 1621, and English newspaper was started in London and was published once a week．The first daily English newspaper was the Daily Courtant, which came out in March 1702．

　　In 1690, Benjamin Harris printed the first American newspaper in Boston．But not long after it was published, the government stopped the paper．In 1704, John Campbell started the Boston newspaper, the first newspaper published daily in American Colonies(殖民地)．By 1760, the colonies had more than thirty daily newspapers．There are now about 1,800 daily papers in the United States．

　　Today, as a group, English language newspapers have the largest circulation(发行量)in the world．But the largest circulation for a newspaper in that of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun．It sells more than eleven million copies every year．

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　　If you ask people to name the person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like“Shakespeare”,“Samuel Johnson, and“Webster”, but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn't even speak English-William the Conqueror．

　　Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups．In the west-central region lived the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic．In the rest of the country lived the Saxons, actually a mixture of Anglos, Saxons, and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon(or Old English), a Germanic language．If this state of affairs had lasted, English today would be close to German．

　　But this state of affairs did not last．In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England．For about a century, French became the official language of English while Old English became the language of peasants．As a result, English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German．In some cases, modern English even shows a distinction(区别)between upper-class French and lover-class Anglo-Saxon in its words．We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked, which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating．

　　When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more“foreign”than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English than French does．Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man's ambition．

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　　The United States of America is mainly an English-speaking country．The majority of the population speak English as their native language．Besides, education, social activities, etc．are conducted(进行)in English．Across but for the most part, Americans speak one common language．This language is sometimes called American English．

　　However, not everyone in the USA is a native speaker of English．Most immigrants(移民)are speakers of other languages．There are hundreds of communities around the USA where English is not the most commonly used language．Chinese, Italian, German, Greek, Spanish and French are all spoken in various communities in the USA．Spanish is the second most commonly spoken Language after English．It is widely spoken in New York and across the southern part of the country．For speakers of other languages, learning English is important, but teaching people to speak English as a second language was given little attention．Non-English speakers were expected to“pick up”the language by meeting with others in public．Recently, this has changed．

　　Today, most large public schools and community colleges have ESL(English as a Second Language)programs：American English teachers feel that English students should learn the language the way they will use it．Therefore, ESL programs offer different English lessons to different students．Some programs teach students to communicate in English in public．Other programs teach the kind of English people who will need for their jobs．

　　American ESL instructional methods do not lay emphasis on grammar or translation, but on the importance of communication．The goal is to get the English learners to learn by using the language．

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