阅读理解

　　◆1．Malan Flower：China Children’s Art Theatre stages a fairy tale musical(音乐剧)“Malan Flower” this weekend．

　　Beautiful Malan flowers were blossoming everywhere on Malan Mountain, and hard-working girl Xiao Lan was married to the god of flowers, Ma Lang．They lived a happy life in harmony with Grandpa Tree and all the lovely little animals．However, greedy Old Cat made use of the jealousy of elder sister Da Lan to kill Xiao Lan, in an attempt to keep the magic Malan flower under her possession．

　　This fairy tale entertained three generations of Chinese youth．

　　Time：7∶30 p. m., until August 21

　　Place：The Great Theatre of the Cultural Palace of the Nationalities, west of Xidan Area

　　Tel：6602-2530

　　◆2．Joyful jugglers：The China Acrobatic Troupe is staging a nightly variety show at the Tiandi Theatre, where the seemingly impossible becomes a reality, where performers spin(旋转)plates and juggle umbrellas．

　　Contortionists(柔术演员)show incredible feats of flexibility and acrobats leap through the air．Integrating juggling, unicycling, balancing and jumping through hoops with the finest ancient Chinese dancing, the performance will amuse you．

　　Time：7∶15 p. m., daily

　　Place：10 Dongzhimen Nandajie, Chaoyang District

　　Tel：6502-3984

　　◆3．Tour of love：Taiwan singer David Tao(Tao Zhe), who is on a global tour, will arrive in Beijing next month．

　　Tao Zhe was born into a musical family．His father is an expert in Western pop music while his mother is from a family famous for playing Peking Opera．This probably explains why too approaches pop music from a unique angle(角度), which separates him from the average pop singer．

　　With the song “Forever Love You” as the theme of the concert, Tao will share his love and ideas about life and music with his fans．

　　Time：7∶30 p. m., September 10

　　Place：Capital Gymnasium, Baishiqiao Lu

　　Tel：6835-4055

　　◆4．Army artist：An exhibition featuring artist Li Shaozhou’s personal and meticulous(注意细节的)style of painting will be held at the National Art Museum of China．

　　Born in Henan Province, Li showed strong interests in art during his childhood, and was a specialized artist in the army．

　　The exhibition will present 65 paintings of modern figures, birds and flowers that he has made over the past decade, during which he has formed his own style by absorbing other painting techniques．

　　Time：9 a. m.－5 p. m., August 23-29

　　Place：Wusi Dajie

　　Tel：8403-3500

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　　In some countries in which there is very little rain at any time, the farmers have to irrigate their fields．Irrigation is easy enough if there is a great river near the crops, and if there is plenty of water in it．Canals carry the river water to the fields when necessary．In some seasons there may be too much water in the river, and the water may flood all the land near it．At other times the river water may not be enough for all the farmers, and then it will be difficult to irrigate the fields．

　　To prevent these difficulties, a dam may be built across the river．This will store water for dry seasons, and in wet seasons it will prevent the flooding of the land．A great lake will, no doubt, be formed behind the dam, and this may mean that houses and fields will be covered with water．Most people will accept that and will be ready to move to other places．Then the country can have the right amount of water at all times; more crops will be grown, there will be more food for everyone, and there will be no more floods．

　　We cannot use sea water for irrigation; the salt will not allow the crops to grow．Fresh water is always needed, and it is very difficult and costly to make fresh water from sea water．This is done in a few countries, but the fresh water is for drinking．There is not enough at present for irrigation．Perhaps a scientist will one day invent a cheaper way of producing fresh water from the sea．If fresh water could be made cheaply, we could grow more food．

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　　On July 16, 1960, Jane Goodall, a 26-year-old former secretary from England, began to study the behaviour of chimpanzees in the wild．Until that time, scientists had mostly observed and studied chimpanzees in laboratories and zoos．Few scientists had gone to study chimpanzees in the remote areas of Africa where the chimps live．When scientists had studied the chimpanzees in the wild, they hadn’t spent long periods of time observing them．Jane Goodall planned to watch chimpanzees in Africa over a ten-year period and see exactly how they behaved．She was not a professional scientist when she started out．Her book, In the Shadow of Man, tells how she began her project and what she discovered．As Goodall said in 1973, “I had no qualifications at all．I was just somebody with love of animals．”Her love of animals drew her to Africa where she met Dr．Louis S．B．Leakey．

　　Leakey was a world-famous scientist who was studying how prehistoric people lived．Since chimpanzees are humans’ closest living relatives, Leakey thought prehistoric people might have lived in the same ways that chimps live today．Leakey told Goodall that studying chimps might give clues about the way that early people lived．Leakey asked Goodall to study the chimps on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Africa．The chimps were very shy and the country was very difficult to travel through．Goodall took on the difficult job of finding and watching the chimpanzees．

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　　People in Britain and the USA are taking more interest in modern dance．Dance classes of all kinds are popular; the audiences going to watch modern dance companies are also larger．And perhaps the most popular modern dance company in Britain is the Ballet Rambert．The Ballet Rambert is Britain’s oldest established dance company which began in 1926．In the 60s the company lacked the money to go on staging big productions．The directors wanted to encourage new talent and to keep up their high standards．A change of direction was necessary．They decided to give the ballet a “new look” in 1966．The aim was to provide a chance for new talent－for musicians and designers as well as dancers－and to show dance as a contemporary art form．And although some of the company’s previous fans disliked the change, new audiences came to see the productions．The modern dance pieces and modern music found unexpected popularity．In 1968 the Ballet Rambert was a great success in London’s West End．The company became a focus for new, progressive talent in the arts．

　　Later, the Ballet Rambert started to introduce young people to modern dance by giving performances at schools, which again, was a success．The Ballet Rambert has managed to make modern dance popular while creating original and often avant-garde(标新立异的)productions．It can claim to be the oldest dance company in Britain and at the same time one of the most modern!

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　　Reading is the key to school success and it takes practice．A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other．A great athlete practices until he can play quickly, accurately, without thinking．Tennis players call that “being in the zone”．Educators call it “automatically”．

　　A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and decoding the words．With practice, he stumbles less and less．Then automatically, he doesn’t have to think about the meanings of the words, so he can concentrate on the meaning of the text．

　　It can begin as early as first grade．In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found automatic readers in the first grade who were reading almost three times as fast as the other children and scoring twice as high on comprehension tests．“It’s not IQ but the amount of time a child spends reading that is the key to automaticity, ” according to Rossman．You can test your child by giving him a paragraph or two to read aloud－something unfamiliar but appropriate to his age．If he reads aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, he probably is an automatic reader．If he reads haltingly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, he needs more practice．

本文是议论文。文章说明阅读是获得学业成功的关键，阅读需要实践。根据Rossman的研究，人们自觉性阅读的能力是在实践中逐渐养成的。

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　　A Chinese lawmaker from the booming eastern coastal province of Jiangsu has called the building of new countryside an issue of human rights in another sense．

　　“The new countryside should be prosperous, civilized and harmonious, and enjoy a comprehensive development, ”Ding Dawei, a deputy to the 10th National People’s Congress(NPC), the Chinese legislature(立法机关)now in an annual full session in Beijing, said on Thursday．

　　According to Ding, also mayor of Nantong City in Jiangsu, the building of new countryside involves many human rights issues, such as farmers’ right to subsistence and development, as well as their rights to exercise democracy in village management．

　　“Just as the central government has stressed, farmers’ will must be fully respected in building new countryside．Local governments can only guide them to do the correct thing, and must not force them to do anything they don’t want to,” said Ding．

　　It might be easier to enrich the villages and farmers than to “help them achieve progress in the spiritual and political areas, ”Ding noted．

　　“I think the most important thing is to truly strengthen the democratic management of village affairs, which will offer a fundamental guarantee for farmers’ rights to education, culture, entertainment, medicare and basic social security, ”he said．

　　China’s 900 million farmers have gained the right to directly elect or oust their village heads since 1988, which gives them a bigger say in running village affairs．However, intervention in village elections by governments at higher levels, corrupt village heads abusing power, and the lack of transparency in village management often undermines rural democracy and even spark off rural unrest．

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　　Divide students into groups．Each group makes up a civilization, including a name, location and climate, government, way of life, and religion．The group decides what items the civilization might leave behind：decorative pieces, eating and cooking tools, written work, equipment for agriculture, transportation, construction, government, and so on．The artifacts need to fit the lifestyle, era, and climate of the invented civilization．Then the students create the artifacts using whatever materials fit the civilization they’ve defined．The students can break or damage their materials to make them look old．

　　When this is complete, the groups dig holes, bury their artifacts, and cover up the holes．Each group is then assigned another group’s land area and the students become archaeologists and dig up as many artifacts as they can find．Student archaeologists need to try to understand the civilization from the artifacts they’ve dug up．The student archaeologists label and tag the artifacts, describing where they found them and what they think the artifacts represent．

　　Civilization creators and student archaeologists compare what the artifacts really meant with the finders’ explanations．

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　　A Utah teen with fingers of fury(神速)is once again the speed text-messaging king of the world．Ben Cook, 18, of Provo, Utah, returned to the top of the cell-phone text-messaging competition last Friday at a water park in Denver, finishing a 160-character standardized message in 42.22 seconds．

　　The phrase used for purposes of professional, competition text is：“The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world．In reality they seldom attack a human．”

　　The feat(本领)was recorded on video and scored by an official timekeeper, authorizing it for the Guinness World Records purposes, said Sara Spaulding, spokeswoman for event sponsor(赞助商)Jump Mobile．

　　Text messaging, already popular with teenagers, is becoming increasingly popular in the U．S．, jumping from 2.5 billion a month in 2004 to about 7.4 billion a month in 2006, according to a survey by the CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade group．

　　Cook in 2004 set the world record by texting the official phrase in 57.75 seconds, a record that soon fell．Before Cook’s feat Friday, the record was held by a 23-year-old woman from Singapore at 43.24 seconds set on June 27, 2004．

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　　Early this year, Captain Startup was flying an aeroplane over New Zealand．There was a television camera crew on board．Suddenly, out in the night sky, a bright sphere came into view．Everyone on board saw it and everyone thought, “UFO”－Unidentified Flying Object．Many people believe that a UFO is a visiting craft from outer space．The camera crew went into action and started filming．That week people all over the world saw the film of this mysterious light on their television screens．Someone described the object as “a shining ping pong ball”．What was it？Was it a spaceship full of visitors from another planet？The Captain and the film crew believed it was．Other observers had many different explanations．Some say it was Venus．Some say it was just a trick of light．The people on the aeroplane were not the only ones who saw the “UFO”．

　　An air traffic controller also saw it on his radar screen．When a reporter asked him if he believed in UFOs, he said, “I don’t know what they are, but I’ve got an open mind on them．” Like many scientists, he thought that a flock of birds caused dots on his radar screen when the UFO appeared．Most astronomers now believe that what these people saw was almost certainly the planet Venus．At that time of year it is very bright and easy to see．And from a moving aeroplane it can appear to be moving fast．So far there is no proof that UFOs or spaceships from other planets do exist．