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　　There was great excitement on the planet of Venus this week．For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs ever since．

　　The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan(named after the great Venusian astronomer Prof．Manhattan, who first discovered it with his telescope 20 000 light years ago)．

　　Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information as to the feasibility(可行性)of a manned flying saucer landing on Earth．A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology．“We have come to the conclusion, based on last week’s satellite landing,” Prof．Zog said, “that there is no life on the Earth．”

　　“How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening Star asked．

“For one thing, Earth’s surface in the area of Manhattan is composed of solid concrete(混凝土)and nothing can grow there．For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide(一氧化碳)and other deadly gasses and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive．”

　　“What does this mean as far as our flying saucer program is connected?”

　　“We shall have to take our own oxygen with us, which means a much heavier flying saucer than we originally planned．”

　　“Are there any other hazards that you discovered in your studies?”

　　“Take a look at this photo．You see this dark black cloud hovering over the surface of Earth? We call this the Consolidated Edison Belt．We don’t know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there．”

　　“If what you say is true, won’t this set back the flying saucer program several years?”

　　“Yes, but we shall proceed as soon as the Grubstart gives us the added funds．”

　　“Prof．Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?”

　　“Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in an Earth atmosphere, then we can live anywhere．”

阅读理解

　　Last night was the last game for my eight year old son’s soccer team．It was the final quarter．The score was two to one, and my son’s team was in the lead．Parents surrounded the playground, offering encouragement．

　　With less than ten seconds remaining, the ball suddenly rolled in front of my son’s teammate, Mickey O’Donnel．With shouts of“ Kick it!” echoing(回响)across the playground, Mickey turned around and gave it everything he had．All around me the crowd erupted(沸腾)．O’Donnel had scored!

　　Then there was silence．Mickey had scored all right, but in the wrong goal, ending the game in a tie．For a moment, there was a total hush．You see, Mickey has Down Syndrome(综合症)and for him, there is no such thing as a wrong goal．All goals were celebrated by a joyous hug from Mickey．He had even been known to hug the opposite players when they scored．

　　The silence was finally broken when Mickey, whose face filled with joy, hugged my son tightly and shouted, “I scored! I scored! Everybody won! Everybody won!” For a moment, I held my breath, not sure how my son would react．I need not have worried．I watched, through tears, as my son threw up his hand in the classic high five salute and started chanting, “Way to go Mickey! Way to go Mickey!” Within moments both teams surrounded Mickey, joining in the chant and congratulating him on his goal．

　　Later that night, when my daughter asked me who had won, I smiled as I replied, “ It was a tie．Everybody won．”

阅读理解

　　John Steinbeck once said, “All Americans believe they are born fishermen．For a man to admit to a distaste in fishing would be like denouncing(公开指责)mother love or hating moonlight．”

　　I can’t say that I’m the biggest John Steinbeck fan．Actually, the only thing that I can remember reading by him was “The Pearl” when I was in middle school, but I couldn’t agree more with the man when it comes to fishing．Whether I am on a boat in the middle of Lay Lake, fishing off the shores of the Florida Keys for tarpon(大海鲢)or catching rainbow trout(虹鳟鱼)in the Shoshone River of Wyoming, fishing is my life．

　　According to the American Sports fishing Association, the fishing industry brings in more than ＄ 116 billion per year from fishermen across the country．

　　Though a beautiful picture to imagine, fishing is much more than that．Fishing is a way of life for many people and a way to escape everyday stress．Being a fisherman makes me a member of a wonderful group of people extending to all walks of life．Even President Bush can be found fishing on his farm in Texas with his good friend Roland Martin when the job gets too stressful．

　　I can remember fishing with my grandfather when I was 5 years old on his boat at Lake Mitchell．Although I didn’t understand what I was doing, I did know that my grandfather was happy and that made me happy．Since then I’ve spent the past 16 years on the rivers and lakes of Alabama．

　　After days of practice, before and after work, I slowly developed an understanding of fishing．My boss, Ric Horst, took me back to the Shoshone, and I managed to bring in a 19 inch cutthroat trout．Fishing with Ric was a life changing experience for me．He not only showed me how to fish correctly, but also told me how fishing could be a way to escape your problems．

　　Since then, prime time(黄金时间)season seems to take forever to arrive．

　　Now, with the ending of February and beginning of March in sight, the excitement of heading out to Lake Tuscaloosa or Lake Lurleen before classes and catching something has finally returned．

阅读理解

　　You may be interested in the present situation of Black Americans today．It is true that their conditions have changed for the better since the mid 1970’s．Many Blacks are attending colleges and three fourths Blacks college students are now studying in the formally all white institutions．Better education offers better openings for Blacks．With better employment, the percentage of Blacks doing skilled labor rose after the 1970’s by about 76％．Many Blacks entered the middle class and moved out of the slums．Many have been elected to governmental positions．

　　Whatever they might be, however, they must share with other Blacks the bond of being Black．Frustrated by white xenophobia(恐惧人)or superiority, all Blacks suffer from various forms of racism(种族歧视)．Nobody can turn a blind eye to the fact that over a third of all Black Americans are still living below poverty level．Statistics tell us that half of all Black children grow up in poverty and almost 2 million Blacks are jobless, that is, over 12％ of the Black workforce are unemployed．The rate is 2．5 times that for Whites．In comparison with Whites, Black families earn so much less than is needed for a decent(体面)but modest living standard．Usually a Black family’s income is only 55％ that of a White one．While seeing the rise of a few Blacks, we must notice at the same time that far too many Blacks are living in hopelessness and despair from which they have little hope to escape．

　　Who can say for sure that the unemployed will accept their fates quietly, or that the despairing will keep back their anger forever? Americans are far from achieving the goal of a color blind society．Black problems are still a national issue to be solved．

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　　When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the princess(公主)in the school play．For weeks my mother had helped me practice my lines．But once onstage, every word disappeared from my head．Then my teacher told me she had written a narrator’s(解说者的)part for the play, and asked me to change roles．Though I didn’t tell my mother what had happened that day, she sensed my unhappiness and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the yard．

　　It was a lovely spring day．We could see dandelion(蒲公英)popping through the grass in bunches, as if a painter had touched our landscape with bits of gold．I watched my mother carelessly bend down by one of the bunches．“I think I am going to dig up all these weeds, ” she said．“From now on, we’ll have only roses in this garden．”

　　“But I like dandelions．” I protested．“All flowers are beautiful－even dandelions!” My mother looked at me seriously．“Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?” she asked thoughtfully．I nodded．“And that is true of people, too,” she added．

　　When I realized that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry and told her the truth．

　　“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, reminding me of how much I loved to read stories aloud to her．

　　Over the next few weeks, with her continuous encouragement, I learned to take pride in the role．The big day finally came．A few minutes before the play, my teacher came over to me．“Your mother asked me to give this to you, ” she said, handing me a dandelion．After the play, I took home the flower, laughing that I was perhaps the only person who would keep such a weed．

阅读理解

　　The question of what children learn, and how they should learn, is continually being debated and redebated．Nobody dares any longer to defend the old system, the learning of lessons parrot fashion, the grammar with a whip system, which was good enough for our grandparents．The theories of modern psychology have stepped in to argue that we must understand the need of children．Children are not just small adults; they are children who must be respected as much．

　　Well, you may say, this is as it should be a good idea．But think further．What happens? “Education” becomes the responsibility not of teachers, but of psychologists(心理学家)．What happens then? Teachers worry too much about the psychological implications(暗示)of their lessons, and forget about the subjects themselves．If a child dislikes a lesson, the teacher feels that it is his fault, not the child’s．So teachers worry whether history is “relevant” to modern young children．And do they dare to recount stories about violence? Or will this make the children themselves violent? Can they tell their classes about children of different races, or will this encourage racial hatred? Why teach children to write grammatical sentences? Verbal expression is better．Sums? Arithmetic? No：Real life mathematical situations are more understandable．

　　You see, you can go too far．Influenced by educational theorists, who have nothing better to do than to write books about their ideas, teachers leave their teacher training colleges filled with grand, psychological ideas about children and their needs．They make elaborate, sophisticated(精致、复杂的)preparations and try out their “modern methods” on the long suffering children．Since one “modern method” rapidly replaces another the poor kids will have had a good bellyful by the time they leave school．Frequently the modern methods are so sophisticated that they fail to be understood by the teachers, let alone the children; even more often, the relaxed discipline so essential for the “informal” feelings the class must have, prevents all but a handful of children from learning anything．

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　　The Western has been the favorite type for American adventure stories since the nineteenth century．While the American West was being settled，newspapers and “dime novels” could depend on stories of the frontier settlements and tell tales about living in the untamed wilderness to sell．The public back East was eager to read about the West，even if the stories were more fiction than fact．

　　In 1902, Owen Wister published his novel The Virginian, which was one of the first novels to treat the Western as a serious literary form; the novel still sold well and had inspired several movies and a television series．In 1905, Bertha H．Bower and Zane Grey published their first novels, and the popular Western novels had continued to flourish from that day on, with current novels by Luke Short, Max Brand, and Louis L’ Amour carrying on the tradition．

　　The first Western movie appeared even earlier than these serious Western novels．Before the turn of the century, an associate of Edison’s had filmed Cripple Creek Barroom Scene, a few seconds of film showing the inside of a saloon, to help publicize the invention of the movie camera．In 1903 the Edison’ company filmed the first “full length” Western－The Great Train Robbery．The film lasts less than fifteen minutes, but a story is told its entirety．In the movie, bandits(强盗)rob a train and its passengers, killing the engineer, and find themselves tracked down by a posse．Audiences loved the movie．Some theaters were actually opened for the single purpose of showing The Great Train Robbery? and only later realized that they could do equally well showing other movies．The film was so successful that other companies, and finally even the Edison company itself, began producing copies and other versions of The Great Train Robbery．Ironically, in an era when the West was still very real－Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma were all territories rather than states in 1903－The Great Train Robbery was filmed in New Jersey．

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　　Sabine Island, near Greenland, was first discovered by the British geographer Sir Edward Sabine in 1823, but an 1869 map showed it was actually a quarter of a mile farther west than its discoverer had mapped．This interested Alfred Wegener, a young geographer working in Greenland in 1910．He thought the error(误差)too great to be explained．

　　Wegener himself took measurements and found that since 1869 the island had moved another five eighths of a mile．After checking the position of other Arctic landmasses, he concluded that all of them were drifting(漂移)westward at different speeds．

　　From this finding, Wegener developed his floating continent theory．He imagined an original super continent making up the infant(未成年的)earth, finally the mass broke up into several pieces－the present continents．The continents do seem to fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and what’s more, some of the mountain ranges(山脉)of different continents line up rather well, as if the landmasses were at one time connected．However, believable as Wegener’s argument appeared, many geographers refused to accept it．Exactly how the continents were formed is still a leading mystery(谜)in geography, though today many geographers are returning to the continental drift theory．

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　　With the aid of digital technology, you get to choose from a library of 25 of the latest Hollywood movies, 45 hours of television’s best, and a host of Sony Play Station games, all presented in attractive digital quality．View your favorite selections on your own personal monitor．With your own remote control, you decide when your movie starts, pauses, rewinds, or fast forwards, not the flight attendants．

　　Also, Watchman offers you 40 of the world’s hottest CDs．With Wasabi’s Watchman DES you can sit back, relax, and forget you’re on an airplane．

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　　Tokyo is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time．

　　In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be．Of course there are too many cars．The Japanese drive very fast, but in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams．Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York in that．It is different when one wants to walk．

　　At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London’s Oxford Street．But the streets near the Ginza in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot, and sometimes it is really difficult to walk．People are very polite; there are just too many of them．

　　The worst time to be in the street is at 11∶30 at night．That is when the night clubs are closing and everybody wants to go home．There are 35 000 night clubs in Tokyo, and you do not often see one that is empty．

　　During the day, most people travel to and from work by train．Tokyo people buy six million train tickets every day．At most stations, trains arrive every two or three minutes, but at certain hours there do not seem to be enough trains．Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good．They always leave and arrive on time．On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper．In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep, whether his journey is long or short．

　　In Tokyo, I stood outside the station for five minutes．Three fire engines race past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day．Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now．