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　　You speak, write a letter, make a telephone call．Your words carry a message．People communicate with words．

　　Do you think you can communicate without words?A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly．Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad．When you raise your hand in class, the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions．You shake your head, and people know you are saying“No”．You nod and people know you are saying“Yes”．

　　Other things can also carry messages．For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take．A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library．Signs on doors tell you where to go in or out．Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?

　　People can communicate in many other ways．An artist can use his drawings to tell about beautiful mountains, about the blue sea and many other things．Books are written to tell you about all the wonderful things in the world and also about people and their ideas．

　　Books, magazines, TV and radios and films all help us to communicate with each other．They all help us to know what is going on in the world and what other people are thinking about．

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　　“Fire!Fire!”What terrible words to hear when one wakes up in a strange house in the middle of the night!It was a large, old, wooden house and my room was on the top floor．I jumped out of bed, opened the door and stepped outside the house．There was full of thick smoke．

　　I began to run, but as I was still only half-awake, instead of going towards the stairs I went in the opposite direction．The smoke grew thicker and I could see fire all around．The floor became hot under my bare feet．I found an open door and ran into a room to get to the window．But before I could reach it, one of my feet caught in something soft and I fell down．The thing I had fallen over felt like a bundle of clothes, and I picked it up to protect my face from the smoke and heat．Just then the floor gave way under me and I crashed to the floor below with pieces of burning wood all around me．

　　I saw a doorway in fire, then I put the bundle over my face and ran．My feet burned me terrible, but I got through．As I reached the cold air outside, my bundle of clothes gave a thin cry, I nearly dropped it in my surprise．Then I was in a crowd gathered in the street．A woman in a night-dress and a borrowed man's coat screamed as she saw me and came running madly．

　　She was the Mayor's wife, and I had saved her baby．

阅读理解

　　Why do men die earlier than women?The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men's hearts go into rapid decline(衰落；下降)when they reach middle age．

　　The largest study of the effects of ageing(变老)on the heart has found that women's longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lost their pumping power with ageing．

　　“We've found that power of the male heart falls by 20–25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age．”said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK．

　　“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat．Between the age of 20 and 70, one–third of those cells die and not replaced in men,”said Goldspink．“This is part of the ageing process．”

　　What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells．A healthy 70–year–old woman's heart could perform almost as well as a 20–year–old one's．

　　“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,”said Goldspink．

　　They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease．

The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink．

　　The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise．Coldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age．

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　　Almost every family in American or England buys at least one copy of a newspaper each day．Some people buy as many as two or three different newspapers．

　　Why do people read newspapers?Newspapers supply us with news about events in our hometowns, in our country, and in other parts of the world．Today we can read important things that took place in foreign countries on the same day, even in countries far away．But hundreds of years ago, news of things took months or even years to travel from one country to another．In those times, news was often passed from one person to another and never entirely true．Newspapers today supply us with more than just what happened in our country or in other countries．If we want to know what the weather will be like, we can read the weather reports．If we want to find out what films are being shown, or what plays or concerts we can go to, we can look through the newspaper．In many countries people put notices in newspapers if they are trying to get a job, hunting for a house or room that they can rent or even when looking for a person who is lost．

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　　The Netherlands is a small country on the North Sea．From any place in the country, the farthest point is never more than 350 kilometres away．It takes only a little more than four hours to travel by train from Vlissingen, in the southwest, to Groningen, in the northeast．

　　More than 16 million people live there．Most of the people in the Netherlands live in the west of the country．The four largest cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, are there．Amsterdam is the capital, but The Hague is the seat of government．

　　The Netherlands is sometimes called Holland, because an area in the west of the Netherlands used to be called Holland．The name lives on in the names of two Dutch provinces：North Holland and South Holland．The language spoken in the Netherlands is Dutch．In the province of Friesland, Frisian is also spoken．That is a separate language, which is a little bit like English．

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　　Study the pie graph(饼图), and then answer the questions．

　　Where Energy Comes From

　　People use different kinds of energy．Sun, water, or wind are renewable sources．

　　Oil, gas, and coal are all fossil fuels(矿物燃料)．They formed from the remains of animals that lived long ago．

　　In one year, the United States uses about 97 quadrillion(百万的四次方)units of energy－more than any other nation on earth．

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　　You are sitting at home doing your homework when your mom comes home early from her job at the factory．“Is anything wrong?”you ask her．“I just lost my job to a robot(机器人),”she says sadly．

　　Does this sound impossible?Already many thousands of robots are being used in factories all across the country．More are being put in every day．Some new factories are completely run by machines．

　　One result of more robots in factories is increased unemployment in industrial areas．Factory workers in these areas are worried．Even when jobs are kept, workers say that robots change the nature of the work．They say their jobs become much less interesting．

　　Some people are not satisfied that now they only “baby-sit”for the new machines．

　　Other people think that robots will help both factory owners and the work force．Company spokespersons(发言人)are quick to point out that robots often perform jobs that people would rather not do, jobs that can be uninteresting or dangerous．The use of robots for dirty work can improve the working conditions for humans．

　　For factory work, robots are simply cheaper to operate and can do better jobs than humans．Many factory owners think that they must either use robots or lose business to companies．Some industry experts feel that robots will offer many new jobs．After all, people will have to build and fix the machines．But other experts point out that although using robots may bring about more jobs in the long run, they certainly cause job losses in the short run．

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　　Humans are naturally drawn to other life forms and the worlds outside of our own．We take delight in the existence of creatures and even whole socicties beyond our everyday lives．

　　This sense of wonder is universal look at the efforts that scientists have made to find out whether life of some kind exists on Mars, and the popularity of fantasy(幻想)litcrature or movies like The lord of the Rings, This sense of wonder drous us to each other, to the world around us, and to the world of make-believe．But have we gone to far in creating worlds of fantasy that we are missing the phcasure of other worlds that alrewly exist all around us?

　　Human beings, as biologists have suggested, possess an inborn desire to connect with and understand other life forms, However, people, especially in big cities, often lead rather isolated lices．In a study of British schoolchildren, it was found that children bye age eight were much more familiar with hurmans for television shows and cideo games than with common wildlife．Without modern technology ,a amall pond could be an amazing world filled with strange and beautiful plants, insects, birds, and animals．When we lack meaningful interaction(交互)with the world around us, and sometimes ecen with our families and friends , we seek to understand and communicate with things that exist only in our imaginations or on a computer screen

　　The world of make-believe is not neccsanly bad, But when the world of famsity becomes the only outlet(出路)our sense of wonder ,then we are really missing something, We are missing a connection with the living world．Other wonderful worderful worlds exist all around us．But even more interesting is that if we look closely enough ,we can see that these worlds, in a broad sense , are really part of our own．

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　　Sitting on the peaceful coast of the Calapagon Islands．Ecuador , watching the sun move quietly into the sea, you shouldn't forget the Charles Darwin(1809－1882)arrived here in 1835．He famous work．On the Origin of Species．You can certainly follow Darwin's footsteps and enjoy a trip from four to seven days to the islands．

　　The islands are centainly a paradise(天堂)for wildlife, as there are no natural killers on the islands and the number of beais and visitors is under govenment control．Though you cannot walk freely as Darwin die hour 200 years ago ,esch day is as impressive as it could be．

　　The most well crown animal of the Calapagos is the giant tortoisc(巨型陆龟),which can be seen moving slowly around the highlands of Sanra Cruz,the second largest island in the suchipelago．Some of these creatures are so old that they might have been seen in their youth by Darwin himself．

　　Despite strict control over activities and timing,you stay on the Galapagos will be remembered as a chain of incomparable pictures;diving with sea how that wim and play within inches of you; feeling small shaks touch you feet as you swim and ,most magically, seeing a with and her bady surface with great breath of air．

　　Travleing between the islands and observing the wildlife that so inspired Darwin, you will fell as though you are getting a special view of an untouched world．At night you will sleep on board the ship, leaving the wildlife in complete occupation of the islands, which are as undisturbed now ai they have been since the beginning of time．

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　　It is have xxxxxx that clothing manufacturcrs(生产商)follow certa a untharm standards far yarious featurce(特征)of clothes．What seerns strange, however．Is that the xxxxxx adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men．Take a look at the way your clodns buntm．Men's clothes tend to button from the right, and women's form the left．Lonsidering most of the world's popalation－men and women－are right-handnd, the men's standard would apper inake more sense for women．Xxxxx why do women's clethes bution from the left?

　　Histov mally coms to matter here．Buttons finst appcaned only on the lothes or the rich in the 17^th camary．When rich women were dressed by servents．For the mostly right-hand-d servants, having women's shirts button from the left would be easier．On the other hand, having men's shirt button from the right made secse．too．Most men dressed themselves, and a swont drawn from the lelt with the right hand would be lese likely to get catght in the sairt．

　　Tady women are seldom dressed by scryants．Hat tuaoning from the lefts still the standard for them．Is it intcesting?Actually, a standoont, once set, resists change．At a time when all women's shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any sigle manufactura is offer women's shirts that battoned from the right．After all, women had grown so used to shirts whirt unored from the left and would have to devclop new habits and skills to switch．Benides, come women might have found it socially awkward to appear in public wearing shirts that buttoned from the right, since anyone who rociced that would believe they were wearing men's shirts．