阅读理解

　　Breakfast is the most important meal of the day．It is also the most neglect(忽视)．Common reasons for not eating breakfast include having no time, not feeling hungry, traditional dislike and dieting．

　　Breakfast simply means “break the fast’’．Your body spends at least 6 to 12 hours each night in a fasting state．In the morning your body needs energy for the day’s work ahead．

　　A good breakfast should provide 1/3 of your total calorie needs for the day．On average, we eat 400 less calories for breakfast than for dinner．If breakfast doesn’t appeal to you in the morning, try eating a lighter dinner earlier in the evening or save half of your dinner for breakfast in the morning．

　　If you still aren’t hungry in the morning, start with something small like juice or toast or have a nutritious(有营养的)mid-morning snack later when you are hungry．

　　So, you say you are on a diet．Some people fear that eating breakfast will make them hungrier during the day and they will eat more．It is true that eating breakfast is likely to make you feel hungry throughout the day．That is because your body is working correctly．Although you may feel as if you are eating more all day long, in reality you are probably not．

　　Not eating breakfast can also cause you to overeat, since a fall in blood sugar often makes you feel very hungry later．To make matters worse, since your body is in a slow state, it will not be able to burn those extra calories very efficiently．If you feed your body healthy snacks and meals throughout the day, you are less likely to become hungry and stuff(填饱)yourself as soon as you begin to eat．

　　Since breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, choosing the right food is important．The best breakfast foods are fruits, juice, lean meat and grain products such as bread, rice, noodles and cereals．

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阅读理解

　　Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children．Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia．They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will learn a musical instrument or ballet or other classes which will give them a head start in life．The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is．So the parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education．Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter．

　　However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap．

　　Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others．What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence．

　　The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents aren’t teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and clever．

　　Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing housework．

　　Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life．Cooking demands patience and time．It’s an enjoyable but difficult experiment．A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually to finish his job successfully．His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence．

　　Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up．These activities aren’t merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind．And that is more important．

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阅读理解

　　David Beckham was born in 1975, in London, at a place called Leytonstone．When he was a young boy, his greatest passion was football．He played it whenever he had the chance．Sometimes he would go and watch a game with his friends．When David Beckham was 12 years old, he won the Bobby Charhon Soccer Skills award．This was an important step forward for this young boy, and it led him to go for a visit to a football training camp in Spain．As a boy he played for the schools of Essex and also for his county team．

　　In 1991, he became a trainee(受训练的人)with Manchester United．This meant that he could practice football as much as he wanted to and play for the highly successful Manchester United Youth Cup team and Under-21 team．In April, 1995, he played his first football league game against Leeds United．During 1995 and 1996, David became a regular member of the team and Manchester United won in both football seasons, with David scoring many goals．

　　His goals made him a household name．In the first game of the 1996-1997 season, he scored a surprising goal from beyond the halfway line．Seeing the goalkeeper a little way out of his goal, Beckham sent the ball over the goalkeeper’s head and into the goal．It was a wonderful goal and Beckham became famous overnight．He continued to score astonishing goals, especially from free-kicks．The speed of one of his shots was timed at 157 kph．He also had the ability to make the ball go from left to right, or right to left, whenever he chose．Goalkeepers were never sure where the ball was going, and it regularly ended up in the goal．

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阅读理解

　　Everybody may have seen the film “Death on the Nile(n．尼罗河)”, but nobody can imagine that the writer of the story, Agatha Christie, saved a baby in a most unusual way．

　　In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Deleville．Doctors there were unable to find out the cause of her illness, so she was sent to a famous hospital in London, where there were many excellent doctors．The baby was so seriously ill that a team of doctors hurried to examine her baby without delay．The doctors, too, were puzzled by the baby’s illness and they also became discouraged．Just then a nurse asked to speak to them．

　　“I think the baby is suffering from thallium(n．铊)poisoning．” said the nurse．“A few days ago, I read a story ‘A Pale Horse’ written by Agatha Christie．Someone uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are written in the book．They are exactly the same as the baby’s．”

　　“You’re very good at observing things,” said a doctor, “and you may be right．We’ll carry out some tests and find out whether the cause is thallium poisoning or not．”

　　The tests proved that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium．Once they knew the cause, the doctors were able to give her correct treatment．The baby soon got well and was sent back to Deleville A week later it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide(n．杀虫剂)used in Deleville．

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阅读理解

　　Wearing the wrong type of glasses will do harm to your eyes．This is not true for adults, although incorrect glasses may not be good for children under 10．Ready-made glasses, and not wearing glasses when you should, won’t do harm to your eyes, but you may see better with glasses that are specially made for you．

　　Watching too much television is bad for your eyes．This is not true．People with easily affected eyes may find that they get red and aching from staring at a fixed distance for long periods, but there won’t be any lasting effects．

　　Carrots will help you see in the dark．Carrots are rich in betacarotene(胡萝卜素), which the body can change into vitamin A, too little of which can cause night blindness．However, people in some countries don’t need to worry about vitamin A deficiency(缺乏)．Night blindness is more likely to be connected with another vision problem．

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阅读理解

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阅读理解

　　“Time is a problem for children,” states a news report for a new Swiss watch．Children in some countries “learn time slowly” because “they don’t wear watches” and “parents don’t really know how to teach them time．” The children grow up with this handicap and become adults and then can’t get to work on time．Is there an answer to this problem? Of course it’s the Flik Flak, made by a famous Swiss watch company．

　　The Flik Flak is being marketed as something teaching watch for children aged 4 to 10．The watch itself does not teach children how to tell time, of course; it merely “takes their imagination” by presenting the “hour” hand as a beautiful red girl named Flak and the “minute” hand as a tall blue boy named Flik．Flik points to related “blue” minutes on the dial, while Flak points to “red” hour numbers．The characters and colors combined with parental help, are supposed to teach young children how to tell time．

　　The watch comes equipped with a standard battery and a nylon band(尼龙表带)．Peter Lipkin, the United States sales manager for the Flik Flak, calls it “childproof：if it gets dirty you can throw the whole watch in the washing machine．” The product is being sold in select department stores in Europe, Asia and the United States for a suggested price of ＄25．Parents who buy the watch may discover that it is one thing to tell time; it’s quite another for them to be on time．

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阅读理解

　　Where is that noise coming from? Not sure? Try living with your eyes closed for a few years．

　　Blind people are better at locating sounds than people who can see, a new study says, without the benefits of vision the ears seem to work much better．

　　Previous studies have shown that blind people are better than others at reaching out and touching the sources of sounds that are close by．Researchers from the University of Montreal wanted to see if blind people were also better at locating sounds that are far away．

　　Twenty-three blind people participated in the study．All had been sightless for at least 20 years．Fourteen of them had lost their vision before age 11．The rest went blind after age 16．The experiment also included 10 people who could see but were wearing blindfolds(遮眼布、眼罩)．

　　In one task, volunteers had to pick the direction of a sound coming from about 3 meters away．When the sound was in front of them or slightly off center in front, both groups performed equally well．

　　When sounds came from the side or the back, however, the blind group performed much better than the blindfolded group．The participants who had been blind since childhood did slightly better than those who lost their sight later．

　　Recognizing the locations of distant sounds can be a matter of life-or-death for blind people, say the researchers．Crossing the street, for instance, is much harder when you can’t see the cars coming．

　　Still, the researchers were surprised by how well the blind participants did, especially those who went blind after age 16．In another experiment, the scientists also found that parts of the brain that normally deal with visual information became active in locating sound in the people who were blind by age 11．These brain parts didn’t show sound-location activity in the other group of blind people or in the sighted people．The scientists now want to learn more about the workings of brains of “late-onset” blind people．

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阅读理解

　　When we hear the words “college students”, we usually think of a young person between 18 and 22 years old．But in the U．S．A today, a college student often is much older．In fact, educators say in the next few years colleges and universities may have more older part-time students than traditional full-time younger students．

　　Educators report a big increase in the number of Americans who attend college and university classes in the evening or at night or weekends．Most of them are older than 25 years old and more have full-time or part-time jobs．Many are in their thirties or forties．

　　Why are so many people deciding to spend their time and money in order to continue their education? Most are doing it because they believe more education will help them to get a better job．Some are industrial workers whose factories have closed．They are learning new skills to prepare for other kinds of work．Some of the part-time students are not pleased with the jobs they have．They are studying for new ones．Some have retired(退休)and are looking for new kinds of work．Two of every three of the students older than 35 are women．Many of them are returning to school after years of staying at home to care for children．

　　Are older students good students? Most teachers say yes．They say older students really want to learn．They ask difficult questions and are not pleased with simple answers．They often get high grades．

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阅读理解

　　We were the only family with children in the restaurant．Suddenly, my baby Erik became excited．I looked around and saw an old man with old clothes and dirty old shoes．His hair was unwashed．He was waving to my Erik．

　　“He might hurt my Erik,” I thought．Everyone in the restaurant looked at us and then at the man．Then we decided to leave．My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him outside．The old man sat between the door and me．

　　As I walked closer to the man, I turned my back．Suddenly, Erik leaned over my arms, reaching with both arms in a baby’s “pick-me-up” position．Before I could stop him, Erik had escaped from my arms to the man’s．At the moment a very old smelly man and a very young baby developed a kind of friendship．

　　Erik, in the act of total trust and love, laid his tiny head upon the man’s shoulder．The man closed his eyes, and I saw tears under his lashes．His aged hands were full of pain and hard labor, but he held my baby so gently．A moment later, the old man opened his eyes, passed me my baby and said, “God bless you, madam．You’ve given me the most precious gift．”

　　I cried, with my face burning hot．A child saw a soul, but a mother saw only a suit of clothes．

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