阅读理解

　　It would be dawn in less than an hour．For a week, Daniel Moreno, Brian Stanley, and 23 other college students from Massachusetts had been relaxing on the beach in Mexico．On their last night, Moreno and Stanley partied until 4∶00 am．But as Stanley's head hit the pillow, he heard glass shattering(破裂)．From the balcony of their fourth-floor room, Moreno and Stanley saw black smoke pouring from the hotel's tower．Almost all the hotel's rooms had college students from the United States, and now they were screaming and trying to get out．

　　Moreno, 21, ran out into the corridor and began pounding on doors and shouting, “Fire!” As the smoke thickened, Moreno raced upstairs to the rooms where other students were staying．Stanley, a volunteer firefighter in his hometown, was helping people get through the smoke-filled lobby(门厅)．There he joined forces with Nalewanski, who came from a family of four generations of firefighters．“Let's go,” Nalewanski said．He and Stanley wet their shirts in the bathroom and wrapped them around their mouth and nose so that they could breathe．Then they rushed up the stairs．

　　In the meantime, Moreno had reached the eighth floor before turning back．He made sure he hit every door．

　　Nalewanski and Stanley found Moreno on the fourth floor, struggling to breathe．After making sure he could get back down on his own, they continued upstairs, down the corridors on every floor, banging their fists on every door．

　　In the end, while a few students were treated form smoke inhalation(吸入), no one was seriously hurt．Even more incredible, all the students went back to Massachusetts later that same day．

阅读理解

　　Dolphins are very interesting animals which are known as the friendliest of all．Dolphins live in deep waters but come to the shores and shallow waters for food at times．Though they live in water．, they're mammals and breathe air through their blowhole(呼吸孔)on their head．Some dolphins rise up to the surface every 20 to 30 seconds and some can hold their breath for over 30 minutes．When they sleep, half of their brain is active and one of their eyes is always open．

　　They have excellent sight and very well-developed eyes, which can spot food as well as enemies from a long distance．Dolphins can swim very slowly and often rest at the bottom of the sea bed．They have their won individual whistles which can be recorded and through which they communicate with each other．

　　Reproduction in dolphins occurs during the spring months and they find their mates much earlier than the mating(交配)period．The gestation(怀孕)period of a female dolphin is about 11 to 12 months．The calves(babies)can swim and breathe immediately after birth．Sometimes they are born at the surface of the water to help them to breathe more easily．The mother nurses the calf for the next 13 to 18 months when it stays close to the mother．

　　Dolphins eat many kinds of fish and squid(鱿鱼)．Their favourite kinds of fish are mackerels(鲭)or herrings(鲱)which have fat and can provide energy for the dolphins to swim and survive．Squid don't have much fat, so to get the equal amount of energy, dolphins eat more squid．

　　These are some important facts about dolphins．Unfortunately, some dolphins have become endangered and it's our responsibility to protect these charming animals．Let's respond to the dolphins' call by saving them．

阅读理解

　　My daughter(now 18)was born with a tumor(肿瘤)on her eyelid．At first it was small, and hardly noticeable．After five months, it was about the same size as a coin．Every time I took her out, people could not help commenting, “Who hit her?”, “Is that a mosquito bite?” and so on．I could never think of a proper response to these people's comments．I was taught to be kind and understanding, and thought that other people had been taught these attributes(特性)too．One day I was in a shopping center with my daughter．A woman approached me．

　　She said that God must not have wanted my daughter to leave him, as He left her with a kiss．She went on to say that babies with these kisses were always surrounded by angels．I was shocked．What a kinder, more loving approach to someone with a problem!

　　My daughter will graduate this year from high school．She is beautiful．Her early years were spent in and out of hospital．Finally the tumor was removed．It is not noticeable except in the bright sun．She danced for 4 years on the dance team．She had received many scholarships(奖学金)．Her life is wonderful．The woman in the shopping centre made me a better parent．Perhaps, this story will help make someone else a better parent, too．

阅读理解

　　In life, people come across many experiences, which they remember throughout their lives．I had a similar experience, too．

　　I was very excited．It was the day of my last paper of the final examination．My mind was full of thoughts of how I would spend my vacation．I was especially excited of the invitation that my uncle had given me to stay with him for a few days in Cambridge．

　　I was prepared for the subject, physics．My friends and I were on the ground doing the last minute revisions and also discussing the questions that were supposed to come in the paper．Suddenly the bell rang and we got into our classrooms．The teacher came and quickly handed out the answer paper and the question paper．The paper was of two hours and some of the expected questions came．I finished it almost forty-five minutes earlier．But since it was a rule not to collect the answer paper before the allotted(规定的)time．the teacher was not collecting and I had to sit till the time was over．I checked my paper twice and corrected some of the mistakes in it．I started thinking about the place my friends and I had planned to go after the paper．

　　Though I was thinking for a long time, the time seemed to be endless．So I thought of drawing something on the question paper and turned it overleaf．I was shocked to see that the page which I had supposed to be blank had four more questions on it which carried 20 marks and would take at least half an hour to complete．I had a quick glance at my watch．There were only 10 minutes left．I was so nervous that I was hardly in a state to write anything．They were the sub-questions(小题)of the last question．Suddenly our physics teacher came in and told all of us that in the last question, out of 6 sub-questions only 2 had to be solved．I felt very much relieved．

　　Thereafter I never made such mistakes again．But I realized that my anxiousness and excitement could have cost me to lose 20 marks and decided never to make such a mistake again．

阅读理解

　　People know the dangers of fires．It’s good for a family to learn how to prepare for a fire．Here are some suggestions．

　　Put a smoke alarm in the house．Smoke from a fire causes the alarm to go off．The alarm makes a loud sound．The sound tells everyone to leave the house at once．

　　Make escape(逃脱)plan．They should know all the ways out of the house．If there is a fire, everyone follows the plan to get out．Part of the plan is to check all the windows to make sure they can be opened easily．

　　Buy fire extinguishers(灭火器)in the house．Everyone in the family should know how to use them．

　　Practice for a fire．They do fire practice because they teach children about fire safety．Ever yone in the family should know the following fire rules：

　　＊Don’t open a hot door! The fire can grow more quickly if you open the door．

　　＊Stay close to the floor! Smoke can be more dangerous than the fire．The best air is near the floor because smoke rises．

　　＊What will you do if your hair or clothes start to burn? First, Stop! Don’t run! The fire burns faster because of more air．Drop! Fall to the floor．Then roll! Turning over and over will make the fire go out．Put a blanket(毯子)around you to keep air away from the fire that may still be on you．．

　　There are many possible causes for fires．A wise family is ready all the time．If there is a fire, don’t forget to call 119 for help．

阅读理解

　　Have you ever complained why life is so tiring? Does the sky sometimes seem dark to you? Are your studies sometimes not successful? Well, friends, cheer up and smile all the time．If you see the world with your warm heart, you’ll find that the whole world smiles to you．

　　While in school, sometimes you are tired of your lessons, but have you ever noticed the happy smile on your teacher’s face when you did a good job?

　　One day it is fine．Just before you go out, it suddenly starts to rain．Maybe you would feel very sad and start to complain about the weather．But friends, why don’t you sit down and listen to the free concerts that the nature offers you? And with the timely(及时地)rain, crops in the fields will grow better and better and farmers will have a good harvest．

　　Although everyone wants to succeed in what he tries to do, sometimes failure can’t be avoided．I think failure is not terrible, and the terrible thing is that we are afraid of it and give up hope．When we face failure, we must be confident(信心)in ourselves, draw a useful lesson from it and try our best to finish what we have decided to do．As a popular saying goes, “Failure is the mother of success”．

　　Attitude(态度)decides everything．With an optimistic(乐观)attitude life is easy and pleasant．Let’s smile to whatever we meet and the whole world will smile to us．

阅读理解

　　Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city．The building next door was only a few feet away from mine．There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seated by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading．

　　After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty．Everything was unclear through the dirty window．I would say to myself, “I wonder why that woman doesn’t wash her window．It really looks terrible．”

　　One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside．

　　Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest．What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible．Her window was clean!

　　Then it dawned on me．I had been criticizing(批评)her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through my own dirty window．

　　That was quite an important lesson for me．How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own shortcomings?

　　Since then, whenever I wanted to judge(评判)someone, I asked myself first ,“Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?” Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world about me more clearly．

　　You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight．They hit one another hard．At the start they only fight with their fists．But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs．And so it goes on until one of the men crashes(撞击)through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below．He is dead！Of course he isn't really dead．With any luck he isn't even hurt．Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars of even catch fire, are professionals．They do this for a living．These men are called stuntmen．That is to say, they perform tricks．There are two sides to their work．They actually do most of the things you see on the screen．For example, they fall from a high building．However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress(床垫)．Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training．Often a stuntman' s success depends on careful timing．For example, when he is "blown up" in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment．

　　Naturally stunt men are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives．They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed．A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff(悬崖)a thousand feet high．His parachute(降落伞)failed to open, and he was killed．In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only．Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action．For nowadays there are stunt(替身演员)girls too。

　　There are two basic ways to see growth：one as a product, the other as a process．People have generally viewed personal growth as an external(外在的)result or a product that can easily be identified and measured．The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language－all these examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts．

　　By contrast(对照), the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way．The process is not the road itself, but the attitudes, feelings people have, and their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties．In this process, the journey never really ends；there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept．

　　In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first．How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is necessary for our ability to grow．Do we see ourselves as quick and curious? If so, we tend to take more chances and be more open to unfamiliar experiences．Do we think we’re shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we are slow to adapt change or that we’re not smart enough to deal with a new challenge．Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all．

　　These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow．If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing．We become trapped inside a shell of our own making．

　　French writer Le Clezio won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy announced Thursday．

　　The Academy cited Le Clezio as “author of new departures and poetic adventure, explorer of humanity beyond civilization．”

　　Le Clezio, 48, received much attention with his first novel The Interrogation in 1963 and made the breakthrough as a novelist with Desert in 1980, for which he was rewarded a prize from the French Academy．

　　This novel Desert contains magnificent images of a lost culture in the North African desert, contrast with a description of Europe seen through the eyes of unwanted immigrants, the Swedish Academy said in the statement．

　　The emphasis in Le Clezio’s work has increasingly moved in the direction of an exploration of the world of childhood and of his own family history, the academy added．

　　Le Clezio was born 1940 in Nice of France, but both parents had strong family connections with the former French colony Mauritius．At the age of eight, he moved to Nigeria with his family．During the month-long voyage to Nigeria, he began his literary career with two books Un long voyage and Oradi noir．

　　He has taught at universities in Bangkok, Mexico City, Boston, Austin and Albuquerque among other places．Since the 1990s, Le Clezio and his wife share their time between Albuquerque in New Mexico, the island of Mauritius and Nice．

　　This was the fourth of the prestigious Nobel Prizes handed out this year, with awards in chemistry, physics and medicine made in the past three days．

　　The Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually since 1901 to those who “conferred(给予)the greatest benefit on mankind during the preceding year．”

　　The annual Nobel Prizes are usually announced in October and are handed out on Dec．10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite．

　　Each prize consists of a medal, a personal diploma and a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor(1.4 million U．S．dollars)．