阅读理解

　　In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it．And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is．That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about．It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors．

　　The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand．He told this story about himself．He began earning ＄125 a week at the age of 23．That was a lot of money in those days．He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City．When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day．When he saw that rich people had servants．Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors．

　　It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up．The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life．They moved back to an apartment(公寓房间)in New York City．

　　Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life-style of their neighbors．He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series(系列)of short stories．He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States．“Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you．Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years．

　　People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses．And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world．But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr．Jones always seems to be ahead．

阅读理解

　　Too many people want others to be friends, but they don’t give friendship back．That is why some friendships don’t last long．To have a friend, you must learn to be one．You must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you．Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules：be honest；be generous；be understanding．

　　Honesty is where a good friend starts．Friends must be able to trust one another．If you do not tell the truth, people usually find out．If a friend finds out that you haven’t been honest, you may lose your friend’s trust．Good friends always count on one another to speak and act honestly．

　　Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow．You do not have to give your lunch money or your clothes of course．Instead you have to learn how to share things you enjoy, like your hobbies and your interests．Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings．These can be very valuable to a friend．They tell your friend what is important to you．By sharing them, you help your friend know better．

　　Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with a problem．Something may go wrong at school．Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve．Turning to a friend can be the first step in solving the problem．So a friend must listen and understand．You must try to put yourself in your friend’s place so you can understand the problem better．

　　No two friendships are ever exactly alike．But true friendships have three things in common．If you plan to keep your friends, you must practice honesty, generosity, and understanding．

阅读理解：

　　Are animal brains too simple for thoughts and choices? Stories about animal kindness have really changed my point of view．In fact, some stories are amazing, especially when animals are meeting with people．Here are two stories that interest me．

　　James, a wildlife writer, told a story that an African woman had placed her baby in the shade of a tree while she was working．An elephant group walked by and saw the baby．Several elephants pulled leafy branches from the tree covered the sleeping baby．Flies can be a problem in Africa and the branches protected the baby from the flies．The elephants were so gentle and quiet that they did not even wake up the baby．Then the elephants walked away．

　　An English magazine offers another story．Bill, a cat, stayed at home while its master was away on a trip, but the man was injured in a railway accident and died a few days later in a hospital．At the funeral, the Man’s brother was surprised to see that Bill was there．The faithful cat had traveled a long way to the hospital, looked at the coffin(棺材), and then sadly returned home．

　　Humans are only one part of the earth．The beautiful flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horses and the great eagles, these are our brothers．The sky and mountains, the cows and men, all belong to the same family．These stories, I hope, will inspire more people to treat animals as our friends rather than pets or our next meal．

阅读理解：

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阅读理解：

　　Most animals have little connection with animals of a different kind, unless they hunt them for food．Sometimes, however, two kinds of animals come together in a partnership which does good to both of them．You may have noticed some birds sitting on the backs of sheep．This is not because they want a ride, but because they find easy food in the parasites(寄生虫)on sheep．The sheep allow the birds to do so because they remove the cause of discomfort．So although they can manage without each other, they do better together．

　　Sometimes an animal has a plant partner．This relationship develops until the two partners cannot manage without each other．This is so in the coral(珊瑚)of the sea．In their skins they have tiny plants which act as " dustmen", taking some of the waste products from the coral and giving in return oxygen which the animal needs to breathe．If the plants are killed, or are even prevented from light so that they cannot live normally, the corals will die．

阅读理解：

Speaking and Reading

　　In learning a foreign language, one should first pay attention to speaking．It is the groundwork of reading and writing．You'd better try your best to speak．Don't be afraid of making mistakes．While you are doing this, a good exercise is to write --keep a diary, write notes or letters and so on．Many mistakes in your speaking will be easily found when you write．Through correcting the mistakes, you can do better in learning a language．

　　If you are slow in speaking, don't worry．One of the helpful ways is to improve your English by reading, either aloud or low to yourself．The important thing is to choose something interesting to read．It mustn't be too difficult for．When you are reading in this way, don't stop to look up the words if you can guess their meaning of if they are not important to the sentence．You can do that some other time．

阅读理解：

A The Mona Lisa

　　Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503．He was working on a special painting for a church at the time, but the church painting was not going well．An Italian businessman asked da Vinci to paint a picture of his second wife．This is the woman who can be seen in the Mona Lisa．

　　All in all, the Mona Lisa is a very good example of da Vinci`s works．Da Vinci used darkness and light in a clever way in the painting．

　　Da Vinci loved science and math．Right away a person can see that there is a lot of geometry(几何)in the Mona Lisa．The face of the Mona Lisa is made of many circles and round shapes like balls．Even her smile can be seen as a small part of a large circle．

　　The woman in the painting is sitting on a balcony(阳台)，and mountains can be seen behind her．Da Vinci loved to study rocks and mountains, so these can be seen over and over in his other paintings．

　　The woman is sitting with her knees to the side．Her head is turned to look out of the painting．Her hands are held together in front of her．This way of sitting is now used by many artists when they are painting a picture of a man or a woman today．

阅读理解

　　About five years ago, an American electrical engineer named Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie came up with the idea of putting solar panels(控制板)on the ground rather than the roof．Then they began to develop the Solar Roadway．The Solar Roadway is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy using power from the sun．while providing safer driving conditions, along with power and data delivery．They predict that the Solar Roadway will pay for itself through the generation of electricity along with other forms of income and that the same money that is being used to build and resurface current roads can be used to build the Solar Roadways．

　　Each Solar Road Panel measures roughly 4 meters by 4 meters and contains a microprocessor(微处理器)that monitors and controls the panel, while communicating with neighboring panels and the vehicles travelling overhead．The inventors suggest that this provides a communications device every 4 meters on every road which could be used for example to warn drivers of cars which are moving across a centre line and various other speed control problems．The top of the Solar Road panels is made of super-strong glass that would offer vehicles the tractions(抓地力)they need．

　　According to the inventors, the Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity and therefore electric vehicles can be recharged at any conveniently located rest stop, or at any business that has paved Solar Road Panels in their parking lots．

　　The inventors say their Solar Roadway has many functions and advantages from main roads to driveways, parking lots, bike paths, sidewalks and runways．The Federal Highway Administration has given Brusaw ＄100,000 to develop the invention and Brusaw hopes to build a smart-road parking lot in the coming spring．

阅读理解

　　It would be a totally dark world without your eyesight．However, there is a lot we can do to preserve our eyesight．

　　Protect your eyes from the sun．Continuous exposure to the sun's UV rays(紫外线)can severely damage your eyes over time．The UV rays from the sun will result in brown spots ill the eyes or some eye diseases．In order to prevent harmful UV rays，if you plan to be in the sun for extended periods of time，you need to wear protective eye wear．

　　Practice disease prevention．Diabetes(糖尿病)is among tile few diseases that call cause blindness if left untreated，mistreated or undiagnosed．One of the best ways to prevent disease related blindness is to prevent or control your disease．For example．if you have diabetes it is highly recommended that you eat a healthy diet，check your blood sugar often and take medicine if your blood sugar is above 150．

　　Add vitamin A to your diet．This concept is usually taught during your younger years．Vitamin A is required for the production of rhodopsin which is an eye pigment(色索)highly sensitive to light that is used to see ill pool-lighting conditions．To get your healthy portion of vitamin A，you can go to your local grocery store and pick up carrots，broccoli and other cruciferous(十字花科)vegetables．

　　Visit your eye doctor routinely．Visiting your eye doctor can keep，you up to date on your eye health．You should visit your eye doctor for an eye exam once every one to two years(more often if you wear glasses)to help you keep good eyesight．You are advised to see your eye doctor immediately if you experience eye diseases or symptoms like loss of eye vision，eye pain，redness and itching around the eyes because prolonged eye diseases can result in permanent eye damage or blindness．

阅读理解

　　Although new laws have been passed in some American states to cut down on distracted(分心的)driving, many accidents and deaths were still related with it, especially using cell phones while driving．Recently the Obama administration is considering disabling cell phones in cars．aiming to cut down cell-phone-related road deaths．

　　Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the nation's anti-distracted-driving supporter, said in an interview on November 18 that federal officials are looking at technology to disable cell phones inside cars．

　　“I think it will be done, ”LaHood said。“I think the technology is there and I think you're going to see the technology become adaptable in automobiles to disable these cell phones．We need to do a lot more if we were going to save lives．”

　　Also on Thursday, the transportation government started a new “Faces of Distracted Driving” video campaign that features people who have been killed or lost their loved ones because of inattentive drivers．The video features heartbreaking stories of children killed in crashes because of phoning or text messaging, and new videos are expected to be added every few weeks．

　　A driver is four times more likely to crash while using a mobile phone．More than 5,500 people were killed last year by distracted drivers, and another 500, 000 were injured．LaHood has said it is never safe to talk on a cell phone while driving, hands-free or not．because it can really cause distraction．

　　Incidentally．a 1ot of people seem to agree with this viewpoint－a new research shows nearly two-thirds of Americans support a national ban on the use of cell phones while driving, even if the driver is using a hands-free device(装置)．But the research didn't ask how people feel about government-issued mobile phone scramblers or other disabling devices。