阅读理解

　　Do you ever wonder how some things came about? For instance, who figured out that there was something worth eating inside a banana peel? Or how astonishing do you have to be to discover that an artichoke has edible parts? Well, we may not know how either of those foods was discovered, but we do know how potato chips were invented．

　　Potato chips originated in New England as one man's variation on the French-fried potatoes, and their production was the result not of a sudden inspiration of cooking invention but of a fit of annoyance．

　　It was the summer of 1853 and Commodore Vanderbilt, a wealthy railroad magnate, was vacationing at a hotel named Moon Lake Lodge in New York．On the restaurant menu were French-fried potatoes, prepared in the thick-cut French style that was popularized in France in the 1700s and enjoyed by Thomas Jefferson as ambassador to that country．

　　At dinner one night, Vanderbilt complained that his French-fried potatoes were cut too thick and sent them back to the kitchen．Offended by his snobby guest, chef George Crum decided he would give Mr．Vanderbilt exactly what he asked for! He decided to annoy the guest by producing French fries too thin and crisp．The chef angrily gathered up some potatoes and sliced them paper-thin．He threw the slices into hot oil to fry, drained and salted them and then personally served the new dish to Mr．Vanderbilt．

　　Surprised to see the chef in the dining room, the other diners fell into silence and everyone held their breath, waiting for Vanderbilt's reaction．

　　Vanderbilt immediately popped a crisp potato slice into his mouth and the loud “Crunch” broke the silence．He continued to crunch away, delighted with his new dish．The plan backfired．Vanderbilt was interested in the browned, paper-thin potatoes．Clapping a surprised Chef Crum on the back, Vanderbilt praised him on the impressive potatoes．And other diners requested Crum's potato chips, which began to appear on the menu as “Saratoga Chips”, a house specialty．Soon they were packaged and sold, first locally, then throughout the New England area．Crum eventually opened his own restaurant, featuring chips．At that time, potatoes were peeled and sliced by hand．It was the invention of the mechanical potato peeler in the 1920s that paved the way for potato chips to rise quickly from a small specialty item to a top-selling snack food．

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阅读理解

　　By now there were several people standing around me, my mom, and the little broken bush(灌木丛)．

　　“Son, would you like me to call an ambulance?”some men said．

　　“No,”my mom yelled．“I'm fine．Please go away!”

　　“She's learning to ride,”I tried to explain to all those who were not going to go away．

　　“Oh, all right!”My mom sat up and brushed the grass and leaves off her sweater．Finally she stood up．Everyone began to clap(鼓掌), and my mom's face turned bright pink．

　　“Thank you very much, but as you can see, I'm just fine．”Mom took a few steps around to show them that she wasn't hiding a broken leg．Everyone clapped again and then went on their way．

　　“Enough for today?”I asked hopefully．

　　“No,”she said in a way that surprised me．“I almost had it, and then I let myself get scared．I know I can do it this time!”Now this sounded more like my mom, for I'd never known my mom to be afraid of anything before．I helped her pull the bike out of the bush and push it up the hill．

　　She didn't look quite so pale this time．She got on the bike again and went down the hill．I ran down the hill after her．She had ridden quite a way ahead of me when she looked back over her shoulder, smiling．Then she gave me a thumbs-up(翘拇指)sign．

　　“No, no!”I yelled．“Use both hands!”

　　But it was too late．Again．

　　“Mom! Are you hurt?”I ran up to her in the grass．

　　This time she was laughing．“Did you see me? I did it! I really did it!”Then she stopped and looked at me．“I mean,”she said,“we did it．”

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