For many people the subject of hiccups (嗝) is a joke, but for Harry Mendes, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy from Birmingham, it was something quite different.
His hiccups began one Sunday lunch time and continued day and night for two weeks. After the first week, Harry’s parents took him to hospital, but it took another week for the doctors to cure his attack.
Harry, who is now back at school, described what happened to him.
“When I began to hiccup, I drank a glass of water but that didn’t do any good. That evening I had hiccups every four seconds. We tried everything to stop them. I held my breath and drank cold drinks. My father even tried to give me a shock but that didn’t work either.”
After a week of sleepless nights, he went to hospital. The doctors took an X-ray of his chest but they couldn’t find anything wrong.
“They gave me some medicine and my hiccups slowed down, but it was another week before the medicine worked completely and my hiccups stopped.”
Harry was very lucky. The world record holder is the American farmer Charles Osborne, who hiccupped for sixty-eight years. He stopped in 1990 at last, but nobody knows why.
【小题1】Harry’s hiccups lasted ____.

阅读理解

A farmer who lived in a small village had a bad pain in the chest. This never seemed to get any better. The farmer decided that he would go to see a doctor in the nearest town. But as he was a miserly（小气） person, he thought he would find out how much he would have to pay the doctor. He was told that a sick person had to pay three pounds for the first visit and one pound for the second visit. The farmer thought about this for a long time, and then he decided to go to the doctor in the town.

As he came into the doctor’s room, he said, “Good morning, doctor. Here I am again.” The doctor was a little surprised. He asked him a few questions, checked his chest and then took the pound which the farmer insisted on giving him. Then the doctor said with a smile, “Well, sir, there’s nothing new. Please go on taking the same medicine I gave you the first time you came to see me.”

1.Why did the farmer decide to go to see a doctor in the town?

2.How many pounds did a sick person have to pay the doctor in the town for two visits?

3.Where did the doctor check the farmer?

4.What did the farmer give the doctor?

5.The doctor asked the farmer _______.

A mother in Australia was told by a doctor that her new born son was dead but she helped to bring him back to life by holding the baby against her body. She used a method known as a kangaroo care. The child, named Jamie ,was born after only 27 weeks with his twin sister, Emily, in a hospital in Sydney. Her birth went well ,but his was a different story. The doctor struggled for 20 minutes to save Jamie before announcing him dead.

“His little arms and legs were just falling down away from his body.” Kate Ogg said ,“I took off my coat and put him on my chest with his head over my arm.” She and her husband, David ,said to the child as she continued to hold him for nearly 2 hours. During that time, the two-pound baby showed the sign of life. She said , “I told my mum ,who was there, that he was still alive. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger. ”Their tiny baby grew stronger and stronger in his mother’s arms, and their final goodbye turned into a hello.

The doctor at first ignored the baby’s movements, but when he put the stethoscope（听诊器）to his chest, his mouth was wide open and he said ,“It’s my fault, It’s a miracle( 奇迹).

“The kangaroo care helps the baby keep body warmth” Dr Pinchi Srinivasan said, “It also regulates(调节) heartbeat and breathing rates and is believed to help weight gain and improve? sleeping habits. Fathers can also use kangaroo care. The key to the method is skin-to-skin contact.”

?? The practice began in less developed nations. It has become a recognized pracitce in helping premature babies. The techniques is good for babies, and is used in many baby care centers.

1.After hearing what the doctor said, the mother________.

A. became so sad that she almost became mad?????

B. didn’t give up and tried to bring her baby to life

C. chose to believe the doctor

D. became angry at what the doctor did to the baby

2.When the baby first showed sign of life, the doctor________.

A. didn’t believe the miracle had happened

B. was too shocked to do anything

C. was cheered and tried to save the baby at once

D. was moved by what the mother did to the baby

3.From what Dr Pinchi Srinivasan said, we learn the baby came back to life mainly because of________.

A. the mother’s soft words

B. the doctor’s careful care

C. skin-to-skin contact with the mother

D. the father’s kangaroo’s care

4.According to the paassage, premature babies refer to babies that are born______.

A. with diseases???? B. before their time?? C. dead??????? D. heavy

5.What the main idea of the passage?

A.A baby was almost killed by a doctor’s wrong decision

B.A doctor in Australia announced a baby was dead by mistake

C.A mum in Australia saved her baby with “kangaroo care”

D.A mum in Australia invented a new method of saving babies

Watching movies for your summer

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest 加勒比海盗：聚魂棺

   Captain Jack Sparrow again appears on the screen. This time, he finds himself in a heavy debt(债) to Davy Jones. The only way to get out of it is to find the Dead Man’s Chest. He asks his old fiends for help and they start out to the sea.

Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties  加菲猫: 双猫记

   Hello, Garfield will meet you again on the screen. This time, America’s favourite cat Garfield travels to London. Garfield gets lost on the way. However, he enjoys his new life in his new home. But danger is near him…

Superman Returns   超人归来

   How exciting it is to see Superman on the screen again! Like before, he is again saving the world. But his enemy, Lax Luther, is still planning to kill him so that he can control the world.

1.What does the underlined word “it” refer to?

A. His debt.      B. His old friend.     C. His new life. D. The Dead Man’s Chest.

2.Which of the following doesn’t happen to Garfield?

A. He gets lost.                       B. He has his new home and enjoys his new life.

C. Danger is waiting for him.            D. He is in a heavy debt.

3.Why does Lax Luther plan to kill Superman?

A. Because he wants to save the world.   

B. Because he wants to enjoy his new life.

C. Because he wants to control the world. 

D. Because he wants to control Superman.