The holiday’s upon us．After months of study, you have some time to yourself．So, why not read a book? Well, some people will say, “Why trouble with books? We have the Internet and other media（媒体）that offer a lot more colorful programs．Books are history!”

    But don’t be fooled．There’s still a lot to be said for reading-and reading as widely as possible．

    One clear reason is that a well-chosen book is a wonderful collection of words and expressions, so long as you have a good dictionary, of course．Believe me, it’s far easier to get new English words and expressions from a book or article than it is from the TV or the Internet．

    But an even more important point is that books give you something that modern media simply can not: The webpage（网页）is always full of pictures and the text is often designed（设计） to make it as easy to read as possible．

Though “easy” may be welcome, unluckily it’s of little use for any long-time development of reading skills and the general language level．For that, there’s still no substitute（替代品）for a book．

But perhaps the best single reason is that simply choosing what you read and doing it by yourself means that it’s something you do by and for yourself．You can choose what you want to read．It’s hard work, but while you are reading, you’ll find that what once seemed like a duty is now a pleasure．

1． Compared with the Internet, a well-chosen book can help us________．

     A． spend our holiday as quickly as possible

B． develop our speaking skills in a short time

C． get new words and expressions more easily

D． make our life a lot more colorful than ever

2． The last paragraph mainly tells us that_______．

     A． we should buy books by ourselves         B． it’s easy to choose books

C． to read books must be our duty              D． reading can bring us pleasure

3． The passage mentions ________ reason（s） why we should read books．

     A． one                 B． two                C． three               D． four

Invitation

The White family invites all the exchange students to a Barbecue Party. Saturday, July 3rd, 2～6 p.m.   Summer Concert

Listen to local jazz group Blue Wind in Central Park! The concert is free. Everyone is welcome! Sunday, July 10 at 6:00 p.m.

Great Short Story Competition

Are you under sixteen years old? Do you want to win a free trip to Disneyland? All you have to do is to write a short story containing these three words: monster, thrilling and Disneyland. Write your story now and email it to Rebecca@163.com before July 30. Waiters Wanted

Age: between 20 and 40

Language: one foreign language (English or French) Requirements: ◆must be willing to work late ◆must be outgoing and friendly

Working place: Red Rose Restaurant

Tel: 0431—82233301

1.The Barbecue Party will be held on _____.

A．Saturday          B．Sunday           C．Tuesday           D．Monday

2.Monster, ______ and Disneyland are the three words need to be contained in the story.

A．thrilled           B．outgoing          C．friendly           D．thrilling

3.If you want to be a waiter, your age must be between ______ to 40.

A．6                B．16               C．20               D．30

Jim is the son of a farm owner. One New Year's Day, when he was 15 years old, his father        him to work on the farm for one year at his free time. Jim was        with his father's idea. 'That isn't my job. I have         schoolwork to do. ' At hearing this, his father said, 'I promise(答应) to give you the best present if you       finish one year's work. , Jim thought for a while and       . Starting one Saturday, the boy got up early and worked       until evening, just like any other farmer. Time passed      . Jim's crops grew very well. On the last day of the year, the father called his son to him, 'I'm happy to see that you have worked very hard the whole year,' said the father, Now, tell me       you want.' The boy smiled and showed his father a big piece of bread made from his wheat. 'I've already got the       present. No pains, no gains. I think this is what you wanted me to       .