This year is a leap year. Leap years are years with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years are necessary because the actual length of a year is 365.242 days, not 365 days, as commonly stated. Basically, leap years come every 4 years, and most years that can be evenly(平均地) divided by 4 have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29^th which is known as a leap day. Why leap is used here? Leap means jump.[来源:]

However, there is one exception to the leap year rule about century years. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divided by 400. Therefore, 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was a leap year.

A person who is born on February 29^th may be called a "leapling" or a "leap year baby". In non-leap years, some leaplings celebrate(庆祝) their birthday on either February 28^th or March 1^st. In England and Wales or in Hong Kong, a person born on February 29^th, 1996, will have legally(法律上) reached 18 years old on March 1^st, 2014. If he or she was born in the United States, Taiwan or New Zealand, his or her legally birthday will come a day earlier.

There is a popular custom in some countries that a woman may ask a man to marry her on February 29^th. If the man refuses, he then has to give the woman money or buy her a dress.

Since leap days are special days, people nowadays want to do something different within the 24 extra hours. Big jumps are the most popular ones.

Some salaried(领薪水的) workers want to get pay for their extra day’s work. But in my opinion, if you know why there is a leap day, you will get the answer to this problem.

1. The next leap year is          .

A. 2014                         B. 2016                       C. 2018

2. American boy Toby is a leapling. Next year he will probably to have his birthday party on       .

A. February 28^th                  B. February 29^th                C. March 1^st

3. Which picture is about popular custom on leap days?

A.                  B.              C.

4.. Many people like to have a big jump on leap days probably because         .

A. it’s a custom                  B. they are leaplings             C. leap means jump

5.We can learn from the passage that         .

A. 2100 will not be a leap year

B. every year leaplings celebrate their birthday on either February 28^th or March 1^st

C. it is necessary to pay the salaried workers for the leap day’s work

 

In the summer of 1978 an English man named Steven was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered something strange. Some of his wheat was lying on the ground. The flattened wheat formed(形成)a circle about six meters across . Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat.
　 Three years later a farmer who lived nearby discovered almost the same circles in one of his fields. These circles were larger—nearly 15 meters across . That same year , another English farmer discovered three circles of flattened wheat on his land—one large circle between two small circles. During the following years, farmers in England found circles in their fields more and more often.
　 The circles are called “crop circles” because they usually appear in fields of wheat or corn. The wheat in the circles lies on the ground but is never broken; it keeps on growing, and the farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September. What causes the crop circles?
　 At first, people thought that some kids were making them as a joke, or that farmers were making them to attract tourists.(In fact, in 1991, two men said they made the circles themselves, but many scientists don’t believe them.) People tried to copy them: They tried to make circles exactly like the ones the farmers had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of wheat without leaving tracks, and they couldn’t flatten the wheat without breaking it.
　 Several times people reported seeing stranger objects near the fields where crop circles later appeared. Many people believe that these crop circles are the messages sent by living things from outer space(外层空间)or the marks left by their spaceships.
　 Scientists who have studied the crop circles try to find out what causes them. In the summer of 1990 some scientists spent three weeks in the part of England where many circles have appeared. They had all the latest high-tech equipment(最新高科技设备). The equipment—worth 1.8 million dollars—got nothing. But one night, as the scientists were watching a field, crop circles formed in the field behind them, which were quite different from the others. The scientists had neither seen nor heard anything.
　 When Steven discovered the crop circles on his land in 1978, he said, “It was just like something that had landed in the field from the air and gone back up again. I don’t know what to make of these things.”
　 Crop circles have appeared in England, Japan, the United States and Russia. Experts from all over the world have studied them, and they say what Steven said: They don’t know what to make of these things.
【小题1】Which picture is probably the one formed in the field behind the scientists?

【小题2】“Flattened wheat” means ___________.
　　  

A．broken wheat

B．lying wheat

C．harvested wheat

D．growing wheat

【小题3】The passage is mainly about something ___________ .

A．that is done by living things from outer space

B．that cannot be solved but found all around the world

C．that cannot be made clear or understood

D．that is discovered and copied by the farmers

Last Friday, a Tibetan(藏族的) postman became the first woman postal worker to give a speech at the World Postal Meeting in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. She was Nima Lamu, a postwoman of Yunling Post office, Yunnan Province.
She said, “I had to cross the Lancang River along a steel wire. My younger brother nearly died in the river before. I felt so afraid when I was asked for the first time to cross the river. But when I reached the other side, I found that I was flying.”
Her area is locked in (封闭) two snowy mountains and three big rivers. She said, “:What worries me most is the snakes on the way. Sometimes, I throw little stones toward them and I often tell my self ‘Keep going’. ”
Ten years ago, it took Nima five days to finish each week’s mail. She had to face snowstorms, floods, snakes and loneliness on her 350-kilometer journey. Nima said, “The situation has developed a lot these years. Now we have a bridge that was built across the Lancang River in 2006.”
Nima never dreamed she would become famous one day when she first look up her job, 12 years ago. Changes have been seen in recent years as more tourists visit Nima’s hometown. But one thing remains unchanged: she is still the carrier of the villagers’ hopes and dreams.
【小题1】Nima was invited to the meeting in Bern because she was _________.

A．the only Tibetan postman in China	B．the first postwoman in the world
C．doing a hard job as a postwoman	D．making her village famous overnight

【小题2】 What happened to her brother according to Nima Lamu?

A．he once fell into the river.	B．He was killed by a snake.
C．He died when swimming in the river.	D．He got hurt when building the bridge.

【小题3】Which picture is TRUE about Nima’s crossing the river ten years ago?

【小题4】What will Nima do if she finds a snake on the way?

A．Kill it with stones.	B．Keep it off and go on.
C．Throw it away and leave.	D．turn around and run.

【小题5】What is RTUE about Nima?

A．She is building a bridge across the Lancang River.

B．She has realized all the villagers’ dreams.

C．She got her job as a post woman before 2000.

D．She doesn’t need to do her work now.

 

1.Amy got up too late, so she _________ (失败) to catch the first bus.

2. My parrot’s blue-and-green _____(羽毛) look so beautiful in the sun.

3.. --- Do you think ______ (地理课) is very important like Chinese and maths?

--- Of course.

4. Which picture is your favorite? The ______ (五) one, I think.

5. Different people have different kinds of ________(能力).

6.Would you like one _____ (many) cake, please? No, thanks, I am full.

7. Fire can be _______ (danger), so we should be careful all the time.

8.There’ re at ______ (little) twenty students playing on the playground now.

9. When I walked past, I heard her _______(sing) in the next room .

10.. It says that an elephant ______(weight) about 4500 kilos. Do you believe that?

 

Last Friday, a Tibetan(藏族的) postman became the first woman postal worker to give a speech at the World Postal Meeting in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. She was Nima Lamu, a postwoman of Yunling Post office, Yunnan Province.

    She said, “I had to cross the Lancang River along a steel wire. My younger brother nearly died in the river before. I felt so afraid when I was asked for the first time to cross the river. But when I reached the other side, I found that I was flying.”

    Her area is locked in (封闭) two snowy mountains and three big rivers. She said, “:What worries me most is the snakes on the way. Sometimes, I throw little stones toward them and I often tell my self ‘Keep going’. ”

Ten years ago, it took Nima five days to finish each week’s mail. She had to face snowstorms, floods, snakes and loneliness on her 350-kilometer journey. Nima said, “The situation has developed a lot these years. Now we have a bridge that was built across the Lancang River in 2006.”

    Nima never dreamed she would become famous one day when she first look up her job, 12 years ago. Changes have been seen in recent years as more tourists visit Nima’s hometown. But one thing remains unchanged: she is still the carrier of the villagers’ hopes and dreams.

 

1.Nima was invited to the meeting in Bern because she was _________.

    A. the only Tibetan postman in China            B. the first postwoman in the world

    C. doing a hard job as a postwoman          D. making her village famous overnight

2. What happened to her brother according to Nima Lamu?

    A. he once fell into the river             .    B. He was killed by a snake.

    C. He died when swimming in the river.      D. He got hurt when building the bridge.

3.Which picture is TRUE about Nima’s crossing the river ten years ago?

4.What will Nima do if she finds a snake on the way?

    A. Kill it with stones.         B. Keep it off and go on.

    C. Throw it away and leave.     D. turn around and run.

5.What is RTUE about Nima?

    A. She is building a bridge across the Lancang River.

    B. She has realized all the villagers’ dreams.

    C. She got her job as a post woman before 2000.

    D. She doesn’t need to do her work now.