阅读理解

　　A few years ago I was on a bicycle trip when I got off my bike for a rest．

　　I sat down on the grass．A few seconds latter, I was covered in ants．They were swarming all over me so I got up and brushed them off．It was a strange experience but I soon forgot about it．

　　A couple of years later, I was living in Jordan．I had just moved into a modern flat and was unpacking plates when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye．I looked over at the kitchen drawer and there was a cockroach crawling out of it．I screamed．Then I grabbed a can of insecticide and sprayed it on the cockroach．He ran under the nearby bathroom door．It took me three days before I found the courage to open the bathroom door to see if he was still alive．He wasn’t．

　　Why did I react so violently to one lone insect when a closer encounter with hundreds of ants hardly affected me?The answer is easy：because cockroaches are creepy crawlies and ants aren’t．Creepy crawlies are those little bugs which cause feelings such as anxiety－they make your skin crawl．

　　Did you know that some people feel such a fear of bugs that it becomes a phobia?Psychologists have offered many explanations．Some say we associate them with dirt and disease．Or that these are life forms that are so alien to us, that we find them disgusting for their dissimilarity．

　　Insects, however, don’t follow our rules they just do what they want and invade our space．Unfortunately, although insects and bugs have been a successful animal species up to now, many of them, like many other species nowadays, are under threat of dying out, Entomologists warn that this could upset entire ecosystems and lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences．

　　So my advice to you is： the next time you feel the urge to stamp on, splatter or spray a creepy crawly, give a thought to the planet and stop．

阅读理解

　　Bend over, take a deep breath and drink some water!This is just one of hundreds of tips you might get if you have the hiccups(打嗝)．Hiccups are so mysterious．We really don't know why they start and why they stop．Everyone has a favorite cure for a case of the hiccups．Some people think that a good scare is necessary to get well．Others eat a teaspoon of sugar．Still others drink a glass of water with a knife in it．

　　An American man named Jack O'Leary claimed to have hiccupped 160 million times over a period of eight years．He tried 60,000 cures, but none of them worked．Finally he prayed to Saint Jude, the saint of Hopeless cases, and his hiccupping stopped immediately．

　　It took a British plumber eight months to cure his hiccups．People from all over the world wrote him letters with suggestions for getting well．He tried them all, but the hiccups continued．Finally, he drank a“secret”mixture someone had sent him．By that evening his hiccups were gone．

　　Why did these cures work for these two men?No one really knows．But people who have studied many cases of hiccups have an idea．Hiccups usually go away if you believe in the cure．

阅读理解

　　Stonehenge(巨石阵)is the most famous of the stone circles of the British Islands for its unusual engineering．It is good in condition, so it is a good example to study．Built in 2800 B．C．, Stonehenge shows that early people were very good at problem-solving and organization．The builders of Stonehenge had to figure out how to build it without modern machines．They also had to organize the work of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of workers to build it．

　　First they had to carve the stones．Then, they had to transport the heavy stones(up to four tons!)twenty kilometers to Stonehenge．The next task was to stand the stones up．The most difficult task was putting the top stones in place．Each one of these tasks took a lot of planning and a lot of strength, but the workers of Stonehenge were excellent builders．

　　Why did these people work so hard to build Stonehenge? Researchers believe that Stonehenge is a huge calendar．Certain stones mark the location of the rising and setting moon in midwinter．Other stones mark the rising and setting sun in midsummer．The ancient people held religious ceremonies on these days．These ceremonies probably asked the gods to bring good weather for crops and to protect the people from bad weather．

　　As a historical site, Stonehenge is an engineering success．Thousands of years later, it still stands．As a calendar, Stonehenge is very accurate．It shows that early people had a deep understanding of astronomy(天文学)and the movements of the sun and the moon．They didn’t have machines or computers, but Stonehenge shows people could do many things using only their muscles and their brains．