Give water, save lives

     A bottle of water may not seem like much to you, but thousands of bottles will be of great help for people who live in drought-hit(遭受旱灾) areas in China.

     Since last autumn, there has been very little rain in Southwest China. Some places, especially in Yunnan . Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, have experienced a serious drought. Crops (庄稼) died, the land cracked, and wells (井) and rivers dried up. More than 20 million people are having difficulty in finding safe drinking water.

     After learning about the drought, many people around the country helped by giving water, money and other things.

     Last week, every member of the Communist Youth League (共青团员) and Young Pioneers(少先队员) were encouraged to give one bottle of water to the drought-hit areas. Students in primary schools and middle schools quickly joined the activity. In Yuhua Primary School in Xi' an, 900 students bought over 1,000 bottles of water with their pocket money. They also wrote their wishes on the bottles.

     The serious drought has also made students realize the importance of saving water.

     Students from Nanshan Middle School in Huizhou in Guangdong went on the street to tell people to take part in water-saving activities.

     “I've heard that some children in drought-hit areas don' t have enough drinking water. They have to drink muddy ( 含有泥土的 ) water. I feel really sad about that," said one student. “I decide to take a shower twice a week instead of every day to save water.”he said.

1.Why did a serious drought happen in Southwest China?  

___________________________________________________________________________                      2.What does the underlined (划线的) word "cracked" probably mean in Chinese?

  ______________________________________________                   !

3.What did people do after learning about the drought?

4.Is a bottle of water helpful for the people in drought-hit areas?

5.What can you learn from the passage?                                     

阅读下列短文，根据短文内容，回答下列问题。
Save water, save lives
A BOTTLE of water may not seem like much to you, but it can save the day for people who live in drought-hit (遭受旱灾) areas in China.
In the past few months, some places in southwest China experienced a serious drought. In Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Chongqing, there has been very little rain since last autumn. Crops died, the land cracked, and wells (井) and rivers dried up. More than 20 million people are having difficulty finding safe drinking water.
After learning about the drought, many people around the country helped by giving water, money and other resources.
Last week, China asked every member of the Communist Youth League (团员) and Young Pioneers (少先队员) to give one bottle of water to the drought-hit area. Students in primary schools and middle schools quickly joined the activity.
“A bottle of water isn’t much, but thousands of bottles will be of great use,” said Zhang Zihao, a middle school student at Tongling No 1 Middle School in Anhui.
In Yuhua Primary School in Xi’an, 900 students bought over 100 bottles of water with their pocket money. They also wrote their wishes on the bottles.
The serious drought has also made students realize the importance of saving water.
Students from Nanshan Middle School in Huizhou in Guangdong went on the street to tell people to take part in water-saving activities.
“I heard that some children in drought-hit areas don’t have enough drinking water. They have to drink muddy (泥泞的) water. I feel really sad about that,” said one student. “I decided to take a shower twice a week instead of every day to save water.” he said.
【小题1】Why did a serious drought happen in Southwest China?
                                                                       
【小题2】What does the underlined（划线的）word “cracked” probably mean in Chinese?
                                                                       
【小题3】What did people do after learning about the drought?
                                                                       
【小题4】Is a bottle of water helpful for the people in drought-hit areas?
                                                                       
【小题5】What can you learn from the passage?
                                                                       

How would we travel without maps? It would be a bit adventurous (冒险的) to set off from Oxford University to go to London Bridge if there wasn't a map of the London Underground at each station. In fact, a lot of the early map-makers were adventurers and explorers, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

    So what did people do before there were maps? Well, it was quite easy to use natural signs like mountains and rivers if you were travelling on foot or riding a horse. People took small boats down rivers and followed coastlines. And it was much more logical (合理的) to use time, not distance, to measure (计量) journeys: the next village is a three-hour ride, for example.

    In fact, in the earliest maps, people didn't draw landmarks. They drew the stars. It was very easy to see the night sky and use it for navigation (航行). The sky was a lot clearer before the light pollution from cities that we have today. When towns and cities were built, people drew road maps which gave correct distances and directions.

    The London Underground was opened in 1863 and it also used a road map style. But a man called Henry Beck realized that travelling by train wasn't the same as driving your car across London. Passengers only needed to know which stations to change at. His new design (设计) for the Underground map wasn't very popular with the train companies at first. But the passengers loved it and in 1933, 700,000 copies were printed.

    These days, of course, you can ride a bike, drive a car or go through a forest and know where you are exactly, using a GPS. It's really difficult to get lost!

1.What was drawn in the earliest maps?

A. Stars.                             

B. Landmarks.

C. Cities and towns,                    

D. Mountains and rivers.

2.When did road maps come out?

A. Around 15th and 16th centuries.         

B. When people began to travel by train.

C. When people began to travel by sea.      

D. When cities and towns appeared.

3.Which of the following is true?

    A. A GPS helped people to travel long time ago.

    B. Ancient people could travel on a horse without maps.

    C. The sky was polluted by light before cities were built.

    D. Henry Beck's map wasn't popular with the passengers.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Maps have a long history.           

B. We never get lost these days.

C. We can't travel without maps.          

D. Henry Beck designed a new map.

How would we travel without maps? It would be a bit adventurous (冒险的) to set off from Oxford University to go to London Bridge if there wasn't a map of the London Underground at each station. In fact, a lot of the early map-makers were adventurers and explorers, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.
So what did people do before there were maps? Well, it was quite easy to use natural signs like mountains and rivers if you were travelling on foot or riding a horse. People took small boats down rivers and followed coastlines. And it was much more logical (合理的) to use time, not distance, to measure (计量) journeys: the next village is a three-hour ride, for example.
In fact, in the earliest maps, people didn't draw landmarks. They drew the stars. It was very easy to see the night sky and use it for navigation (航行). The sky was a lot clearer before the light pollution from cities that we have today. When towns and cities were built, people drew road maps which gave correct distances and directions.
The London Underground was opened in 1863 and it also used a road map style. But a man called Henry Beck realized that travelling by train wasn't the same as driving your car across London. Passengers only needed to know which stations to change at. His new design (设计) for the Underground map wasn't very popular with the train companies at first. But the passengers loved it and in 1933, 700,000 copies were printed.
These days, of course, you can ride a bike, drive a car or go through a forest and know where you are exactly, using a GPS. It's really difficult to get lost!
【小题1】What was drawn in the earliest maps?