A
EXCITING stories are everywhere in animation movies. Little villages, wild jungles and a faraway island…Get ready for trips to these places in some new films | ||
Name | Release date | Introduction |
Kung Fu Panda 3 | Jan 29 2018 In China | The chubby Panda Po is back! In the new movie Kung Fu Panda 3, Po finds the Secret Panda Village, and meets many other pandas. But not all is well. A new enemy Kai comes. He wants to beat all the kung fu masters around China and take away their power. Po has to stop him. He tries to teach kung fu to other pandas, and they try to save China. |
The Jungle Book | April 15 2018 In the US | This is a story about finding one's human nature while living in the wild. The boy Mowgli grows up with a family of wolves in the jungle. A tiger thinks humans are bad because they hurt him once. As a human, Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome there and decides to leave. The boy starts his trip of self-discovery in the jungle |
The Angry Birds Movie | May 20 2018 In the US | If you played the mobile phone game Angry Birds, you must remember those colorful little birds with angry faces. But why on earth are they so angry? That's the story The Angry Birds Movie wants to tell. The birds live on an island far away from the rest of the world and they know nothing of the outside world. One day, the island meets its first visitors-the green Pigs. They are up to something. See how the conflict between the birds and the green pigs began in the 3-D animated movie |
D
Inventions make our life easier and better than before. What are the best inventions of last year? Here are three amazing things in Time magazines list of the 25 best inventions of 2017.
Smart mug
It's hard to keep coffee or tea warm, especially in winter. But this smart mug from US company Ember Technologies can solve this problem. There is an app for the mug that allows people to set the mug to a certain temperature between 48℃ and 62℃. Then, the mug keeps your coffee or tea at that temperature for about an hour, and even longer if you put the mug on a charging（充电）plate.
Social robot
Can robots talk to us like humans? Jibo, a robot made by US company Jibo Inc, can do this. With a big, round head and a big body, Jibo looks like a cartoon character. And its voice sounds like a 10-year-old boy. As soon as you say "Hey, Jibo," it dances and turns to face you. When it talks to you, it moves its head and body to communicate with you. Its appearance, tone of voice and humor make you feel that you have a little friend Jibo is able to tell stories to children, take pictures just by hearing your order "Jibo, take a picture", and do hundreds of other jobs. Although its creators think that Jibo still has a lot to learn, it's available with a price of $ 899; a good price for a pretty smart and friendly robot!
Fidget spinner
What is the most popular toy this year? The answer is probably fidget spinners. They are small plastic or metal toys with a bearing(滚珠轴承）in the middle. The toys can keep turning around on your fingertip for a few minutes after you start them. Once they are turning, you can put them on any other flat surface, such as a ruler or even the nose of a pet dog. This toy is very popular among young people around the world. Some people say that it helps them calm down and relax. But it may not be a good thing to spend too much time playing with it.
C
In America, boys and girls often join clubs. The members of a club work together. They also learn certain skills and share good times.
Many boys belong to Boy Scouts. Boy scouts enjoy hiking and camping out together, and they learn many things. Scouts learn safety rules, first aid, and what to do when in danger. Members have a chance to learn outdoor living. They learn to build fires and cook out in the open.
Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls are clubs for girls. These two clubs give their members a chance to have fun and learn. The girls in a group take trips, have parties and go hiking and camping together. The Camp Fire Girls earn honor beads( 荣誉珠) for learning such skills as swimming and cooking. The Girl Scouts earn badges(徽章).
Both boys and girls can be members of 4-h clubs, Children who live in either the city or the country may belong to 4-h. A project such as raising a pig or a calf can be carried on only by farm children, while city children can take part in gardening and cooking projects.
In all these clubs the boys and girls learn to be good and useful citizens.
B . 
C . 
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A
Maps are pictures of places. You must have seen a map of the world, of your home country and even of your home city. They show us towns, cities, roads, parks, schools, hospitals, and more.
There are also many other types( 类型) of maps. Each gives a special kind of information. There are street maps, tourist maps, and even maps of the air and sea.
Here is a simple road map.
"Can I take your order?" Night after night, I had to say this as I worked in my family's restaurant. My father was a fantastic cook. He wanted me, his only son, to cook with him, but I didn't like cooking. Because of the restaurant, my father was always busy. He never had time to play football with me.
During my high school and college years, I worked with my family at night. But I always avoided the kitchen. I couldn't wait to graduate (毕业)so that I could move away from the family business. Several days before my graduation day, my father and I started looking at new cars. Finally, we found the right car. I was sure that my father would give it to me as my graduation gift.
On my graduation day, my father gave me a book as a gift. It was his old cookbook. I was so angry that I gave it back to him and ran out of the house. Several days later I moved away and started my business. Although I often saw my father during holidays, we never talked about the graduation gift. Then one day, I got a call that my father was ill. I went to see him because I was very worried.
That night, I looked through my father's books and saw the cookbook that he had given me year before. I carefully opened the cookbook and went through it. Then I found something that made me cry. It was a check(支票)for$30,000 dated(注有日期) the day of my graduation. And the price of the car my father and I chose all those years ago was $30,000.
Vienna is a beautiful old city on the River Danube in the center of Europe. It's the capital city of Austria and the center of European classical music. In the 18th century a lot of musicians came to study and work in Vienna.
In the Strauss family, there were two composers called Johann Strauss: the father and the son. The father, Johann Strauss the elder, wrote and played music for traditional dances, called the waltz. His dance music made him famous all over Europe. The son, Johann Strauss the younger, was also very successful and popular. He wrote over 150 waltzes. In 1867 he wrote The Blue Danube waltz.
Mozart was another very important composer. He was born in Austria in 1756. Before he was six, he played not only the piano but also the violin. His family took him around Europe and he gave concerts in many cities. He wrote hundreds of wonderful pieces of music. But he became very poor and died in 1791 when he was only 35. Like Johann Strauss, father and son, he was a great European musician, and many people still think his music is perfect.
I love to go biking! Two years ago I bought an exercise bike(健身脚踏车). But soon I got bored with being at home, so I bought a used bike and started going for short rides. Now I plan day trips in my neighborhood (街区). When you drive a car, you miss many things. It's surprising how much more you can see when you're biking.
—Sam
My favourite thing to do at weekends is to go to the beach. The beach is beautiful all through the year. I usually drive there. If the weather is cold, I wear some warm clothes and go for long walks on the beach. When the weather is hot. I enjoy swimming or just lying in the sun.
—Barbara
At weekends I like to read books. If the weather is nice, I'll take a good book to the park and stay there reading for hours. I think there's nothing as delightful as reading a good book.
—Bill
Weekends are for going hiking(徒步旅行) with my parents. We live near some beautiful mountains. Sometimes we camp out at night. We really enjoy cooking dinner over a campfire and spending a night under the stars!
—Grace
Most people agree that trees look nice, but not everyone knows that trees can also help cities save money. A few years ago, the US Forest Service studied trees in Chicago. They found that just one tree can save a city hundreds of dollars over its lifetime.
Trees can save money by helping people save energy(能源). Trees stop the sun shining on buildings. They also block(挡住) the winter wind. That helps people use less energy to make their homes or offices warm or cool. Saving energy is saving money.
Trees have another way to help a city save money. When it rains, there will be a lot of water in a city's sewers (下水道). Cities need lots of money to clean that water. But before the rainwater gets to the dirty sewers, trees can take some into themselves. With the help of trees, there is less water to clean.
You must think a computer is the best thing in the world, right? You must think it works at a super speed and can do everything? Well, it's not! In fact, the brain is much more powerful than any super computer! Think about when a glass is just about to fall off the table. Your brain controls everything that you need to do to save that glass from falling. First your eyes check out what's going on, then tell your brain, and your brain decides how quickly you need to react(反应), and then your muscles(肌肉) go into action. That is just from your brain. No computer could ever come close to that!
The brain weighs just 3 pounds, but it controls everything you do from thinking, learning, feeling even to breathing and your heart beating. Even though the brain is just 2% of your body weight, it uses around 20% of all your energy in your body. That is a lot for such a small organ(器官). There are about 100 billion tiny, tiny little cells(细胞) in your brain. There are so many that it would take you over 3,000 years to count them all!
Your brain stops growing when you're 18, but it actually keeps on developing and learning new things. So your parents are really super smart! You won't be able to fool them! Believe it or not, your brain NEVER stops working. Even during sleeping, the brain works for long-term memory establishment(建立). It is realized that the brain is the second organ in the body as the heart that never stops during human lives.
So everyone should be proud of such a gift of nature.
B
Do you shop online with websites like Taobao? The money you pay doesn't go directly to the seller. Instead, it goes through Alipay, which keeps your money for a while. After you receive your goods and click the "confirm receipt" button, Alipay then gives the money to the seller.
The process is called "third party online payment". There is a transfer station, or a third account, between sellers and buyers to make online shopping safe. Buyers don't need to worry about paying for goods and then receiving nothing. Sellers also get rid of the risk of receiving no money after sending out goods.
These transfer stations are usually set up by payment service companies such as Alipay, Tenpay and Yeepay. Among them, Alipay is the biggest in China. It has more than 270 million active users, according to Xinhua.
While most online sellers and shoppers like the third party online payment system, banks are not very happy. That is because companies like Alipay are fighting over money with the banks. Users can invest in financial products through Alipay and make money. Thus lots of people choose to put money in Alipay rather than in banks.
But WeChat payment is not the same. WeChat doesn't have its own account. When paying through WeChat, the buyers' money goes directly to the sellers. That's why so many people are excited about receiving and handing out "red envelopes" or gift money to their friends on WeChat.
Whether Alipay or WeChat payment, they are all trying to attract more users and make online shopping easier. These two companies are also promoting payments through fingerprints. New payment methods such as quick response codes have become popular too.
C
①He was 11 years old and went fishing every chance he got at his family's small house on an island in the middle of a New Hampshire lake.
②On the day before the bass(鲈鱼)season opened, he and his father were fishing early in the evening, catching sunfish and the bass with worms. Before long, when his fishing pole doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end. His father watched him with admiration as the boy skillfully worked the fish alongside the bank and he very successfully lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.
③The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish, the fish jumped up and down in the moonlight. The father looked at his watch. It was 10 P. M.-two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. "You will have to put it back, my son.” he said.“ I have never seen such a big fish before.” cried the boy“ There will be other fish." said his father. The boy looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father. Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the boy could tell by his father's voice that the decision couldn't be changed. He slowly worked the hook out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the water.
④That was 34 years ago. And he has never again caught such a beautiful fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see the fish again and again-every time he comes up against a question of ethics(伦理). For, as his father taught him, ethics are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.
⑤We would if we were taught to put the fish back when we were young. For we would have learned the truth. The decision to do right lives fresh in our memory. It is a story we will proudly tell our friends and grandchildren.
A
One day Vimala and her new friend. Mary, were playing at school. Mary was a very quiet and shy girl but Vimala liked her. While jumping, Mary's glasses fell off and broke. Just then the bell rang and they had to hurry to their science class.
“Oh dear, I'm going to be as blind as a bat. But we'd better hurry. It's Miss Lee's class, "said Mary.
At the start of the lesson, Miss Lee explained how to do the experiment to produce large eye crystals. Then she started to question the class. Nobody dared to give a wrong answer because Miss Lee was a very strict teacher Miss Lee held up a clamp(夹具) and said, "What do we use it for? What do we call it? All the girls looked down, while she looked at their heads for one to pick on. "Mary?" she finally asked.
Mary was sitting at the back of the class. She stood up and peered at Miss Lee, but she could not see clearly what the teacher was holding. She was nervous a bit and did not answer.
Miss Lee repeated her question. This time she spoke more slowly and there was anger in her voice.
"What is this used for?" she asked
Vimala saw storm clouds climbing up to Miss Lee's face. She knew that the storm was about to burst on Mary, so she put up her hand. Miss Lee paid no attention to her and stared through narrowed eyes at Mary, waiting for an answer.
Mary did not know what to say. She looked to her left and right for help. Too scared to say out that she couldn't see clearly, Mary hoped that if she kept quiet Miss Lee would ask somebody else.
Vimala guessed what was wrong, so she decided to take a risk. She jumped to her feet and said, "Excuse me. Miss Lee. Mary broke her glasses just before the lesson started. I don't think she can see the clamp clearly. "Then she sat down, praying (祈祷)that the ceiling would not fall on her.
“Oh!” Miss Lee said, a little surprised. She had thought that Mary was refusing to answer. Now that she understood, her anger faded away. “Thank you, Vimala.” she said. Then she turned to Mary and said, “Come and look at this.”
Mary left her chair and went to the front of the class.
“It's a clamp.” she said. "We can put it on a metal stand(支架) and use it to hold things in place.”
"Well, you got it right at last." Miss Lee said with a brief smile. But you'd better not do any experiments until your glasses have been repaired. You can watch Vimala while she does the experiment.
The storm clouds disappeared. The smile disappeared from Miss Lee's face and she continued with the lesson. Vimala winked at Mary who peered at her and smiled weakly.
B
Amanda Kitts is one of “tomorrow's people” people who have artificial (人工的) body pats. She has a bionic(电子操控的)arm.
Now, Kitts runs a day-care center. Children run up to her happily as she comes into the classroom. She bends over to talk with a small girl. As she bends Kitts puts her hands on her knees. For most people, this would be easy. However, just a few years ago, this was impossible for Kitts.
In 2006, Kitts was in a car accident. A truck crushed(挤坏) her left arm and the doctor had to cut it off. "I was angry, sad, depressed. I just couldn't accept it," she says. But then she heard about a new technique that could use the remaining nerves(神经) in her shoulder to contort an artificial arm.
In a difficult operation, a doctor moved Kitts's nerves to different areas of her upper- arm muscles. For months, the nerves grew. Millimeter by millimeter, they moved deeper into their new homes. “At three months I started feeling little tingles and twitches(刺痛和抽搐),”she said. A month later, she got her first bionic arm. A research engineer worked with Kitts to make the computer programs match her real movements more and more closely.
Today, Kitts's arm is great, but it's not yet perfect. She wants feeling in her hands. For example, she needs to feel whether something is rough or smooth. She also needs feeling to do one of her favorite things-drink coffee "The problem with a paper coffee cup is that my hand will close until it gets a solid grip,” she says. One time at a coffee shop, her hand kept closing until it crushed the cup. But Kitts says positively, "One day I'll be able to feel things with it, and clap my hands… to the songs my kids are singing”
①Kitts heard about a new technique
②Kitts crushed a paper coffee cup
③Kitts had two human arms
④A truck hit Kitts's car
⑤Kitts got her first bionic arm
⑥Doctors moved some of the nerves in Kitts's arm
C
Bangladesh (孟加拉)is an agricultural country between India and Burma. Storms from the Indian Ocean sweep across the country every year, and large areas of farming land are flooded(冲毁). The people are very poor.
Fewer than half of the country's children complete their primary education. When they are six or seven years old, many children leave school to work in the fields or at home. The rest of their "education" consists of looking after cattle, collecting firewood or doing household jobs.
Not long ago, an experimental school was opened near the capital, Dacca, to help poor children. There are only 120 children in the school, which has three classrooms. In each class, forty pupils are divided into four groups of ten. Each pupil is free to decide which group he or she wants to join.
The most able pupils do a great deal of the teaching. They act as group monitors. Their duty is to ensure that all pupils in their group understand and practice what the teacher has taught.
There are a number of unusual features in the Bangladesh school. Children do not move up a class automatically when they grow older. Each group is promoted (升级)only when EVERY pupil in it has succeeded in getting to the right standard. As a result, all members of a group work hard to help the less able pupils. Nobody is left behind.
Lessons are extremely practical and include work on farming, carpentry, health and running a home, as well as lessons on the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. At school, pupils prepare for adult life by learning to carry out almost all the tasks which they will face when they grow older.
If pupils have to look after cattle or young children, they are allowed to bring them to school. If a child has to stay at home to help his parents, there is no scolding or punishment (责罚) at school. Children enjoy their lessons and the school is cheap to run. It is so successful that other schools in Bangladesh are beginning to imitate (模仿) its methods. Visitors are even coming from other agricultural countries to see if they can use a similar method.
“To raise snails(蜗牛) well, you need to spray(喷) water to the container(容器) every morning and evening, change soil every two weeks, and feed them with vegetables and sweet fruits,” said Sun Youxiang after raising snails for one year. He is a fourthgrade primary school student in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. From three white jade snails at the very beginning to more than sixty snails of four generations(代) now, he has done a great job for his science class.
Watching the reproduction(繁殖) of animals is an uncommon experience for kids. Their creativity, patience and respect(尊重) for life will be developed as they learn to take care of animals on their own. Sun's teacher said the job served as a good example of life education. Practice is a necessary step in learning and it will benefit the kids for a life time.
Life education allows kids to know how to live with nature and creatures(生物) in a friendly way. Starting from this year, science will become an important subject as Chinese and math in primary schools in order to improve students' knowledge about the things around us. Because of curiosity(好奇心), more kids will be willing to watch and think through practising. It will add to our knowledge of the world in the long run.
When I was a child, I was a tomboy(假小子). I had a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. My brothers were two and four years older than I. We often played games together.
Once, my brothers and I fell in love with playing a game called “stealing horses”. Then my parents decided to buy my brothers guns. These were not “real” guns. Because I was a girl, I didn't get a gun. They shot and shot at everything with their new guns. I tried to “fight” them with my bow and arrows (弓和箭). But I was still in the poor position without a gun.
One day while I was hiding behind a wall, looking out toward the fields, I felt a terrible blow to my right eye. I looked up just in time to see my brother lower his gun. Both brothers rushed to my side. My eye felt great pain and I covered it with my hand. “If you tell that to Mummy,” they said, “We will get a whipping(鞭打) from Daddy. You don't want that to happen, do you?” I did not. “Here is a piece of wire(电线),” said the older brother, picking it up from the floor, “Say you stepped on one end of it and the other flew up and hit you.” “Yes,” I said. To be honest, I didn't want them to be punished. So I did as my brothers told me to do.
A week after the “accident” my parents took me to see a doctor. Finally I knew my brothers were worried about my eye, so they told our parents what had happened and asked them to take me to see a doctor.
①The writer was hurt. ②The brothers told the truth.
③The parents bought guns for the brothers. ④The parents took the writer to see a doctor.
