—Yes, she is Mary. She plays ______ tennis very well.
—Of course! It was a really great inspiration to the world.
—Don't worry. It's normal for a growing teenage girl.
A long time ago, there lived a wise man named Zun-Nun in Egypt. A young man came to visit him and asked, “Teacher, why do you dress in 1 a way? Nowadays it's necessary to dress neatly（整洁地）, isn't it? Or how will people know you're really a 2and wise man?”
Zun-Nun smiled, took a ring from his finger and said, “Young friend, I'll answer your question, 3 first do one thing for me. Take this ring to the market. Can you sell it for one chip of gold?”
When the young man looked at Zun-Nun's dirty ring, he thought to 4, “How will I sell it at that price?”
He 5 the ring to the vegetable, meat and fish traders and others in the market. But 6 was willing to pay a chip of gold.
He returned and told this to Zun-Nun. Zun-Nun said, “Now go to the gold shop and show the ring to the owner. Don't give a 7, just see how much he will pay.”
One hour 8, the young man was back. “Teacher, people in the market really didn't know the value of this ring. The gold shop owner 9 me 1,000 chips of gold.”
Zun-Nun smiled. “That's the answer to your question, my friend. Someone can't be valued only from his 10. The ring was a gift from the emperor,” he said.
A
Once a very rich man and his son collected valuable paintings by famous artists like Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet.
Later, the son left to join the army. After a few weeks, the old man received a letter saying his son had died while taking another soldier to a hospital. The old man became very lonely and sad.
One day, a soldier visited the old man and gave him a painting—it was a portrait（肖像）of his son. The painting of his son became the old man's most valuable item. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received. The following spring, the old man died.
All of the old man's paintings would be sold at an auction（拍卖会）. The auction began with the painting of the old man's son.
“Who will open the price at $100?” the auctioneer asked. Moments passed and no one spoke or raised their hands. Someone said, “Who cares about that painting? Let's get on to the good ones.” More voices followed in agreement. “No, we must sell this one first,” replied the auctioneer. “Now, who will take the portrait of the son?”
Finally, a good friend of the old man spoke, “Ten dollars!” “Will anyone go higher?” called the auctioneer. After more silence he said: “ Going once… going twice…Sold!” The auctioneer then announced that the whole auction was over. “According to the father's will, whoever takes the son's portrait gets the whole collection.” The auctioneer said.
Because of the father's love, whoever took the son got it all.
B
The Big Wheel New ride opens 5 May At Adventure Park See all the city from it Tickets on sale at park entrance Adults: $3.50 Under 16s, $2.50 | Future World The amazing new computer game On sale From next week in Computer shops and supermarkets For 2-4 players Only $35! |
Jeep Rides In the desert 2 p.m. till 6 p.m. $17.50 per person Children must be over 12 years old Call: 321703 | Competition Young singer of the Year York Concert Hall May 29 Win a guitar! Singers must be under 16 Want to know more? Call or text 998456 |
Teen Voice The new magazine for teenagers $2 Interesting stories and pages of fashion and music On sale every week Go to www.teenvoice. com | Top Two Books This month Forest Street by Alan Banks And Best Bike Ride by Kim Jams Order before 10th April for Special price for both books -$20 www.booksoalot.com |
C
Many years ago, a French naturalist, Comte de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics（批评家）did not like them.
Thomas Jefferson did not like what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders（奇观）of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if（好像）they were unimportant.
This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician（政治家）. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.
In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic（大西洋）.”
Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.”
Americans had already accepted Jefferson's word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle（独立纪事报）used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”
In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn't become English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.”
This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken.
D
You don't need to get in a time-travelling machine to see how technology will change our lives, such as the way we shop. Several new technologies that are to change your buying habits already appear. Let's see what's in store for your future shopping.
Try it on, virtually（虚拟地）. Want to shop online for a new pair of glasses? You don't need to guess which pair looks best on you—use the eBay Fashion iPhone app to try a pair of glasses you're checking out on a picture of your face. But what about buying something bigger? Thanks to Microsoft Kinect's action tracking（跟踪）camera, you can cover clothes on your screen body. You can even choose the background of your virtual fitting room to improve your shopping experience.
Get a perfect, custom fit. Everyone's body is shaped differently. To get a perfect fit, you sometimes have to get your clothes changed. But by using 3D scanning technology, all the clothes you buy will fit your body perfectly. Some companies scan（扫描）your body using High-tech to get the real sizes, so they can make special clothes just for you.
High-tech shopping carts（推车）and checkout counters（收银台）. High-tech shopping carts could be common in malls and supermarkets in the future. Microsoft Kinect-enabled carts are under test. The cart can follow you along the aisles（通道）, controlled only by your movement and your voice.
In the United States, several supermarkets use a certain set called “Scan It” that gives buyers the freedom to scan products on their own while they shop. If we don't want to wait in line before the checkout counters, we can use Toshiba's new object Recognition Scanner. The machine identifies（辨认）a product as soon as it's placed in front of a camera just by its shape and color, even if it has no bar code.
—But n of them are in fashion now.
place, share, important, end, because, influence, successful, across, trade, like |
A road is a bridge between two places. The Silk Road has been a bridge East and West for more than 2,000 years. The Silk Road has been included into the UNESCO World Heritage List（世界文化遗产名录）at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha.
But did you know: the Silk Road is not a single route（路线）! It is a series of and cultural transmission（传递）routes. It began during the Western Han Dynasty. The trade route starts from the city of Xi'an in Shannxi Province and in Eastern Europe, near today's Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was about 6,500 kilometers long. It went one-fourth of the planet.
The Silk Road got its name Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Apart from silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome. From the west came glass, gems and food carrots and sesame（芝麻）.
The Silk Road was very to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed and each other.
Today, along the Silk Road are great travel destinations（目的地）,such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang Gansu.
[1]Once, when there was a famine（饥荒）, a rich baker sent for twenty of the poorest children in the town, and said to them, “In this basket there is a loaf（面包）for each of you. Take it, and come back to me every day at this hour for more.”
[2]The hungry children gathered eagerly about the basket, and fought over the bread because each wanted the largest loaf. At last they went away without even ______ the good baker.
[3]Gretchen, a poorly dressed little girl, did not fight or struggle with the other children, but stood quietly in the distance（远处）, When the badly behaved children had left. Gretchen took the smallest loaf, which was all that was left in the basket. She kissed the baker's hand and went home.
[4]第二天，孩子们表现得像以前一样糟糕。Gretchen got a loaf almost half the size of the one she got the first day. When she came home, her mother cut the loaf open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it.
[5]Her mother was very worried and said, “Take the money back to the baker at once. The silver must have fallen into the dough by accident. By quick, Gretchen!”
[6]When the little girl gave the rich man her mother's message, he said, “It was no mistake, I had the silver pieces put into the smallest loaf to reward（奖赏）you. Always be as content（满足）,peaceable, and thankful as you now are. Go home now, and tell your mother that the money is yours to keep.”
要点提示：
Advantages | Be convenient, less pollution, reduce the traffic pressure（减缓交通压力） Take exercise… |
Problems | Throw away, damage（毁损）, be stolen… |
Advice | Civilized（文明的）, follow the rules, take good care of |
注意：
1）. 短文应包括以上要点，可适当发挥，以使行文连贯；
2）. 文中不得出现真实的人名、校名及地名；
3）. 词数：80-100（文章开头已给出，不计入总词数）。
Bike-sharing
Today, as a greener means of transportation, bike-sharing is becoming more and more popular in many cities.
