I'm Dave. I'm from the west of Ireland. When I finished university, I1to leave Ireland to find work. Although I2home. I enjoyed living in London for two years. But after that, I felt I needed a3. so I bought a ticket to Ecuador ,a country that many of my friends were talking about. Two months later,4was in Quito，a beautiful city high up in the mountains. First，I explored(考察)the city. Next，I decided to walk on the Camino Real，the most important Inca road. It was hard work. 5the views(景色)were really wonderful. During the walk，there were more and more clouds and it was6to see. Suddenly I heard some magical Irish music. It 7me of home. “How could it be?”I just 8believe it. I thought l was dreaming. The next day, when I came down for breakfast at my hotel. I9found out the truth. 10 was practicing Irish music at the hotel garden(花园). It was an American tourist who was making the magical music of my home!
A：Hey, Susan!
B：No. What's it like?
A： It's my favorite.
B：Can I listen to it on your CD player?
A：
B：It's really a good jazz(爵士)piece. But I still like rock music best.
A：Who is your favorite singer?
B：Cui Jian.
A：Why do you like him?
B：
A：I see.
A. Of course. B. Have you read the article about him? C. I went to his concert last week. D. I agree. E. Have you listened to the song called“Take Five”? F. Because his music is exciting. G. I think it's amazing. |
Benedict's explorations are often dangerous，but he likes them. One of his favorite explorations was in 2001. He wanted to be the first person to travel alone across the ice from Siberia to Alaska. So he went to Siberia and lived with the Chukchi people. He learned how to live like the Chukchi people and drive a dog team. He traveled 622 miles with only a dog team. The weather was really bad. There was a lot of snow, wind and ice，so the journey was very difficult. Benedict almost lost the dog team，and he almost died，so he ended his journey early. It was scary, but he learned a lot.
After all your hard work on the homework on the history of this city, we have decided to visit the Maritime Museum. Here we are going to have a tour and learn about the sea and river in our city . We are going to meet a guide who will show us around the museum. Please make sure you read the information I have given you for homework，as our guide will ask you some questions. We will also get the chance(机会)to go inside a 200-year-old trading boat. This boat is very famous. After visiting the museum we'll enjoy a beautiful boat trip along the river near the museum.
The trip is from 10：00 a. m. to 2：50 p.m on May 25th. And you can return home as soon as we get back to school. Here is the day's timetable(时间表)：
10：00 a. m. ：Meet at the front of the school.
10：15 a. m. ：Walk to the station to catch the train to the museum.
10：45 a. m. ：Meet our guide—visit the museum and boat.
11：45 a. m. ：Free time to see the rest(其余部分)of the museum.
12：30 p. m. ：Lunch(one hour).
1：30 p. m. ：Meet me at the front of the museum. (Don't be late!)
1：45 P. m. ：Boat trip on the river.
2：15 P. m. ：Walk back to school.
Please make sure that you are at school on time. The school is paying for the trip. All you have to bring is your lunch，water, a camera，pencil or pen，good shoes and an umbrella in case it rains.
Any problems，for example：you get lost，are sick on the day of the trip or are going to be late for school, please call me at 07993 561992.
See you all then!
Yours，
Andrew
promise，room，angry, why, so，lead，with，I，well，appear |
Once，there was a young painter who was good at painting birds. His paintings soldand he was famous all over his country.
The emperor loved collecting(收藏)paintings，especially roosters(公鸡). he asked the famous painter to paint a rooster for him. He wanted the rooster to be the best of all his collections.
The painterto do so. The emperor waited and waited for one year, but did not get the painting. He became and asked the painter to come to see him.
The painter came. He walked into the palacepaper, paints and a brush. In five minutes，a perfect(完美的)picture of a roosteron the paper. Seeing this，the emperor was all the more angry.“If you can paint a picture of a rooster in five minutes，did you keep me waiting for a year?”he said.
“I'll let you know why，Your Majesty ”said the painter. “Could you please come with me?”
Hethe emperor to his own study(书房). There，paper almost filled the . On each paper was a painting of a rooster.
“Your Majesty, ”explained the painter. “It tookone year to improve my skill in order to paint a perfect rooster for you. ”
Many musicians meet and form(组成)a band because they like to write and play their own music. They may start as a group of high school students and practice their music in someone's house. Sometimes they may play to passers—by in the street or subway so that they can get some money for themselves or pay for their instruments (乐器).
However, there was one band that started in a different way. It was called the Monkees and was formed in 1965. It began as a TV show. The TV show had planned to find four rock musicians who could act as well as sing. But they could only find one who was good enough. They had to use actors for the other three members of the band.
Since some of these actors could not sing well enough，they had to ask for help from other musicians. So at first，the band just pretended (假装)to sing. Anyway，their performances were excellent and they got lots of fans. Each week on TV，the Monkees would pretended to play and sing songs written by other musicians. After a year or so，they became more serious about their work. They started to play and sing their own songs like a real band. Then they produced(制作)their own records and started touring and playing their own music. In the USA they became even more influential and popular than the Beatles and sold even more records.
However, the band broke up around 1970，but happily they reunited(重聚)in the 1980s. They produced a new record in 1996 to celebrate their time as a band. It was very successful. Today the Monkees are still making music for their millions of fans.
