People need to relax and enjoy themselves. One way they can have a good time is to watch a baseball game or another sports event. Even thousands of years ago, groups of people gathered to watch skilled athletes(运动员).
Over 2,000 years ago in Greece, some days in the year were festival days. These were holidays when people stopped their work and enjoyed themselves. During festivals, people liked to watch athletes take part in races and other games.
The most important festival was held every four years at the town of Olympia. It was held in honor of the Greek god Zeus. For five days, athletes from all corners of Greece took part in the Olympic Games.
At the Olympic Games, people could watch athletes run, jump and so on. They could also watch exciting races, which included a relay race between two teams in which a lighted torch(火炬) was passed from runner to runner.
The Olympic Games were thought to be so important that cities throughout Greece which were at war with one another had to stop fighting. During the time, people were allowed to travel to the Games safely.
Thousands of people came to the Olympic Games from cities in Greece and from its colonies(殖民地) in Africa, Asia, and Italy. They met as friends to cheer their favorite athletes and to enjoy themselves.
One day a student went to see his teacher. He had been given an important position and now was coming to say goodbye to his teacher. The old man asked him how he would live among high officials. The student answered, " I will be all right. I have prepared a hundred high hats, one for each official I will meet. I am sure I will succeed." The teacher got angry on hearing this. "What?" he cried. "Is this what ten years of my teaching has made of you? Nothing but flatterer(拍马屁的人)?" "Excuse me, honored(尊敬的) master," the student rose to his feet and apologized hurriedly. "But you have always been absorbed in your studies and don't know how vulgar(庸俗的) the world has come to be. There are few men in the world who are above flatterers like you." "There is something true in what you said," the teacher nodded, smiling with one of the student's "high hats" on.
When you walk along a street in a big city in the United States, you may see clocks in most stores. Radio announcers give the correct time during the day. People there think that it is important to know the time. Most Americans have watches. They want to do certain things at certain times. They do not want to be late.
Not all people all over the world value time. Suppose you visit a certain country in South America. You would find that people living there do not like to rush. If you had an appointment（约会）with someone, he would probably be late. He would not care for arriving on time. In some countries in South America, even the radio programs may not begin right on time, nor do the radio announcers think it important to announce the right time. Many people regard a clock as a machine. It seems to them that a person who does everything on time is controlled（控制）by a machine. They do not want a clock or any machine to have that much power over their lives.
How the land has changed, not only down on the ground but from way out in space. There are many latest pictures produced by the sharp eyes of a government satellite known as Landsat 7.
Darrel Williams works on the NASA Landsat 7 Project. "We can see the conditions shortly after the eruption, when just a huge area was totally deforested, burned off. Now, 15 years after the fact, we can see light, pinkish view, which says vegetation is growing back. It's starting to reforest." he says.
Twenty-seven years of pictures have tracked the loss of rain forests in South America, as well as the clear-cutting of forests in the US Northwest.
Darrel Williams says, "Clearcut areas show up quite readily, and it shows we need to look at what's going on in our own backyard, as far as deforestation."
Landsat satellites have watched from space as glaciers have shrunk more than four miles over the past decade or so. This is a computer-animated view of Glacier Bay, Alaska, based on new pictures from Landsat 7.
Floyd and Irene show the heavy deposits of silt and farm runoff in coastal waters.
"And these show the increasing summer temperatures around Atlanta, Georgia", scientists say, " the condition is related to the loss of trees."
Darrel Williams says, "It's the most unique record of its type. It's like having a family photo album of anywhere on the globe. And if you don't think you've changed over time, just look at your pictures of the last 20 to 25 years."
Now, as Landsat 7 begins its work as the last in a series of earth observers, NASA readies an even more sophisticated satellite, Terra, due to be launched Thursday. Once it's working, Terra is expected to take the vital signs of the globe, including ocean temperatures, energy loss, and even the state of the atmosphere, every day.
For over one hundred and fifty years, Americans of all social classes have worn blue jeans. Whether they are worn for work or for fashion today. Strauss' invention continues to be popular not only among Americans but also among people around the world.
Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829. He grew up in Kentucky before moving to New York in 1847. Before becoming an American citizen and moving to the West in 1853, Strauss worked in his brother's dry goods business. This gave him a chance to produce his famous invention. After the gold rush of 1949, Strauss decided to move to the West to seek his fortunes.
Strauss did not want to be a person who searched an area for minerals. Instead, he knew he could make a good living by selling supplies to the miners. At first, he planned to sell sewing supplies and cloth. When he heard miners complaining that their clothes were easily broken or they usually tore their pockets during mining, he decided to use a special fabric to make pants for the miners. These pants proved so popular that he quickly ran out of materials to make more.
In 1873, Strauss received a letter from a Jewish tailor named Jacob Davis who had invented a process of connecting pockets with copper rivets (铆钉). This made the pants last a long time. Because Davis did not have the money to patent his idea, he offered to share it with Strauss if Strauss would agree to pay for the patent. .
The business has been growing ever since and Levi Strauss' company is now one of the largest clothing companies in the world.
By the time Strauss died in 1902, he had made a great contribution to American fashion.
A. As a young boy, he moved with his family to the United States.
B. Nobody knew what kind of material was suitable.
C. He did and Levi jeans have been made with metal rivets ever since.
D. However, he did not get much business for those products.
E. He also made a great contribution to America's clothing industry.
F. Since they were invented by Levi Strauss, they have become a symbol of American consumer culture.
G． As the business grew, Strauss got much money from it.
The Chinese are very generous (慷慨) when it comes to educating their children. Not 1 the money, parents often send their children to the 2schools or even abroad to England, the USA or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course 3 where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the 4an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend a (an)5amount of money on education. Even6couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
7, what most parents 8to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children's skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize 9, is that today's children 10self-respect and self-confidence（自信）.
The problem is that parents are only 11 their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be 12, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching 13skills like cooking, sewing, and doing other housework. 14a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands 15and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult 16. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job17. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.
Some old machines such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him 18and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to 19them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These 20 are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
One day, I took my daughter to the park. As soon as we got there, my daughter (run) to the swing (秋千) and asked for a push. When I was helping my daughter, I noticed another girl trying to make her own swing (go) high by herself. Her old grandmother was sitting on the chair nearby and smiling at us. Happily, my daughter (push) higher and higher by me.
Then I walked towards the little girl. I asked I could give a big push to her. She smiled and said "Yes". For the next hour, I pushed the swings, and played my daughter and the little girl. When we went home, I was tired very happy.
One day two years (late), after a day's work, I went to pick up my daughter before going home. While I was waiting outside the school gate, a little girl smiled (sweet) at me and gave me a big hug. As I watched her run away, I realized that she was the girl whom I gave a big push in the park.
So far, I couldn't forget her sweet smile and the warm hug that she gave me. In fact, if we give love to others, love will find its way back to us. It may travel from heart to heart it may blossom (开花) in the heart. The love we share, the (kind) we give, and the happiness we create will come back to us with a pleasant surprise.
I'm sorry to know that you are facing some problem. It's naturally for someone to meet with different kinds of problems when he first studied abroad. The language problem is the first one. But I'm sure you'll soon be able to use the language well, so I know you're a quick learner. Being sure to take every possible chance to practise your oral English, that will do good to you. The second problem is usually the change of eating habits. Not everyone can get use to a different diet, so why not to cook meals by yourself? Studying abroad is big challenge to you, but it's really interested.
1）你的理想目标; 2）你的计划安排及具体做法。
注意：1）词数100字左右；
2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear John,
I am delighted to have been admitted to Wu Li High School and started my new school life.
……
Yours,
Li Hua
