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Ben |
I think I will be a doctor in eight years. My father is a doctor and my mother is a nurse. They are working in the same hospital. I think they are so great. They always give a hand to sick people. |
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Jenny |
My hobby is singing. My dream is to be a popular singer like Beyonce. I think I will go to the USA and study music. I hope I will have a chance to meet her and get her autograph. |
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Amy |
I think I will be a teacher in five years. I have a deep love for children. Staying with them makes me excited and relaxed. I am outgoing and I am good with children. I think I can be a good teacher. |
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Davy |
I think I will be a farmer in the future. Maybe it seems strange. But I really enjoy life in the countryside. My favorite game is Happy Farm. I have lots of fun growing vegetables. |
You may think that English dictionaries have been used for many, many centuries. The spelling of English has always been a problem, but it was more of a problem in the days before a dictionary. In those days people spelt words in different ways which you might find interesting. But it made reading English much more difficult. So dictionaries were invented to encourage everybody to spell the same. In fact, an English dictionary like the kind you use today wasn't made until the time of the Qing Dynasty.
The largest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED for short. The idea for this dictionary came from an important meeting in Britain in 1857. Twenty-two years later, Oxford University asked James Murray to be the editor of its new dictionary.
Murray had not been to college. At the age of fourteen, he left his village school in Scotland and taught himself while working in a bank. Later he became a great teacher. After Oxford gave him the job, Murray had a place built in the garden behind his house to do his work. Part of it was one metre underground. In winter he had to wear a heavy coat and put his feet in a box to keep warm. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o'clock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he would work by candle light into the evening.
Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was still adding words for the letter A! Then others went to work with Murray, and his two daughters were among them. He worked on the dictionary until he was very old. Forty-four years later, in 1928, other editors finished it. It had more than 15,000 words in twelve books. And you thought your English dictionary was big!
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Notes on James Murray's life |
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Murray's early life |
Born in Scotland. He left school at 14 and became a worker, later a great teacher. |
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Murray's work on OED |
He became the editor of OED in the year . His working were bad: —he worked in a part-underground place in the garden his house —in winter it was terribly cold there —he often worked by candle light into the evening The time he spent on OED was much than expected. Later others and his two daughters him. |
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Other information |
OED was finished in the year 1928. It had over 15,000 in twelve books. It is the dictionary in the world. Thanks to it, people can in the same way. For Murray, working on a dictionary wasn't only a ; it was a wonderful journey. |
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change, but, on, like, machine, robot, wonder, more, future, work |
What will life be in 200 years? Everything will . Teachers won't write on the blackboard with chalk in the . At that time, students will study the Internet. People will not do heavy and difficult jobs any . will do these jobs. So, there will be more robots and people's hours will be short. That would be . There will be many on the farms, and they do lots of work. And in the future there won't be much water for farmers to water they need more. That will bring people many problems.
A: Hi, Linda! What are you doing?
B: Hello, Lisa. I'm reading a book.
A: What is it about?
B: It's about animals. I really a lot.
A: Really? Like what?
B: There are many of ants (蚂蚁) in America. One of them is very scary. Both people and animals are of it.
A: Why?
B: Because these ants are very strong (强壮的) and they are often in big . They can run very fast. When other animals meet them, it's for them to defeat (战胜) so many ants. The ants can kill and eat them quickly.
A: Wow, that's too scary.
B: Yes. Sometimes they can kill people and eat them. So people their homes when the ants come near. But people are sometimes after the ants pass by (经过), because they can see insects (昆虫) harm (危害) their crops (庄稼).
A: Can you lend (借) the book to me after you reading it?
B: Yes, sure. What animals do you like best?
A: I like elephants best. They are . They can draw and play soccer.
B: I like them, too. And there are some elephants in the City Zoo. Let's see them this weekend.
A: That sounds great!
Mr. Tang works in a zoo. He gets up at six every morning (clean) the zoo. Then at eight Mr. Tang feeds the animals. Look! There (be) many animals in the zoo. The tigers like (eat) meat. They eat much meat every day. They look kind of scary. The monkeys like fruit. They like bananas (well). They are very interesting. Animals in zoo don't have to find food or water. The keepers feed (it) every day. They walk and sleep, and they usually give a show weekends. So some people think the animals are happy and lucky. But they are always sad (伤心的), they can't go out of the zoo. Animals elephants, monkeys and tigers like living in the forest (森林), but now they have to (live) in the zoo. The life in the zoo is very boring. Mr. Tang thinks animals must go back to the forest.
