The polar bear is a very big white bear. We call it the polar bear it lives in the Arctic Circle near the North Pole.
The polar bear lives in snow and ice. At the North Pole there (be) only snow, ice and water. There is not any land. The polar bear has a very (warmly) coat because the weather is cold in the Arctic Circle.
You can't find the polar bear easily in the snow because (it) coat is white.
A grown-up polar bear is usually about three meters long and weighs 450 kilos. It can stand up on its back legs because it has very wide (foot). It can use its front legs like arms. The polar bear can swim very (good). It catches fish and sea animals for food. It goes into the sea when it is afraid. People like to kill the polar bear its beautiful white coat. The government of Canada and United States call on that people should stop (kill) polar bears. They don't want these beautiful animals to (death) out.
Some people think that all wild animals are dangerous. But in fact, very few of them will1 a man if he leaves them alone. If you meet a lion or an elephant, I guess you will2 away, but even a lion will avoid (躲避) a man if it is not very 3 . Lions and tigers only kill and eat men when they have grown too 4 and too weak to catch their usual 5 , such as deer and other small animals. If you see a wild elephant, perhaps you will be 6 . However, elephants usually run away at once if you don't attack them. Some animals get very frightened if they only smell a man, some7 and look at him for a moment before they run away, some take no notice at all but walk away 8 in another direction. Wild animals only attack 9 when they are afraid that people want to harm (伤害) their10 , or when the hunters shoot at them and make them angry.
Beethoven, a famous musician in the world, was born in Germany in 1770.
In his childhood Beethoven didn't have a happy life. His father was a singer. When he was only four, his father began to make him practise hour after hour on different musical instruments （乐器）. If he did not put his heart into it, his father would beat him or make it hard on him.
Beethoven loved music and he learned so fast that he was able to go around to give concerts, when he was only a boy of eleven. At the age of seventeen, he won high praise from Mozart, the greatest musician at that time.
Beethoven was often poor and ill during his life. After one illness, he suddenly found he couldn't hear. At that time, he was only thirty-one. It was a great blow（打击） to him.
But he still went on working and writing music pieces. To people's surprise, he wrote some of his best pieces after he lost his hearing.
In 1827, the great musician died. He left more than 300 pieces. But people still remember his name today.
We know the mosquito very well. Mosquitoes fly everywhere. They are almost all over the world, and there are more than 2,500 kinds of them.
No one likes the mosquito. But the mosquito may decide that she loves you. She? Yes, she. It's true that the male mosquito doesn't bite and only the female mosquito bites because she needs blood to lay (产) eggs. She is always looking for things or people she wants to bite. If she likes what she finds, she bites. But if she doesn't like your blood, she will turn to someone else for more delicious blood. Next time a mosquito bites you, just remember she chooses you. You're different from the others!
If the mosquito likes you, she lands on your body without letting you know. She bites you so quickly and quietly that you may not feel anything different. After she bites, you will have an itch (痒) on your body because she puts something from her mouth together with your blood. By the time the itch begins, she has flown away.
And then what happens? Well, after the delicious dinner, the mosquito feels tired. She just wants to find a place to have a good rest. There, on a leaf or a wall, she begins to lay eggs, hundreds of eggs.
Harvard University is the oldest of all the colleges and universities in the United States. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth all came after Harvard.
In the early years, these schools were nearly the same. Only young men went to college. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin and Greek. At that time, people knew little about science, and one kind of school could teach everything about the world. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers.
In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could study in Harvard's law school. In 1825, besides Latin and Greek, Harvard began to teach modern languages, such as French and German. Soon it began to teach American history.
As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects. Students could choose the subjects that interested them.
Today. there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. Most of them are made up of smaller schools that deal with special fields of learning. There's so much to learn that one kind of school can't offer all.
Why do plants grow in some places but not in others? Why does some land have so many plants growing on it, while other land has almost no plants growing on it at all?
To grow, plants need several things. One is warmth. In very cold places almost nothing grows. Plants also need water. In very dry parts of the Earth only a few unusual plants can grow. That's why there are almost no trees or grass in dry deserts.
Plants must also have a place to put down their roots and grow. They find it difficult to grow on hard land. The town is built (被建立) on hard land. The plants there have only the soil between the cracks of the stones to grow in.
Another thing plants must have before they can grow is food. What will happen if we try to make things grow on the sandy beach? A few plants, such as grass, will grow in sand, but most plants won't. Even if the weather is warm enough and we water the plants each day, many of them will die because the sand on this beach has almost no food for plants.
Once upon a time in Greece, there lived a young man called Narcissus. He lived in a small village by the sea and was famous on the land because he was quite handsome. Villagers would turn up on the streets to stare at the beautiful child.
When he grew up, people always said, "How handsome Narcissus is!" Villagers thought that Narcissus could not be any more handsome than he already was. But as years passed Narcissus became a teenager. His beauty grew and became so great that he was known all over the country of Greece.
As he grew, Narcissus was very proud of his good-looking face.
"Oh! You are so handsome. Narcissus!" Narcissus said one day as he looked into a pool, "There's nobody more handsome in the whole world! I'd love to kiss you. And that's just what I'll do!"
He leaned closer to the water. Suddenly he lost his balance and fell into the pool. Narcissus tried to reach the bank of the pool, but he could not swim and he drowned.
