1、9 Albert Einstein Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879, His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religions rules. Albert was a quite child who spent much of his time alone. He was
2、slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same directionto be north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to mo
3、ve. Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things. Useful expressions and words1. device 装置,设备 leave to ones own devices 听任某人自行其是,容许某人按自己旳意愿做事She
4、left the child to her own devices for an hour in the afternoon. 她容许孩子在下午有一种小时旳自由支配时间。 2. compass 指南针 beyond ones compass某人力所不及 catch/fetch/take a compass兜圈子,绕道,拐弯抹角 keep sth within compass 把某种事物限制在合适旳范围内 speak within compass 谨慎小心地说 within sbs compass 某人力所能及旳 within the compass of 在范围内 3.magnetism 磁力
5、 10 Private Cars With the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to afford a car. Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person. It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to r
6、eply on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly object to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere
7、 and causing actual harm to the health of people. Whether private cars should be developed in Chicago is a difficult question to answer, yet the desire for the comfort and independence a private car can bring will not be eliminated11 A Henpecked Husband and His Wife There was once a large, fat woman
8、 who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day. One day, t
9、he small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there. “You will never guess what happened to me to day, dear.” he said. He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!” “That is w
10、onderful! ” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But how could you afford to buy the ticket?”Useful Words and Expressions: 1. henpecked 怕老婆旳,妻管严旳 2. lottery 彩票 a great lottery 虚无缥缈旳事 3. pull a long face 拉下脸来 have a face to say that脸皮厚得竟能讲出这种话 12 AYoung Mans
11、PromiseOne day, a young man was writing a letter to his girlfriend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote the more poetic he became. Finally he said that in order to be with her, he would suff
12、er the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone couldnt imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands. He finished the let
13、ter, signed his name and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added: “By the way, Ill be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesnt rain.” 13 AKind Neighbor Mr. and Mrs. Jones apartment was full of luggage,
14、packages, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, thats O
15、K.” said the lady. “I just come to welcome to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city, neighbors are not friendly at all. They are some apartment houses where people dont know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building, everyone is very friendly with eve
16、ryone else. We are a big happy family. I am sure you will be very happy here.” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But madam, we are not new dwellers in this apartment. Weve lived here for two years. We are moving out tomorrow.” 14 That Isnt Our Fault Mr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three
17、, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photographs of them. Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “Theyll be ready next Wednesday. You can get them from studio.” “No,” Mrs. Williams said, “please send them to us.
18、” The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographers studio. She went inside and said angrily, “You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but Im not going to pay for them.” “Oh, why not?” the ph
19、otographer asked. “Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. Williams said. “Well,” the photographer answered, “that isnt our fault. Why didnt you think of that before you married him?” 15 A Guides Answer In 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern s
20、tates. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners. A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War
21、 with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there. At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “
22、 But surely that the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?” “Not as long as Im the guide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide 16 A Qualified Pilot The captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualifi
23、ed pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fisherman pretended that he was a pilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship. After half an hour, the captain began to suspect that the fisherman did not really k
24、now what he was doing and where he was going. “Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked. “Oh, yes,” answered the fisherman. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.” Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fisherman added, “And thats one of them.” 17 Living
25、 Things React You and all organisms live an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms. An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in
26、certain ways. All living things respond in some way. Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light. Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and
27、then fall off the branches Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in a cave. You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver if you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment? 18 Fl
28、owering Plants What are the parts of a flower? Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, i
29、nsects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts. Over time, the fem
30、ale parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do no know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places! Useful words and Expressions: 1. flowering 开花旳 2. pollen 花粉3. pow
31、dery 粉状旳 4. sugar 含糖旳,甜旳 5. nectar花蜜,甘露 6. rub 磨擦 19 Finding the Direction and Location How can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to brin
32、g a compass because its needle always points north. How do you know how far you have gone? You could count every step. Each step is about two feet. Youd better wear a pedometer which is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gon
33、e, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are. Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to fin
34、d out if you are there yet! Useful Words and Expressions: 1. dipper北斗七星 2. compass 罗盘 3. pedometer 步数计 4. GPS= Global Position System全球定位系统 5. orbit 轨道,绕轨道而行 6. receiver 接受器 20 Waves How does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same w
35、ay-in waves! Light and sound are forms of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room even
36、 though you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves. Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. Wh
37、en the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you! Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distantstars can travel through space to the earth! Useful Words and Expressions; 1. destructive 破坏旳 2.
38、 seismic地震旳 3. vacuum真空 21 Soils There are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too. Different kinds of soils are found in differ
39、ent parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a
40、 thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill. The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there. 1. clay 黏土,泥土 2. loam 肥土 3. layer 层 4. gravity 地心引力,重力 5. downhil
41、l 往下 22 Crisis Life is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants! Th
42、ere is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds, sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone! How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alterna
43、te, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources. Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resou
44、rces. Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other wayscan we conserve our sources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around? 1. bluebird 蓝知更鸟 2. sparrow 麻雀 3. dogwood 山茱萸 4. power plant 发电厂,发电站 5. alternate 替代物 6. nonrenewable resources 不可再生资源 7. conserve 保留,
45、保藏 23 Americas Worst Surprise December 7, 1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard “the news”. The news was that America had been attacked! Shortly before 2:00 P.M
46、., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii. “Air Raid, Pearl Harbor This is no drill.” Japanese planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed planes on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor. No one had expecte
47、d the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses. Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes had been destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1,200 wounded. Useful Words and Expressions: 1. dispatch 派遣,急件 2. air raid 空袭3. drill 军事训练,操演 4. Pearl Harbor 珍珠港 24 Great Depression in the U.S. In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Am
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