II.

Tina was not like many of her classmates. She didn’t listen to popular music or watch many movies, and she wasn’t interested in nice clothes. When she got together with her friends, they wanted to listen to rock and pop music. When Tina asked  if  they would  like  to  try classical  (古典的) music, they all looked at her strangely.“Classical music  is  for old people, ” one of  her friends said. Tina was worried that something was wrong with her. She decided to talk to her father. As she entered his study (书房), her father could feel something was wrong.

“Dad, am I strange?” she asked her father.“Of course not, ” he answered. “Why do you ask that?” “Because I don’t like the same things as my classmates do. They want to listen to Mariah Carey’s music. I like Yo Yo Ma’s.” “I can understand, Tina,  it’s all  right  to be your own person. You don’t have to copy (模仿) what other people do. Everybody has different tastes. Some of them are popular, and others aren’t. ”After talking with her father, Tina felt better. She realized (意识到)  that being different made her special.  It was an important lesson for her to learn.

Mr. and Mrs. Green lived in a big city, and one summer they went to the country（乡下）for their holiday. They enjoyed it very much, because it was a quiet, clean place.

    One day they went for a walk early in the morning and met an old man. He lived on a farm, and he was sitting in the warm sunshine in front of his house. Mr. Green asked him, “Do you like to live in this quiet place?”

    The old man said, “Yes, I do.” Mr. Green said, “What are the good things about it?”

    The old man answered, “Well, the people here know each other. They often come and visit me, and I often go and visit them. And there are also lots of children here.”

    Mr. Green said, “That’s interesting. And what are the bad things?”

    The old man thought（想）and thought and then said, “Well, the same things, really?”

Nowadays, advertisements can be seen everywhere. Some hate them, but some consider them very helpful. And I agree, with the latter.

    Advertising can form a connection between companies and customers. It wonˈt be wrong to call advertising a way of communication between companies and their customers. Good advertising increases the needs of the public. In a successful business, advertising plays an important role. Advertising can be used to help people know about a product and to draw possible buyers. Advertising helps companies make more money by increasing sales.

    There are different kinds of advertising. Here are some common types.

    Non-electronic advertising advertises products through newspapers, magazines, books, posters and so on. By the means of advertising, companies can let people, who are connected directly and indirectly with non-electronic media, know about their products. Advertising on printed things is cheaper than advertising on television.

    Electronic advertising is the most popular means of advertising. One can cover different kinds of people by using this kind of advertising. Television viewers are in every home. If one is advertising on TV, his products would be introduced in almost every, house.

    Advertising on the Internet is getting more and more popular over time. You can get your advertising to reach every corner of the world.

    Many companies have their own department of advertising. The departmentˈs aim is to advertise the companyˈs products and services. On the other hand, many companies depend on advertising agencies(广告公司) for promoting(推销) their products and services. Companies should pay money to these agencies. Advertising agencies are always there to give advice, helping promote your products and services.

One day after school, I went to the teacher's office to see my teacher, but nobody was there. As I was about to leave, I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. I picked it up and saw the words "FINAL-TERM EXAMINATION" at the top. I put the paper into my school bag secretly and ran out of the room.

After I came back home, I took out the paper quickly. It was the exam paper of my worst subject, History. I felt excited. My heart beat fast. I took out my History book and started working on the answer. I had never answered any questions so seriously.

On the day of the History exam, I went into the exam hall confidently. When the paper was sent to me, I dreamt of getting the highest mark in the whole grade and could not help smiling. "My History teacher always encouraged me to work hard and get better grades, but I let him down time and time again. This time I will give him a big surprise," I thought.

When the teacher said we could start, I turned the paper over. To my surprise, all the questions were different. Later I felt nervous. In the end, I almost left the paper undone. After the exam. I ran to the toilet, took out the paper and carefully read it from the top. Oh! It was last year's exam paper. I read all the questions but I hadn't read the date.

This is a lesson in which I know I have to put my feet on the ground. I regretted doing such a silly thing. After that, I told my teacher the truth and I promised to be honest. From then on, I worked harder than ever before.

Every year, in late March or early April, a boat race takes place on the Thames River, England. This boat race is an event between the two most famous and also the oldest universities in Britain the Oxford (牛津大学) and the Cambridge (剑桥大学).

   The idea for the boat race between the universities came from two friends—Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, and his friend Charles Wordsworth who was at Oxford. They decided to set up a boat race between the two universities. On March 12, 1829, Cambridge sent a challenge to Oxford first.

   When the first boat race took place in a small town by Thames, eight students from each university became the competitors. Crowds of twenty thousand travelled to watch. It was so exciting. And the Oxford was clear winners. Later on, not only did the students from the two universities take part, but also some social groups attended the event. By 1845, with the small town becoming too crowded, the boat race had moved six miles up to the village—Putney. From 1856 on, the race has been held every year except war years. This boat race is considered to be “the world's oldest sporting challenge”.

   The race is four and a quarter miles in just 20 minutes and the competitors often face difficulties. It usually takes six months for the two teams to prepare for the big day. In the past, the Oxford was mostly the winners. But things have changed from 1993 on. The Cambridge has won more.

根据短文内容,判断正(T)误(F)。

 Australia has a lot of lovely animals. You cannot find them anywhere else in the world. The most famous are kangaroos and koalas (树袋熊).

   The kangaroo is the symbol of Australia. They have large eyes and ears. They don't walk. They jump. They use their strong back legs. They can jump at 74 kilometres per hour.

   They can go over nine metres in one jump. Kangaroo mothers have pouches to carry their babies. The babies stay inside to get milk and keep warm.

   Kangaroos are everywhere in Australia. They are on TV, in books and in the shops. But do you know that millions of kangaroos are killed every year? There are too many of them. There are about 20 to 25 million kangaroos in Australia. That's more than the number of people in the country. Some kangaroos go hungry because there is not enough food to eat. They break into farms for food. Farmers are very angry with them.

   The koala is another famous Australian animal. They look like bears, and have small eyes and big noses. They eat leaves from gum trees (桉树). Koalas have a special smell. They use it to mark their home—“This is my place. You can't come in!” Like kangaroos, a koala baby lives in its mother's pouch, too.

We all waste food, you and me, every day, millions of tons of it. In China, enough food is wasted in restaurants every year to feed 200 million people. And the amount of food wasted by Chinese consumers is increasing fast. So our nation is being encouraged to stop wasting food.

   So what should Chinese consumers do to prevent food waste?

   ◆Keep a kitchen diary

   All of us should keep a kitchen diary, and we can know that how much food we waste at home. The first thing for us to do is to stop throwing away food that we can still eat. We should eat everything we buy and if we cannot, we should buy less.

   ◆Buy only what we need

   We should ask for smaller portions in stores. We should also check how much food we have before buying more. We shouldn't bring much food we don't need home even if large posters ask us to do so.

   ◆Develop the habit of packing food

   Chinese consumers are generous and friendly. In restaurants, often too much food is ordered and served. So when ordering out, we are supposed to exclude the food in the order if we don't plan to eat it. And order smaller servings in restaurants and take home what we cannot finish.

   Don't put it off! Let's stop food waste today!

Who designed (设计) the first helicopter (直升飞机)? Who painted one of the most famous pictures in the world? （1）________ There is an answer to all these questions—Leonardo de Vinci.

   Leonardo may have been the greatest genius (天才) people have ever known. He lived in Italy around the year 1500, but many of his inventions seem modern to us today. For example, one of his notebooks has drawings of a helicopter. （2）________ But scientists say his idea would have worked.

   Leonardo wasn't just an inventor. （3）________ By the time he was twenty years old, he was called a master painter, and as he got older he became even more famous. Sometimes he drew a hand in ten different ways before he was ready to paint.

A

To travel around the world is the dream of many adventurous people. But very few people can afford a global tour because hotels, food and airplane tickets are too expensive. Some people, however, have thought of some ways to realize their dreams.

Laura Cody and Tanbay Theune, a couple from Britain, decided to travel around the world. They have found a good way to pay for their trips. They look after pets for rich house owners. In exchange, they can stay in the houses for free. They have looked after horses, cows, cats, dogs and fish. In two years, the couple has been to Australia, Germany, Spain and Italy. They have stayed in big cities and small villages. The home owners are usually very generous and have given them food, wine and day trips.

Another person who tries to realize her travel dream is photographer Rhiannon Taylor. She travels around the world to visit, review and take photos of the best hotels. She shares the places she stays and the food she eats on the Internet with tens of thousands of followers.

With these ways of making money, traveling around the world is no longer a dream. More and more young people are thinking creatively to make their dream come true.

Balzac (巴尔扎克) was a great French writer. But he was very poor before he became famous. He lived in a dirty, wet room and was often worried about food. All his friends were very poor and they could not help him.

   One night, it was very cold. The wind blew and it was snowing heavily. Balzac went to bed early but couldn't fall asleep. He didn't get any food before he went to bed, He thought and thought, but he couldn't have a good idea. At midnight, he saw a man climb in through the broken window. The man began to steal something on his bookshelf. Balzac got up quietly and said, “Don't waste time, my friend! I couldn't find any money in the daytime. How can you find some in the dark?”