I hid the long black bag in the garage (车库) two days ago. Tonight, in the dark, I would finally take it away. If everything went OK, it would be done by morning. But I had to be sure no one, not even my wife, saw me.

It was more difficult to get away from the party than I expected. I said that the children were tired and needed to get to bed. It was partly true. But the main reason for leaving was that I wanted to complete my plan.

First I had to get the kids to sleep. That was never easy at any time and tonight it was even more difficult. The eldest one wanted to know why we left the party early. I told him 10:30 pm was not early. As usual, I read them a bed time story, but I had to stop myself reading too quickly or they would learn my secret.

Silence finally came, and feeling like a thief (小偷) in the night, I went out of the house and into the garage. Taking one end, I pulled the bag out from its hiding place and took it into the garden. I was worried that my neighbours might see me and call the police.

It was already eleven o’clock. By the light of the moon I started working, trying to make as little noise as possible. And that was not easy with a saw (锯子) and a hammer (锤子).

After much hard work, I finally completed my work. I looked down at my watch. It was exactly 4:00 am. Then I went inside to have a shower and get a few hours of sleep. It wouldn’t be long now before the kids would rush into my room and wake me up to tell me about the new tree-house Father Christmas brought them this year.

a. Read the kids a story.                     b. Had a shower.                 c. Worked in the moonlight.  

d. Pulled the bag from the garage.      e. Went to a party.

       
I'm Sophia. On Sunday morning, I usually get up very late. I wash my face and then go out to do morning exercises. After I have breakfast, I often go to a shopping centre(中心). It's not far from my home.

        I like shopping there very much, but I don't like shopping with my son. He likes running around. It's difficult to look after him in the shopping centre. I don't like shopping with my friends, either(也). It usually takes too much time to buy things with them because they never buy the first thing they see. They always go to other shops to find the same thing cheaper(更便宜的).

        I like going shopping with my husband. When I don't know which one to choose, he will help me. I don't like buying food in small shops or markets. I like buying it in supermarkets, because it is fresh and cheap.

　Long long ago, there was a snail(蜗牛)and a tortoise(乌龟)under a tree. They were neighbors. One day, the tortoise had a fever(发烧)and the snail wanted to help him to get some medicine(药) He said goodbye to the tortoise and left the house．Three hours passed, but the snail didnˈt come back．The tortoise said to himself, “Why doesnˈt he get back? I feel so terrible(极坏的).” Just at that time, the snail answered, “Take it easy．I am running as fast as I can．Please wait for some time.” Six hours later, the snail didnˈt come back yet. But the tortoise was well and he went out to look for the snail．

　　In front of the door, the snail was running and running as quickly as he could．

A crow wanted to drink, but he couldn’t find water. He looked here and there. At last he cried, “I can see a jar(瓶子) and there is some water in it.”He tried to get the water, but he couldn’t.“How can I get the water?” he cried, “I can put my beak(鸟嘴)quite close to it.”But he still couldn’t drink.“What can I do? I want to drink.”

He looked around, and then he picked up a small stone(石头) in his beak and carried it to the jar of water and dropped it into the jar.“Soon the water will be higher in the jar, and I can drink,” said the crow.

So he began to do that until the water was high enough to drink.

Cars make our lives more convenient. But they can also be a problem, especially fossil fuel（化石燃料）.

Cars make our lives more convenient. But they can also be a problem, especially fossil fuel cars, which are a major cause of air pollution.To improve the environment, many countries are developing electric vehicles（EVs, 电动车）. Among them, China is taking a leading role and has created the world’s largest EV market, according to the Wall Street Journal. Last year, over 40 percent of the 753,000 EVs sold worldwide were sold in China, more than twice as many as the number sold in the United States, according to the International Energy Agency.Chinese drivers are already big fans of EVs. Chinese auto companies（汽车公司）including BYD and BAIC rankamong the top in the world in EV sales.

“Charging（充电）an electric car is cheaper than filling up a fossil fuel car with gas,” said Wu Hao, who bought an electric car from BAIC this year. However, there are still some problems. It can be hard to find charging piles（充电桩）and the cars can’t go far before needing to be recharged. Some of these problems are being solved. In 2014, China had 31,000 charging piles, according to Xinhua News Agency. Now China has the world’s largest EV charging network, with more than 167,000 charging piles in total, according to the Economic Daily.

Developing EVs is one of many efforts China has made to reduce pressure on its environment after the government promised to stop increases in carbon dioxide emissions （排放量）by 2030．

“As China goes, so will the world’s auto industry,” the Wall Street Journal said.

At my primary school, I was one of the smartest kids there. I never studied, but always got perfect scores. I thought I was born clever. At least I believed so. I was alsoa prodigyin music according to myself. I could sing better than almost everyone else in my school. I was pretty sure that once I got to sixth grade, everyone would be surprised by me.

  But actually, they weren’t.

  When I arrived at my new class, I couldn’t wait to show everyone what I could do. However, there was always someone else who could do better. My grades began to suffer. More talented girls often sang solo (独唱). I believed I wasn’t smart. I believed I wasn’t talented. I believed I was a failure.

Over the next two years, I had to work very hard. Every prize for the singing competition was given to me for hard work and effort. Grades were still very low but improving little by little. I worked really hard. However, I was never the best at everything.

I haven’t realized until recently that I really don’t have to be the best at everything. I was too hard on myself. In fact, when I did badly in a test, my classmates never laughed at me.

   No one is perfect. There will probably always be someone better than me at something. Anyway, there are about seven billion people in this world. I will never be the number one at everything, and that’s really okay.

You’ve got plenty of emails from your mom，and maybe even a few from dear old grandma. But have you ever received a message from a river?

Now，Ireland’s River Lee is sending out much information，thanks to wireless(无线的) technology. In a program called the DEPLOY project，scientists have put some sensors(传感器) in rivers that can find pollution levels.

Instead of asking scientists to collect water samples several times a day，the government can now examine pollution levels in the water，and find out if there is anything polluted entering the river. This makes it much easier for scientists to protect the environment，since problems can be discovered before a serious pollution accident really happens.

People in the area can also receive free reports from the river，so that they can find out whether the water is safe for swimming or boating on a certain day. And people can also know if the water is clear enough for them to drink and use.

The DEPLOY project has not only started in Ireland，also the same programs have started in thousands of places around the U.S. Now you live in a world in which you could receive information with your mobile phone about environment. The technology should help to make us know more about the pollution that surrounds us—which just might get us all a little more involved with trying to clean up our world.

How do scientists find pollution levels in rivers?

The underlined word “samples” in the passage means “_______” in Chinese.

The DEPLOY project is a project that cares for ________.

Which of the following is TRUE?