閱讀理解：

閱讀理解：

　　You may hear someone say, ‘It's raining cats and dogs．' We know it means it's raining hard．Here is how it comes．

　　There are many large rats in a country．People need cats．But there are many mountains in the country．It's hard for a plane to land(著陸)．So the cats come down by parachute(降落傘)．

　　In another country, the people need dogs to find people in the snow．Where can they get the dogs? You can guess．The dogs also come down by parachute．

　　These cats and dogs are helping the people．And the people often say it rains cats and dogs．

閱讀理解：

　　Tony is six years old．He is a good boy．But he can't get up early．He sleeps until nine or ten o'clock in the morning．He is often late for school．

　　Tony's mother doesn't want him to be late for school．So she buys him an alarm clock．She tells Tony, ‘you must get up when you hear the clock ring．'

　　‘Yes, Mum,' said Tony．After that Tony get up at seven thirty when he hears the clock ring．

　　One day his mother forgets(忘記)to make the clock ring．And the next morning Tony doesn't get up at seven thirty．It's time for breakfast．Mother goes to see him．Tony is in bed and his eyes are open．

　　‘Why don't you get up?' His mother is angry．

　　‘I am waiting for the bell．'

閱讀理解

　　The pencil maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box．

　　“There are five things you need to know,” he told the pencil．“Before I send you out into the world．Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be．”

　　“One：you will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand．!”

　　“Two：you will experience painful sharpening from time to time, but it will make you a better pencil．”

　　“Three：you will be able to correct any mistakes you might make．”

　　“Four：the most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside．”

　　“And five：on every surface(表面)where you are used, you must leave your mark．No matter what the condition(情況), you must continue to write．”

　　The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart．

　　Now replace(替換)the pencil with yourself．Always remember these steps and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be．

　　One：allow other human beings to make use of the many gifts you possess(擁有)．

　　Two：you will experience a painful sharpening from time to time when you go through various(各種的)problems in life, but this will make you a stronger person．

　　Three：you will be able to correct any mistakes you make．

　　Four：the most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside．

　　And five：on every surface you walk on, you must leave your mark．No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties．

　　Allow the parable(寓言)of the pencil to help you understand that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose which you were born to accomplish(完成)．

閱讀理解

　　Grandpa and me sat side by side, watching the sun go down behind the old Texaco service station across the busy street．A street that I had never been allowed to cross unless accompanied by an adult(除非有大人的陪同), or at the very least, an older brother or sister．On that day everything changed．

　　“Thirsty?” Grandpa asked, never removing the pipe(煙斗)from his mouth．

　　“Yes,” was my reply．

　　“How would you like to run over to the gas station there and get me a bottle of coke?”

　　I couldn’t believe my ears．Had I heard it right? Was he talking to me? Still, Grandpa was thirsty…

　　“OK,” I replied shyly, already wondering how I would get across the street．Surely Grandpa was going to come with me．He said I was to go alone．I’d never done that before and it scared me a little．But I was a brave little girl．

　　He gave me a dime(一角硬幣), stood up and looked both ways along the street．When he was sure the road was clear he told me to cross．I thought I’d never make it, but I did．Now I was on the other side, but next came the garage．I went inside and looked around me．Hmm, not so strange．I’d been in a garage before, with my father．I located the coke machine and put in my dime．Clunk(當(dāng)?shù)囊宦?/B>)! Out the bottle came．Coke in hand, I proudly marched back out into the early evening dusk(黃昏)．Grandpa was waiting patiently．He smiled．

閱讀理解

　　A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a small river．The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food．The hungry traveler saw the precious stone in the wise woman’s bag, admired(羨慕)it, and asked the wise woman to give it to him．The wise woman did so happily．

　　The traveler left, excited with his good luck．He knew the stone was worth enough for him to live on for his whole life．

　　But a few days later he came back, searching for the wise woman．When he found her, he returned the stone and said, “I have been thinking．I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back to you and hope that you can give me something much more precious．If you can, give me what you have within you that made you give me the stone．”

閱讀理解

　　Some people think only school children do not agree with their parents, however, it is not true．Communication is a problem for parents and children of all ages．If it’s hard for you to communicate with your parents, don’t worry about it．Here are some advice for you to bridge the generation gap(消除代溝)．

　　Don’t argue with your parents．Don’t get to your parents when you are angry．Your parents probably won’t consider your ideas if you are shouting at them．And you can’t express yourself well if you are angry．Go someplace to cool off．Make sure you understand why you are unhappy．Then think about what you want to say to your parents．If you don’t think you can speak to them at the moment, try writing a letter．

　　Try to reach a compromise(和解)．Perhaps you and your parents disagree on something．You can keep your disagreement and try your best to accept each other．Michael’s mother didn’t agree with him about buying a motorcycle．They argued over it．But they finally came to a compromise．Michael bought the motorcycle, but only drove it on certain days．

　　Of course, your parents might refuse to compromise on something．In these situations, it is especially important to show love and respect(尊敬)to them．Showing respect will keep your relationship strong．Talk about your values．The values of your parents are probably different from those of your own．Tell your parents what you care about, and why．Understanding your values might help them see your purposes in life．

　　A good relationship with your parents can make you a better and happier person．It is worth having a try!

閱讀理解

　　Everyone needs friends．Friends bring us happiness and hope in our lives．But the ability to make friends changes from person to person．To some people, making friends is easy, and to others it’s very difficult．

　　Making friends is a skill, and the first thing is to know how to get on with others．

　　If you have trouble in making friends, maybe I can tell you how to do it．

　　Realize your own good points．You have skills and talents(才能)that others will like．

　　Believe that you are a good person and have something nice to share with others．

　　Be humourous．Learn to laugh at yourself and your weakness．Remember to smile at others．

　　Respect(尊敬)the others．Everyone has his own idea．Learn how to listen to others’ ideas without trying to make them accept(接受)yours．

　　Be kind．If you are kind to others, they will usually be kind to you．There are hundreds of little things you can do to show your kindness．Open the door for someone．Wave to a friend and so on．

　　Don’t complain(抱怨)．Learn to accept what you can’t change, and work hard to change what you can．No one is willing to hear your complaints all the time．

　　Never give up．Even if you are faced with some closed-minded people, never give up．And try to find someone who will understand you．

閱讀理解

　　In the 13^th century, the famous Indian traveller, Marco Polo, travelled a long way to China．He saw many wonderful things．One of the things he discovered was that Chinese used paper money．In western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15^th century．However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7^th century．

　　A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago．He made it from wood．He took the wood from trees and made it into paper．He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book．

　　Now paper still comes from trees．We use a lot of paper every day．If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth．If there are no trees, there will be no paper．Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city．It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper．This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day．Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now．If we don’t, we will not have enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper．

　　So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes．We can also use cotton handkerchiefs(手帕)and paper ones．When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags．If the shop assistant does give us a paper bag, we can save it and refuse(拒絕)it later．

　　Everyone can help to save paper．If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees．But we should do it now, before it is too late．

閱讀理解

　　One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas．The father said, “Look! There's a horseshoe．Pick it up and put it in your bag．” Thomas said, “It isn't worth the trouble．” His father said nothing but picked it up himself．When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest．There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries．

　　The father and the son continued their way．The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest．Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on．At this time, his father dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it．After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son lost some time in picking it up and putting it in his mouth．

　　And so they went on．The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up．When Thomas had eaten up all the cherries, his father said to him, "My dear son, if you had bent down earlier to pick up that horseshoe．it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the cherries．Always remember the lesson that anyone who does not worry about the little things will find that he cannot do the great things．