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　　Life was pretty terrible for most people in London 100 years ago．They had to suffer from noise, smoke and dirt．The noise came from the railway, and the smoke and dirt came from the train and thousands of factories all around them．The smoke got together with fog and hung in the air for days．Diseases killed thousands of children．Families were large but often five out of seven children would die before they were five years old．

　　Is life really better than it was 100 years ago? It is certainly true that people live longer than they used to, travel faster than they could and own more things than they did．But they still have to suffer from noise, overcrowding and bad air which are still a basic part of modern life．

　　100 years ago there was a clear difference between town and country．But the motor car has changed all that．One motorway can take up a huge amount of land．Cars are also a basic part of modern life．

　　But industry and modern life do not have to be enemies of beauty．We can have both beauty and progress．In fact, we need clean rivers and open countryside just as much as people did 100 years ago．But nowadays the problem is that it’s becoming more and more difficult to have open land, clean water and fresh air．

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　　Is your schoolbag too heavy to carry?The e-schoolbags will help you．

　　It is said that e-schoolbags are going to be brought into use in Chinese middle schools soon．In fact(事實上), the e-schoolbag should perhaps be called an e-texbook．It is a small computer for students．Heavy schoolbags have been a serous problem for them for a long time．But the e-schoolbag will change everything．It is much lighter than a usual schoolbag．Also it is as small as a usual book, but it can still hold all the things for study, such as a textbook, an exercise book and so on．They can be made into chips(芯片)that are as small as a stamp．The students can read the text page by page on the screen, take notes(記筆記), or even send e-mails to their teachers．All they have to do is to put the right chip into the e-schoolbag and press a button．

　　Some say that e-textbook can be easily broken; some say it is not good to students' eyes．But only time will tell．

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　　Time：2∶46 pm local time, March 11, 2011

　　Place：Near Japan's northeastern Honshu Island

　　Depth：about 10 km

　　Magnitude(巨大)：9.0 in the Richter scale(It has been the largest earthquake in Japan over 140 years．)

　　Disaster：The strong earthquake hit Japan and resulted(導(dǎo)致)in 10-metre tsunami(海嘯)and serious nuclear leakage(核泄露)accident, causing heavy casualties and property losses．By March 25, Japan's quake and tsunami have left　10102 people dead and 17053 missing．

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Jim and Andy are standing at the bus stop and waiting for the No．6 bus．They want to buy some new books．Suddenly(突然), two men are running past them．A short man is crying,“help!help!Catch(抓住)the thief!Give my bag back to me．”“Oh!That man is a thief!”Jim shouts to Andy．They begin to run after the tall man, and very soon they catch him and get the bag back．The short man runs over and smiles,“Thank you．But we are filming(拍攝)a movie．”

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　　A famous study was done in a school by a professor(教授)from a university．At the start of the school year, the teachers were given the names of five children．They were told that these five were the most excellent students in the class．But the fact was that these students were only average(中等), and they were not the best students at all．Well, guess what?At the end of the year, all the five average students scored among the highest in the class．

　　What made these average students change so much to become top students?The only difference was the change in their teachers' attitude(態(tài)度)．Because the teachers believed that these five kids were the top students, they expected more from them．And so these five average students began to believe and expect more from themselves．So they worked harder to do as well as they could．

　　Do you know?If you expect the best from people, they'll usually want to give you their best．A great leader said, “Treat(對待)a person just how he appears to be on the outside, and you'll make him even worse．But treat a person like he's already a success, and you'll help make him the best he can be．”

　　Like the true story of 7-year-old Johnny, his teacher got so angry with him that one day she said, “Johnny, you're the naughtiest boy in this class．I'm sure you'll never change．” The next year Johnny had a new teacher．And on the first day of class, she talked with Johnny after school and said, “Johnny, I've heard a lot about you!But do you know that I don't believe a word of it．” And every day after that, this new teacher treated Johnny as if he was one of the smartest students even when Johnny did naughty things．Later on, Johnny became a school leader．Because that's the power of our belief(信任)and attitude toward children．

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　　Last week was Road Safety Week at Jason's school．All the students had to take part in a talk on road safety which was given by a police officer．The following is what the police officer said．

　　“Most traffic accidents shouldn't happen．They happen because people are careless．A frequent cause of traffic accidents is speed．Some people drive too quickly．This means that if they have to stop suddenly, they cannot stop quickly enough to avoid hitting other vehicles or people．You need to remember this when you are crossing the street or walking along the sidewalk．”

　　“It's not only drivers who cause accidents, however．People on foot－pedestrians, and bicycle riders often cause accidents, too．Pedestrians sometimes walk out into the street without looking．You should always look on both sides before stepping into the street．”

　　“Do any of you ride a bike?Bicycle riders can cause accidents by changing directions suddenly or without warning other road users．Before you turn left, for example, you should check behind you to make sure there aren't any cars, trucks or buses coming．You should show with your left hand to tell that you want to turn left．You should not turn until the street is clear．”

　　“The rules of the road are very simple．If we learn them and obey them, we should not have accidents any more．”

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　　To be a good teacher, you need some of the gifts of a good actor; you must be able to hold the attention and interest of your audience; you must be a clear speaker, with a good, strong, pleasant voice which is fully under your control; and you must be able to act what you are teaching, in order to make its meaning clear．

　　Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he doesn't sit still before his class; he stands the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings．

　　There are very important differences between the teacher's work and the actor's．

　　The actor has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the same words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually fixed beforehand(預(yù)先)．What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem natural on the stage．A good teacher works in quite a different way．His audience take an active part in his play：they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don't understand anything, they say so．The teacher can't learn his part by heart, but must invent it as he goes along．

　　I have known many teachers who are fine actors in class but are unable to take part in a stage-play because they can't keep strictly to what another has written．

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　　Hundreds of years ago, life was harder than it is today．People didn't have modern machines．There was no medicine, either．

　　Life today brings new problems．One of the biggest is pollution．Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty．It kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water．Noise pollution makes us talk louder and we become angry more easily．Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution to all living things in the world．

　　Cars, planes and factories all pollute our air every day．Sometimes the polluted air is very thick．People cannot see the sky clearly．

　　Many countries are making rules to fight against pollution．Factories now must clean their water before they throw it away．And they mustn't let dirty smoke go into the air．

　　There are many things we can do to fight against pollution．We should put waste things in dustbins and do not throw them on the ground．We should go to work by bike or on foot instead of taking a car or a bus．If there are fewer people driving, there will be less pollution．

　　Rules are not enough．We should do our best to fight against pollution．