Do you think animals can predict (預(yù)報(bào)) the weather or other natural events? Farmers living in the countryside think so．For hundreds of years, they have observed animals．They think animals’ behavior (行為) can be connected to future weather conditions or events．For example, if swans fly into the wind, a hurricane is coming．Or, if cows lie down, a rainstorm is coming．There are many traditional stories connecting animals and natural events．Many people think that these stories are just folklore, traditional stories and beliefs without scientific evidence (證據(jù))．Scientists, however, are beginning to take another look at some of these ideas．

　　Kiyoshi Shimamura is a Japanese earthquake researcher．He noticed an increase in dog bites a short time before earthquakes hit．Then, he did an investigation (調(diào)查) of twelve public health centers in Kobe, Japan．These health centers treated people after the 1995 earthquake．He noticed some interesting information about the month before the big earthquake．Treatment for animal bites had increased．．

In fact, aggressive (冒犯的；侵略的) behavior in dogs, such as biting and barking loudly, jumped (猛增) 60 percent!

　　People noticed other changes in animal behavior before the earthquake as well．For example, fish began swimming together in large groups, only in the middle of the water and not near the edges．Also, birds flew away from their nests for many days, leaving their eggs unprotected．．

The animal behavior suggests that animals may be able to predict natural events better than people．

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　　Do you feel a little sleepy after lunch? Well, that’s normal．Your body naturally slows down then．What should you do about it? Don’t reach for a coffee! Instead, take a nap．

　　There are many benefits (好處) of a daily nap．First of all, you are more efficient (有效率) after napping．You remember things better and make fewer mistakes．Also, you can learn things more easily after taking a nap．A 20-minute nap can reduce information overload．．

It can also reduce stress．Finally, a nap may increase your self-confidence and make you more alert (靈活)．It may even cheer you up．

　　But, there are some simple rules you should follow about taking a nap．First, take a nap in the middle of the day, about eight hours after you wake up．Otherwise, you may disturb your sleep-wake pattern．Next, a 20-minute nap is best．If you sleep longer, you may fall into a deep sleep．After waking from a deep sleep, you will feel worse．Also, you should set an alarm clock．That way, you can fully relax during your nap．You won’t have to keep looking at the clock so that you don’t oversleep．

　　Now, the next time you feel sleepy after lunch, don’t get stressed．．

Put your head down, close your eyes, and have forty winks．

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　　June 5 is World Environment Day．This makes us pay more attention to our environment and the need to protect it．

　　When Wang Boxuan, a Yancheng high schoolboy, uses up(用盡)his exercise books, he does not throw them away．Each one is stored at his school with hundreds of exercise books given by other students．Then they are sold to a Yancheng paper making factory．

　　The paper is recycled and used again by students and teachers in the school．At the same time, the money made from the sales goes towards schools in Inner Mongolia for planting trees and grass．This place is one of the sources(源頭)of the sandstorms that often attack Beijing during springtime．

　　Wang's school is one of the schools in the city that take part in the “green promise(承諾)”environmental protection activity．So far, nearly 210,000 students have taken part in the activity, collecting more than 87 tons(噸)of waste paper．

　　With the Olympic Games coming to Beijing in 2008, students are eager(渴望)to help make the capital a more pleasant place．

　　“There are some environment problems in the city, such as sandstorms,” said Wang．“We should do our duty and encourage others to do so as well．”

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　　Over 1，400 university students from 37 countries and regions came to China for the 2008’s WorldMUN meeting(世界大學(xué)生模擬聯(lián)合國(guó)大會(huì))．The meeting was held in Peking University from January 5th to 11st, 2008．

　　The idea of the WorldMUN began in 1991．A group of students at Harvard(哈佛)University wanted to make a new meeting to bring together the students who were interested in the world．They wanted to discuss different problems around the world．The WorldMUN is based on understanding, compromise, learning and friendship．The first meeting was held in Poland in 1992．After that, it is held in spring every year．Last year, it was held in Scotland．

　　This was the first time the WorldMUN meeting was held in Asia．It was also the biggest one in history．The students came from the best universities around the world．During the five-day meeting, they did everything that people in the UN do．Though their skin colors and cultures were different, they had the same wish to make the world better．

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　　Billy had a nice shop in the main street of a small town．He sold jewellery(珠寶)，watches, clocks and so on．All went well some years, and then a thief(賊)stole a lot of jewellery from his shop twice in one month at night．Three weeks passed, yet the police still didn’t catch the thief．So Billy decided to try to do something about it himself．He bought a good camera and fixed it up in his shop and put some cheap jewellery in front of it for the thief, so that it could take a photo of anyone who stole the jewellery．

　　A few nights later the thief came, but he did not stole(偷)any of the cheap jewellery that Billy had put out for him．He took the camera, which was worth 1500 dollars．

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　　The Internet is becoming important in our life．How much do you know about it?

　　What is the Internet?

　　The Internet is a large, world-wide collection(聚集)of computer networks(網(wǎng)絡(luò))．A network is a small group of computers put together．The Internet is many different kinds of networks from all over the world．These networks are called the Internet．If you have learned to use the Internet, you can have a lot of interest on the World Wide Web(網(wǎng))

　　What is the World Wide Web?

　　The World Wide Web has been the most popular development of the Internet．The Web is like a big electronic(電子)book with millions of pages．These pages are called homepages．

　　You can find information about almost anything in the world on these pages．For example, you can use the Internet instead of a library to find information for your homework．You can also find information about your favourite sport or film star, talk to your friends or even do some shopping on the pages．Most pages have words, pictures and even sound or music．

　　What is e-mail?

　　Electronic mail(e-mail)is a way of sending messages to other people．It' s much quicker and cheaper than sending a letter．If you want to use e-mail, you must have an e-mail address．This address must have letters and dots(點(diǎn))and an" @ "(means "at")．For example：Lily@Yahoo, com．Write a message, type a person's e-mail address, then send the message across the Internet．People don't need to use stamps, envelopes or go to the post office since the invention of the Internet．Quick, easy and interesting－that' s the Internet．

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　　Computers are useful machines．They can help people a lot in their daily life．For example, they can help people to save much time to do much work, and they can help people to work out many problems they can't do easily．Our country asks everyone to learn to use computers before the twenty-first century, except the old people．

　　Today more and more families own computers．Parents buy computers for their children．They hope computers can help them improve their studies in school．Yet, many of their children use computers to play games, to watch video or to sing that computers can not help children to study but make them fall behind．So computers are locked in boxes by parents．

　　In some other countries, even some scientists also hate computers．They say computers let millions of people lose their jobs or bring them a lot of trouble．Will computers really bring trouble to people or can they bring people happiness?

　　It will be decided by today's students themselves!

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　　When you are reading something in English, you may often meet with a new word．What’s the best way to know it?

　　You may look it up in the English-Chinese dictionary．It will tell you a lot about the word：the pronunciation, the Chinese meaning and how to use the word．But how can you know where the word is thousands of English words?How to find it in the dictionary both quickly and correctly?

　　First, all the English words are arranged(安排)in the letter order．In the dictionary you can first see the words beginning with letter A, then B, C, D…．That means, if there are two words “desert” and “pull”, “desert” will be certainly before “pull”．Then if there are two words both beginning with the same letter, you may look at the second letter．Then the third, the fourth…For example, “pardon” is before “plough”, “judge” before “just”, etc．

　　Do you understand how to look up in the dictionary?

　　The dictionary will be your good friend．I hope you’ll use it as often as possible in your English study．

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