閱讀理解

　　 These are useful to man in three important ways：they supply us with wood and other products，they give us shade，and they help to prevent droughts and floods． Unfortunately，man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important．Eager to make money from trees，man has cut them down in a large number．And　besides, man is usually too careless to plant and look after mew trees，so the forests slowly disappear．This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees．The results are even more serious：for where there are trees，their roots break up soil ，allowing the rain to sink in；and also bind soilndline, thus preventing it from being washed away. And where there are no trees，the rain falls on hard ground and flows away，causing floods and carrying away the rich top soil. With the top soil gone，nothing remains but worthless desert.

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Water is the “l(fā)ife blood”of our earth. It is in every living thing. It is in the air. It runs through mountains and valleys. It forms lakes and oceans. Water is everywhere. Nature has a great water system (系統(tǒng)). Rain water finds its way to streams and rivers. Rivers lead to the oceans. At the mouths of the rivers, fresh water joins the salt water of the ocean. At the mouth of a river there is many important plants and animal lives. Pollution destroys this life, so we have to clean our streams and rivers. Man has to work for nature梟ot against it.

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At one time, the only danger on the roads was from wild animals. Now the roads are full of cars, trucks and buses. These vehicles are as dangerous as the wildest animals. Every day people are killed while crossing the roads. Most of these people are old people and children. Old people are often killed because they usually cannot see or hear very well. Children are often killed because they are careless. They forgot to look and listen before they cross the roads. A car, truck or bus cannot stop very quickly. If the car is going very fast, it travels many meters before it stops. Walkers don’t always understand it. They think a car can stop within a few meters. The faster a car is traveling, the longer it takes to stop. It is very difficult for people to know how fast the cars is traveling. He may think it is going slowly. The only safe way to cross the roads is to look both ways, right and left. Then if the roads are clear, it is safe to cross. It’s not safe to run when they cross the roads.

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Sometimes good manners in one place are bad manners in other places. If you are a visitor in the land of Mongolia and some friends ask you to eat with them, what kind of manners do they want you to have? They want you to give a loud “burp”(打嗝) after you finish eating. Burping will show that you like your food. In some countries, if you give a loud burp, you are supposed to say, “Excuse me, please.”In many places people like to eat together. But in some parts on Polynesia it is bad manners to be seen eating at all. People show their good manners by turning their backs on others while they eat. What are good manners like in an East African town? The people try not to see you. They are being polite. You may see a friend. He may not see you at all. If you’re polite, you will sit down beside him. You will wait until he finishes what he is doing. Then he will talk to you. If you meet a friend in Arabia, you should walk behind the tents until you come to his tent. If you pass in front of the other tents, you will be asked to eat with them. And it is bad manners if you say no.

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Korean culture is really exciting right now. The Korean wave is sweeping Asian countries including China. Young people are going crazy about Korean TV dramas, Korean pop songs, taekwondo and the Korean language. The Korean Wave started a few years ago with the TV series “Winter Sonata”. This love story is still popular. People, especially girls, like the beautiful story and handsome actors like Bae Yongjun（裴勇俊）. In the music world, Korean girls are making themselves heard in China. You can often find big Korean names like Baby Vox, S.E.S and Finkle at the top of the Chinese music charts（排行榜）.The Korean Wave has also made young people want to try the clothes and hairstyles of pop stars, too. Not only that now some girls in China are having plastic surgery（整容） to change the way they look. People say some beautiful Korean stars have had plastic surgery. These stars who don’t make plastic surgery look shameful（丟面子的）.Are all the faces of beautiful Korean girls not real? Find out for yourself when you next visit South Korea.

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Hundreds of years ago, life was much harder than it is today. People didn’t have modern machines. There was no modern medicine, either. Life today has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and polluted our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us talk louder and become angry more easily. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. It’s bad for all the living things in the world. Cars, planes and factories all polluted air so thick that it is like a quilt(被子) over a city. This kind of quilt is called smog(煙霧). Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. Factories must now clean their water before it is thrown away, they mustn’t blow dirty smoke into the air. We need to do many other things. We can put waste things in the dustbin and not throw it on the ground. We can go to work by bus or with our friends in the same car. If there are fewer people driving, there will be less pollution. Rules are not enough. Every person must help to fight pollution.

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A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office，a street urchin was walking around the shining car. “Is this your car，Paul?” he asked. Paul answered，“Yes，my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you anything? Boy，I wish…” He hesitated. Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly. “I wish,” the boy went on，“that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car？” “Oh yes，I'd love that. ” After a short ride，the boy turned and with his eyes shining，said，“Paul，would you mind driving in front of my house？” Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are？” the boy asked. He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car. “There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it…then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas windows that I've been trying to tell you about.” Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.

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Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the street. Adult（成年的）drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, and the life of American people. Most of the radio programmes are music. Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in many places. Once the popular singer is heard all over the country, young people buy his or her tape. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star. There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans. One is called folk（民間）music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. Another is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys（牛仔）who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.

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The first true sports thing that man invented(發(fā)明) was the ball.

In ancient Egypt, throwing stones was a favorite children’s game. But a badly thrown stone could hurt a child. When the Egyptians were looking for something less dangerous to throw, they made what were maybe the first balls.

At first, balls were made of grass or leaves held together by vines. Later they were made of pieces of animal skin sewed(縫) together and filled with feather or dry grass.

Though the Egyptians liked wars, they found time for peaceful games. Soon they had developed a number of ball games. Each game had its own rules(規(guī)則). Maybe they played ball more for instruction than fun. Ball playing was thought of mainly as a way to teach young men the speed(速度) and skill they would need for war.

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In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not a good artist. So he invented a very simple camera(照相機(jī)). He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo.

The next important date in the history of photography(攝影術(shù)) was in 1837. That year, Daguere, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room. He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype. Soon, other people began to use Daguerre’s way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world. People took pictures of famous buildings, cities and mountains.

In about 1840, photography was developed. Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things. That was not simple. The photographers had to carry a lot of film and other machines. But this did not stop them, for example, some in the United States worked so hard. Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people. The pictures were unusual because they were very lifelike(栩栩如生的). Photography also became one kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other kinds of art.

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