1、1. Town life There is a big difference between town life and country life in England. In the country, everybody knows everybody else. They know what time you get up, what time you go to bed and what you have for dinner. If you want help, you will always get it and you will be glad to help others. In
2、 a large town like London, however, it can sometimes happen that you have never seen your next door neighbor and you do not know his name or anything about him. People in London are often very lonely. This is because people go to different places in the evenings and at weekends. If you walk through
3、the streets in the center of London on Sunday, it is like a town without people. One is sorry for old people living on their own. They could die in their homes and would not be discovered for weeks or even months. 2. A Change in Womens Life The important change in womens life-pattern has only recent
4、ly begun to have its full effect on womens economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, man
5、y girls stay at school after that age and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full-time or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the hu
6、sband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them. 3. A Popular Pastime of the English People One of the best means
7、 of understanding the people of any nation is watching what they do with their non-working time. Most English men, women and children love growing things, especially flowers. Visitors to England in spring, summer or autumn are likely to see gardens all the way along the railway lines. There are flow
8、ers at the airports and flowers in factory grounds, as well as in gardens along the roads. Each English town has at least one park with beautifully-kept flower beds. Public buildings of every kind have brilliant window boxes and sometimes baskets of flowers are hanging on them. But what the English
9、enjoy most is growing things themselves. If it is impossible to have a garden, then a window box or something growing in a pot will do. Looking at each others gardens is a popular pastime with the English. 4. British and American Police Officers Real policemen, both in Britain and the US, hardly rec
10、ognize any common points between their lives and what they see on TVif they ever get home in time. Some things are almost the same, of course, but the policemen do not think much of them. The first difference is that a policemans real life deals with the law. Most of what he learns is the law. He ha
11、s to know actually what actions are against the law and what facts can be used to prove them in court. He has to know nearly as much law as a lawyer, and whats more, he has to put it into practice on his feet, in the dark and running down a narrow street after someone he wants to talk to. Little of
12、his time is spent in talking with beautiful girls or in bravely facing cruel criminals. He will spend most of his working life arranging millions of words on thousands of forms about hundreds of sad, ordinary people who are guiltyor not-of stupid, unimportant crimes. 5. Living Space How much living
13、space does a person need? What happens when his space needs are not met? Scientists are doing experiments on rats to try to determine the effects of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have enough living space, they
14、 eat well, sleep well and produce their young well. But if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior and even their health change obviously. They can not sleep and eat well, and signs of fear and worry become clear. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other an
15、d even kill each other. Thus, for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is enough space not only satisfactory, but necessary for human survival? These are interesting questions. 6 The United Nations In 1945, representatives of 50 nations
16、 met to plan this organization. It was called the United Nations. After the war, many more nations joined. There are two major parts of the United Nations. One is called the General Assembly. In the General Assembly, every member nation is represented and has an equal vote. The second part is called
17、 the Security Council. It has representatives of just 15 nations. Five nations are permanent members: the United States, Russia, France, Britain, and China. The 10 other members are elected every two years by the General Assembly. The major job of the Security Council is to keep peace in the world.
18、If necessary, it can send troops from member nations to try to stop little wars before they turn into big ones. It is hard to get the nations of the Security Council to agree on when this is necessary. But they did vote to try to stop wars. 7. Plastic We use plastic wrap to protect our foods. We put
19、 our garbage in plastic bags or plastic cans. We sit on plastic chairs, play with plastic toys, drink from plastic cups, and wash our hair with shampoo from plastic bottles! Plastic does not grow in nature. It is made by mixing certain things together. We call it a produced or manufactured material.
20、 Plastic was first made in the 1860s from plants, such as wood and cotton. That plastic was soft and burned easily. The first modern plastics were made in the 1930s. most clear plastic starts out as thick, black oil. That plastic coating inside a pan begins as natural gas. Over the years, hundreds o
21、f different plastics have been developed. Some are hard and strong. Some are soft and bendable. Some are clear. Some are many-colored. There is a plastic for almost every need. Scientists continue to experiment with plastics. They hope to find even ways to use them! 8. Display of Goods Are supermark
22、ets designed to persuade us to buy more? Fresh fruit and vegetables are displayed near supermarket entrances. This gives the impression that only healthy food is sold in the shop. Basic foods that everyone buys, like sugar and tea, are not put near each other. They are kept in different aisles so cu
23、stomers are taken past other attractive foods before they find what they want. In this way, shoppers are encouraged to buy products that they do not really need. Sweets are often placed at childrens eye level at the checkout. While parents are waiting to pay, children reach for the sweets and put th
24、em in the trolley. More is bought from a fifteen-foot one. Customers also buy more when shelves are full than when they are half empty. They do not like to buy from shelves with few products on them because they feel there is something wrong with those products that are there. 9. Albert Einstein Alb
25、ert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. his father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religions rules. Albert was a quiet child who spent much of his time along. He was slow to talk and had
26、difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same directionto the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move. Their answers ab
27、out magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things. 10. Private Cars With the increase in the general standard of living, some ordinary Chinese families begin to affor
28、d a car. Yet opinions of the development of a private car vary from person to person. It gives a much greater degree of comfort and mobility. The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport, and hence no irritation caused by waiting for buses or taxis. However, others strongly obj
29、ect to developing private cars. They maintain that as more and more cars are produced and run in the street, a large volume of poisonous gas will be given off, polluting the atmosphere and causing actual harm to the health of people. Whether private cars should be developed in 11. A henpecked husban
30、d and his wife There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to bu
31、y his lunch in his company every day. One day, the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there. “You will never guess what happened to me today, dear” he said. He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won te
32、n thousand dollars on the lottery!” “Thats wonderful!” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But now how could you afford to buy the ticket?” 12. A young mans promise One day a young man was writing a letter to his girl friend who lived just a few miles away
33、in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote, the more poetic he became. Finally, he said that in order to be with her he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone could imagine. In fac
34、t, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands. He finished the letter, signed his name, and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite
35、important. So in postscript below his name, he added: “By the way, Ill be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesnt rain.” 13. A kind neighbor Mr. and Mrs. Jones apartment was full of luggage, packages, furnitures and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the bell ring. Mrs. Jone
36、s went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, thats OK,” said the lady, “I just come to welcome you to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city n
37、eighbors are friendly at all. There are some apartment houses where people dont know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are like a big family. Im sure youll be very happy here.” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But mada
38、m, we are not new dwellers in this apartment. We vet lived here for two years. Were moving out tomorrow.” 14. That isnt our fault Mr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, and a photographer came and took some photo
39、graphs of them. Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “Theyll be ready for next Wednesday. You can get them from studio.” “No,” Mrs. William said, “please send them to us.” The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her c
40、ar and drove to the photographers studio. She went inside and said angrily, “You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but Im not going to pay for them.” “Oh, why not?” the photographer asked. “Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. Williams said. “Well,” the photographer answ
41、ered, “that isnt our fault. Why didnt you think of that before you married him?” 15 A guilds answer In 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1965, when the Northerners were victorious. However, eve
42、n today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgotten the Northerners. A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring
43、stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there. At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “But surely the Northern army must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?” “Not as long as Im the gu
44、ide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide. 16. A qualified Pilot The captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fisherman pretended that he was a p
45、ilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship. After half an hour the captain began to suspect that fisherman did not really know what he was doing and where he was going. “Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked. “Oh, yes,” answered
46、 the fisherman. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.” Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fisherman added, “And thats one of them.” 17. Living things react You and all organisms live in an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds a
47、n organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms. An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in certain ways. All living things respond in some way. Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to ligh
48、t? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light. Living things also respond in other ways. The leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches. Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears
49、 sleep through the winter in a cave. You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver if you are old. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment? 18. Flowering Plants What are the parts of a flower? Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers bright colo
