阅读理解

A Cat and a Parrot(鹦鹉)

　　A French writer tells a story about a cat and a parrot．A friend of his came to visit him one day．The friend said,“I’m going away for a short time．Will you please look after my parrot for me?”The writer said he would do that，and his friend brought the parrot to his house．?

　　The cat saw the parrot and wanted to know if it was a bird or not．If so,it would be nice to eat．Very slowly the cat came nearer and nearer．It was thinking it would be nice to have this animal for its meal．The poor parrot was very much afraid．It didn’t know what to do at first．It kept quiet and didn’t move till the cat was near enough to jump on it．Then,suddenly, the parrot asked,“Haven’t you had your breakfast?”?

　　The cat was afraid．It ran away as fast as it could．Maybe it was saying to itself,“That thing can speak．It can’t be a bird．It must be a man．”

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　　Japanese students work very hard but many are unhappy．They feel heavy pressures(压力)from their parents．Most students are always told by their parents to study harder and better so that they can have a wonderful life in the future．Though this may be a good idea for those very bright students, it can have terrible results for many students who are not gifted(有天赋的)enough．Many of them have tried very hard at school but have failed in the exams and have their parents lose hope．Such students feel that they hated by everyone else they meet and they don’t want to go to school any longer．They become dropouts．

　　It is surprising that though most Japanese parents are worried about their children, they do not help them in any way．Many parents feel that they are not able to help their children and that it is the teachers’ work to help their children．To make matters worse, a lot of parents send their children to those schools opening in the evenings and on weekends．They only help the students to pass the exams and never teach them any real sense of the world．?

　　Many Japanese schools usually have rules(规则)about everything from the students’ hair to their clothes and things in their school bags．Child psychologists(心理学家)now think that such strict rules are harmful(有伤害的)to the feelings of the students．Almost 40% of the students said that no one had tought them how to get on with others, how to tell right from wrong and care for others, even for their parents．

阅读理解

　　A man was sitting in his doctor’s office．He was telling the doctor about his problem．

　　“I like football, you know, Doctor,”he said,“And my wife has never been good to me since I became interested．She aften hears me shouting in my dreams．Night ofter night, when I close my eyes, I’m out there on the field running ofter a flying ball．When I wake up, I always feel tired and I don’t feel like doing anything except sleeping．So I’m getting thinner(更瘦的)and thinner．What shall I do?”

　　The doctor sat back and said,“First, you’ll have to try your best not to dream about football．When you close your eyes, try to think something else．Try to think, for exemple(譬如), that you are at a party or someone is going to give you several million dollars…”

　　“It’s impossible, doctor,”the man shouted,“I’ll miss my ball then．I won’t give my ball for millions of dollars!”

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　　Bob and Jim once worked in the same factory．One day Bob lent Jim ten pounds, but then Jim left his job and went to work in another town without paying back the ten pounds．

　　Bob didn’t see Jim for a year, and then he learnt(获悉)from another friend that Jim was in town and staying in a hotel．So he went there to see him late in the evening．From the waiter downstairs, he knew which Jim’s room was, and went up to look for him．When he got to the room, he saw Jim’s shoes near the door．

　　“Well, he must be in,”he thought, and knocked at the door．There was no answer．He knocked again．Then he said．“I know you’re in, Jim．Your shoes are out here．”

　　“I went out in my boots(靴子),”answered a voice from inside the room．

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　　A man and his wife had a dog to keep their house．When they went out, they always left the dog inside the house．

　　One evening they wanted to go to the cinema, so they left the dog in the house and locked the door and locked their garden gate．They went off in their car．

　　When the film was finished, they came back home．They opened the gate and put the car away．But when they came to the front door, they found that part of the glass in the door was broken．The door was unlocked and half-open．A robber(盗贼)!They went in and quickly looked in all rooms to see what things the robber had taken．But everything was in the right place——and nothing at all was missing．

　　The dog was sleeping in the sitting room on the carpet(地毯)．The lady was angry with the dog．“Why didn’t you keep the house?”She said．The dog was pleased to see its owners．It began to wag(摇摆)its tail and then it went to a corner of the room and picked up something in its mouth．It went to the lady and dropped the thing at her feet．When the lady went to pick it up, she gave a scream(尖叫)．Can you guess what the dog’s present was?It was a man’s finger(手指)!

　　The end of the story is this．The dog’s owner telephoned the police and told them everything．Three days later the police caught the robber．They found him easily．

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　　Skin-diving(潜游)is a new sport today．This sport takes you into a wonderful new world．It is like a visit to the moon．When you are under the water, it is easy for you to climb big rocks(岩石),because you are no longer heavy．

　　Here, under the water, everything is blue and green．During the day, there is enough light．When fish swim nearby, you can catch them with your hands．When you have tanks(罐)of air on your back, you can stay in deep(深)water for a long time．But you must be careful when you dive in deep water．To catch fish is one of the most interesting parts of this sport．

　　Besides(除此以外),there are more uses for skin-diving．You can clean ships without taking them out of the water．You can get many things from the deep water．Now you see the skin-diving is useful and interesting．

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　　Plants(植物)are very important．This because plants can make food from air, water and sunlight．Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight．Animals can get their food by eating plants and other animals．Man gets his food by eating plants and animals, too．So animals and man need plants in order to(为了)live．This is why there are so many plants around us．

　　There are two kinds of plants：flowering plants and non－flowering plants．Almost all the trees around us are flowering plants．You can know some trees from their flowers and fruit．Non－flowering plants do not grow flowers．You can not see many non－flowering plants around you．

　　If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are many kinds of plants．Some plants are large and some are small．Most of them are green．Thanks to the plants around us we can live on the earth．

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　　Millions of years ago, horses had many toes(脚趾)．They had four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot．

　　The horses were no bigger than cats．

　　These small horses lived in the forest．Their toes helped them run over the soft, wet ground．It was very hot in the forest．But the weather gradually(逐渐地)changed．It became colder and colder．Many trees could not live in cold weather．They died and fell, and open fields took the place of forests．The sun made the ground dry and hard．

　　Horses began to change, too．They began to get bigger．This took a long, long time．On the dry and hard land, horses needed only their middle toes for runing．Their middle toes became hard．After a long while, horses had only one hard toe on each foot．

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　　Reading newspapers has become an important part of our life．Many people begin their day by reading the papers．In this way they learn what is going on in the world．Sometimes, however, they do not have time to read the news carefully, so they just take a quick look at the front page．At other times they may be in such a hurry that they have time only to look at the headlines(标题)．

　　There are newspapers to meet the needs of every reader．In big cities there are many kinds of papers．In small towns there are fewer newspapers．In some places the paper is published(出版)once a week．

　　Today, as a group, English language newspapers enjoy the largest number of readers．With the development(发展)of the world, some new newspapers will be published in the years to come．

阅读理解

　　Dreams may be more important than sleep．Some people don’t need much sleep．But we all need to dream, scientists say．

　　Dreams take up about one quarter of our sleeping time．

　　People have several dreams each night．Dreams are like old films．They come to us over and over again．That may be because the dreamer is worrying about something．Dreaming may be a way of trying to find an answer．

　　Some people get new ideas about their work from dreams．They could have been thinking about their work all day．These thoughts can carry over into dreams．

　　Sometimes we wake up with a good feeling from a dream．But often we can’t remember the dream．Dreams can disappear(消失)quickly from memory．

　　Too much dreaming can be harmful(有害的)．The more we sleep, the longer we dream．That is why we may have a long sleep and still wake up tired．