Does reading really matter?
     Some people say that today, reading is not as important as it was. These days we have photographs,
films, radio and television. Why read a description of something when you can look at a photograph? Why read a newspaper when the latest news is brought to us every hour on radio and TV?
     Photography was certainly a wonderful invention. Photographs can give a very clear idea of places and of people that we have never seen. An encyclopedia (百科全书) , for example, is always better when
it has good illustrations. But we also need words to explain the photographs and drawings. A photograph
of an elephant may give us a very good idea of what an elephant looks like, but it tells us nothing about the different sorts of elephants there are and where they are found, their exact size and weight, how they can
be useful to man and so on.
     In the same way, a good film has action, movement, color, and maybe music. These are things we do
not find on the printed page. But reading a novel has certain advantages over watching even an excellent
feature film. Reading a novel requires imagination. Each of us imagines a story differently.
     Watching news on television can certainly be exciting.But we need newspapers as well.Some important news stories happen when there are no cameras around. More importantly, a newspaper does not just
report the news. It explains why something has been happening. It also contains interesting articles on
different subjects. Newspapers are an important part of our lives, if we want to understand what is going
on in the places we live as well as in other parts of the world.
     Reading is very important for information and pleasure. We need to be good readers to enjoy a full life as human beings. Reading is a skill and like other skills, it needs practice. The more we read, the better
readers we become. And the better readers we become, the more we enjoy reading! The secret is to get
the reading habit. Read at least a little every day.

1. What does the author think photographs can give us?
A. Enough information about people and places.
B. No information about things.
C. Some information about things but not enough.
D. The wrong information about things.
2. What does the author think newspapers can give us?
A. More information than television.
B. Less information than television.
C. More news from other countries.
D. Less information about important events than TV.
3. What does the "illustrations" mean?
A. Inventions.
B. Pictures
C. Words.
D. Ideas
4. What are the advantages of novel over a feature film?
A. There are more interesting subjects in novels.
B. We do not hear any music in a novel.
C. Novels always explain what is happening.
D. Novels make us use our imagination.
5. What does the author think about reading?
A. It is a wonderful invention.
B. It is an important part of our lives.
C. It requires no practices.
D. It is not as important as television.

A: Have you (1)r__________ today's newspaper?
B: No, I haven't. (2)W__________ there any important news?
A: There's a (3)r__________ about the population of our country. It says we have got another 16,000,000 people this
     year.
B: Oh, the population is growing faster and (4)f__________.
A: If the population goes on (5)g__________, it will be the (6)b__________ problem in our country.
B: Of course. The population of the babies born in one year in China is (7)a__________ as large as the population of
     Australia.
A: I'm afraid there will be only (8)s__________ room for us some day.
B: But if every family has only (9)o__________ baby, things will turn (10)b__________.

A: Have you (1) r_________ today's newspaper?
B: No, I haven't. (2) W_________ there any important news?
A: There's a (3) r_________ about the population of our country. It says we have got another 16,000,000
    people this year.
B: Oh, the population is growing faster and (4) f______.
A: If the population goes on (5) g________, it will be the (6) b________ problem in our country.
B: Of course. The population of the babies born in one year in China is (7) a________ as large as the population
    of Australia.
A: I'm afraid there will be only (8) s________ room for us some day.
B: But if every family has only (9) o________ baby, things will turn (10) b________.