Many textbooks are not written in the kind of English that we speak every day. In fact, sometimes the reading is so difficult that it almost seems like a foreign language. In a way, it is—the language of science. You should not expect to be able to read a difficult science passage the same way you read an interesting story; you should not expect to read it easily and all at once. Instead, you may have to read it several times through, catching on the meaning of difficult words, going back over difficult sentences, and finally putting the whole thing together. Do not be discourages if the whole passage don’t make sense to you at first. You need to pick it apart patiently until you can understand it.

    These are the steps to follow when you are reading something difficult:

²  1. Start to read normally until you run into a sentence that doesn’t make sense to you.

²  2. When a sentence doesn’t make sense, go back and read it again more slowly.

²  3. Look for any word you don’t know in the sentence. Try to understand their meanings using word parts and context clues(上下文线索). If necessary, look them up in the dictionary.

²  4. Look at the next few sentences to see if they explain more about the sentence you are working on. Do not read very much farther ahead until you understand what is being said.

²  5. Finally, read the sentence again. Try to put it into simpler words.

²  6. Read through the passage once. Try to understand all the hard parts well. Then read the whole passage once more at a usual speed. This helps you to put all ides together.

The stops sound a lot harder than they are. It is really just the normal way good readers understand anything that is difficult to read. After you have done the best you can this way, you should always feel free to ask for help from your teacher, if you have one.

1. The underlined phrase “run into” means ___________.

    A. work out             B. come across  C. look into        D. pass by

2. From the passage, we can know _________.

    A. we should look up new words before reading

    B. it is sometimes difficult to read a science passage

    C. the six steps are helpful in learning spoken English

    D. interesting stories help readers to improve their English

3. The massage is mainly about _________.

    A. steps of studying science                B. difficulties in reading science

C. ways of reading science passages         D. researches on science and English

One day, a boy found the cocoon(茧) of a butterfly and brought it home. A few days later, the boy saw a small ___31___ in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to make ___32___ body through that little hole. Suddenly it stopped.
So the boy ___33___ to help the butterfly, thinking the butterfly might be___34___  .He took a pair of scissors(剪刀) and cut the hole ___35___  .The butterfly came out of the cocoon but it ___36___ a little different. It had a weak body and small, thin ___37___  .The butterfly didn’t start to fly. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.
The boy acted with___38___  but he didn’t understand why it could be like this. When a butterfly crawls out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of ___39___  out of the cocoon makes the fluid(液体) from the butterfly’s body into its wings. It helps the butterfly be___40___ to fly. If the butterfly never has to squeeze(挤压) itself out of the cocoon, its wings will never get the fluid and it can never fly.___41___ struggles are what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be ___42___ as we could have been and we would never fly.
In our lives, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, and sometimes even ___43___ growth, without it , there’s no way of life. We can’t avoid ___44___  or problems. So, next time you are ___45___ a problem or difficulty, remember the butterfly. Struggle a little----then fly!

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guestroom. Instead the angels were given some space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."

     The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable (好客的) farmer. After sharing a little food they had, the farmer and his wife let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field.

     The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, "How could this happen?" "Why didn't you watch out for the cow? The first family had everything, yet you watched over his house," she accused (谴责). "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, you didn't help."

     "Things aren't always what they seem," the angel replied. "When we stayed in the basement, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked God if I could seal the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. So things aren't always what they seem."

1. The older angel repaired the hole for the rich family because _____________________.

A. she wanted to punish the greedy owner

B. the basement was too cold to stay in

C. she wanted to save the gold for the poor.

D. she believed that one should always be ready to offer help

2. The younger angel was very angry because _______________________________.

A. the older angel killed the farmer's cow?

B. the wealthy man gave them a bad place to live in

C. the older angel treated the two families unfairly

D. the angel of death took the cow away instead of the farmer’s wife

3. Why did the older angel let the farmer's cow die?______________________.

A. Because she was sympathetic to the rich

B. Because she wanted to save the farmer's wife.

C. Because God wanted the older angel to take the cow.

D. Because she wanted to teach the younger angel a lesson.

4.The first “they” in line 7 refers to ________while the second “they” in line 8 refers to _______in the second paragraph.

A. two travelling angels; the couple???????

B. two travelling angels; the wealthy family

C. the couple; two travelling angels???????

D. the couple; the angel of death and the God

5.The story tries to tell the readers that _________________________.

A. angels are always ready to help the poor

B. angels are always ready to help the rich

C. the young should always learn from the cold

D. sometimes things are not always what they seem

One day, a boy found the cocoon(茧) of a butterfly and brought it home. A few days later, the boy saw a small     in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to make    body through that little hole. Suddenly it stopped. So the boy  to help the butterfly, thinking the butterfly might be      .He took a pair of scissors and cut the hole    .The butterfly came out of the cocoon but it    a little different. It had a weak body and small, thin      . The butterfly didn’t start to fly. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.

The boy acted with        but he didn’t understand why it could be like this. When a butterfly crawls out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of       out of the cocoon makes the fluid(液体) from the butterfly’s body into its wings. It helps the butterfly be       to fly. If the butterfly never has to squeeze(挤压) itself out of the cocoon, its wings will never get the fluid and it can never fly.

    struggles are what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be        we could have been and we would never fly.

In our lives, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, and sometimes even         growth, without it , there's no way of life. We can't avoid        or problems. So, next time you are     a problem or difficulty, remember the butterfly. Struggle a little—then fly!

1.A. hole              B. worm          C. tall           D. snake

2.A. it                B. it's             C. itself         D. its

3.A. decided          B. asked          C. showed      D. ordered

4.A. afraid            B. interested     C. surprised     D. grateful

5.A. slimmer         B. bigger         C. shorter       D. smaller

6.A. touched         B. sounded       C. looked       D. smelt

7.A. wings            B. feet            C. eyes          D. head

8.A. success          B. excitement    C. kindness      D. humour

9.A. get              B. getting         C. to get         D. got

10.A. ready           B. quiet           C. glad           D. used

11.A. Somewhere    B. Something     C. Some time    D. Sometimes

12.A. as helpful as   B. as weak as    C. as strong as    D. as creative as

13.A. repeats        B. recommends   C. requires      D. represents

14.A. happiness     B. difficulties     C. pleasure       D. hope

15.A. served with   B. growing into    C. bringing in    D. faced with