In the 1920s and 30s the airlines were just beginning. It was unusual for people to travel by air because it was expensive and dangerous. In those days, there were no flight attendants to look after the passengers. Young men ,or “stewards” helped the passengers onto the airplane and carried the passengers’ luggage(行李)but they did not provide food and drinks. But then in 1930,a woman called Ellen Church invented the “stewardess”.
Ellen Church was born in 1904 on a farm in Iowa. She was a different child. She didn’t want to work on a farm or marry a farmer —she wanted a more adventurous(冒险的)life. Ellen studied to be a nurse at the University of Minnesota and then got a job in a hospital. For the next few years she stayed at the hospital but also took flying lessons and got her pilot’s license.
Ellen was twenty-five years old when she first got in touch with Boeing Air Transport. She loved flying but she understood that airlines were a man’s world. Although women like Emelia Earheart were becoming famous, she realized it was impossible for a woman to have a career as a pilot .But she had another idea. Most people were frightened of flying because. flying was still an unreliable(不可靠的) way to travel. There were often delays(延误),many crashes and the bad weathers made many passengers sick. Ellen thought nurses could take care of passengers during flights and B.A.T. agreed.
The young woman from Iowa and seven other nurses became the first air stewardesses.
At first pilots were unhappy because they did not want stewardesses on airplanes, but passengers loved the stewardesses. In 1940 there were around 1000 of them working for different airlines. The early “stewardesses” had to be under twenty-five-year-old, single and slim. When a woman joined an airline, she had to promise not to get married or have children. It was hard job and not well paid. They worked long hours and earned ＄1 an hour.
In the 1970s, stewardesses were unhappy in their job and airlines had to make some changes. Since the 1970s, “stewardesses” have been called flight attendants. They are well paid and work fewer hours than in the past.
【小题1】The last sentence of the first paragraph suggests that _________.

In order _______ his English，he joined an English club.

A. improving               B. to improve                       C. improves                          D. improve

In the past month，we’ve been holding our breath for news about a Boeing 777 plane,MH 370．
It took off from Kuala Lumpur(吉隆坡)，Malaysia．On March 8．It was heading to Beijing．But about two hours into the flight, the plane went missing．
There were 239 people on the flight，including 154 Chinese．
A total of 12 countries including China and the US have joined the search for the plane．
Did it crash? We know that the weather was clear that day．The pilots didn’t make any distress calls(求救信号)．And as of March l3，experts have not found any broken parts of the plane。
Was it hijacked(劫机)? Two Iranians(伊朗人)used stolen passports to get into the flight．But now they do not appear to be linked to any possible hijacking of the plane，international police agency Interpol(国际刑警组织)official said on March 11．
The search is still going on．It could take months or even years to find out what happened
to the flight．
【小题1】When did MH370 go missing?

In January 1998 twp pigs escaped from west of London. The gigs were going to be killed for meat. For almost a week, they hid in the woods around the town of Malmesbury.

When the local police began to look for the pigs, newspaper reporters from all over the country joined them. Soon people everywhere were reading about the adventures(历险记) of Butch and Sundance with great interest. The owner of the pigs said that if they were found, he would sell them to anyone who would give them a home. A number of newspapers tried to buy the pigs, and finally The daily Mail paid a lot of money for them.

One rainy night, six days after the escape, a reporter from The Daily Mail and some people from the town found Butch in the woods. They caught her and put her in a cage. The next day, Sundance was caught, too.

The pigs were sent to a zoo. They were no longer free, but they were alive !

1.Why did the two pigs escape ?

2. Where did the two pigs hide for almost a week ?

3. Who joined the local police in looking for the pigs ?

4. What’s the name of the two pigs ?

5. What do you know The Daily Mail is ?