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Ready, Set, Jump!
For skydivers, the sky isn’t the limit. It’s just the beginning. Thousands if people try skydiving each year. Some only jump once, while others go on to experience lifelong adventures, flying and turning over through the air.
Skydiving is a method of leaving an airplane and returning to the earth with the help of gravity, then slowing down by using a parachute (降落伞). It may include more or less free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been used and the body gradually accelerates (加速) to the highest speed.
There are three choices for the beginners. However, before you try skydiving, a ground course on safety is required. The first method is accelerated free-fall. You jump out of the plane while being held by two coaches, one on either side. They hold onto you until you open your parachute. The second method is called static line. After jumping out, you will experience free-fall for a second or two. Then the weight of your body will pull the line tight, opening the parachute.
Tandem (串联) is the most popular because it is the easiest. You and the coach are
tied together, the coach behind, with you in front. You jump out of the plane together, and the coach takes care of opening the parachute.
For each of these three methods, the coaches give instructions in the air with hand
signals (信号) or a radio. If you are eager to try something challenging and would love to feel the freedom of flying, skydiving might be an adventure for you. Who knows? With risk and excitement mixed together, skydiving might just change your life.
1.Do thousands of people try skydiving each year?
2.How many choices are there for the beginners?
3.Why is tandem the most popular?
4.How do the coaches give instructions in the air?
5.What is the passage mainly about?
Max’s Good Habit
Max reads more than anyone he knows. He loves to read during all of his free time. His friends laugh at him because he would rather read than play video games, but his parents and his teachers are proud of him. They say reading is important, and it will help him learn about the world around him. They also tell him it is a good habit to read on a regular basis.
One day Max was reading a magazine article about volcanoes. He told his friends all about volcanoes and what causes them to erupt(爆发). The very next week, his class was told to do a science project. It was to create a poster board with information about volcanoes and to build a volcano model. Guess who everyone wanted in their project group? Max's friends weren't laughing at him anymore. Max ended up being in a group with Liz, Anna and Josh.
Max made copies of the magazine article about volcanoes so his project partners could read about them, too. They also went to the library to look for more information about volcanoes.
The group met at Anna’s house that night to organize the information. They all asked Max what he thought was most important. Then they discussed and decided on the information they wanted to put on the poster board.
The next night they met at Josh's house to build their volcano. They used cardboard and modeling clay(黏土). First they made a volcano shape with the cardboard, and then they covered the shape in brown clay. They also fixed red clay to the top of the volcano model to make it look like it was erupting.
The volcano looked great. Max. Liz, Anna and Josh were very proud of their hard work. When they turned in their project. their teacher was proud, too. Thanks to Max's good habit, they got an A+ on both parts of the project.
1.Why do Max's friends laugh at him?
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2.What was the science project?
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3.Where did the group get the information about volcanoes?
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4.What did the group use to make the volcano model?
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5.What do you learn from this story?
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Born to Travel
Burton Holmes was a born traveller if ever there was
one. He was born in Chicago in 1870. When he was 16, his
grandmother took him to Europe. He took a camera with him, and took pictures. When he was 17, he went to Europe again with his grandmother. That year they also went to California and to Cuba.
Burton was on the road all the time after that. Everywhere he went, he took at least one camera. Then Holmes began giving talks to the Chicago Camera Club. His talks were so popular that he decided to build a business on them.
Holmes’s first travel pictures were on glass slides(幻灯片). These were in black and white. Then he decided to have the slides painted so that his pictures would appear in colour. A few years later, in 1897, Holmes began showing moving pictures of his travel experiences. This was only a year after movies first were shown to a group of people in New York. Later, he set up a film company and his films became popular. There is even
a star with his name on Hollywood Boulevard. In 1910 Holmes published a set of books about his travel experiences. These books also included the general travel information for others to follow.
Burton Holmes had many adventures over the years. He took pictures at the first modern Olympics, in Athens, Greece, in 1896. In 1899 Holmes took the first moving pictures of a war. He was the first person to take moving pictures in China, and the first person to drive a car in Denmark. He photographed the opening of Yellowstone National Park, in 1916. When things happened, Burton Holmes was there. In travelling for 62 years Holmes kept time in his photographs, saving it for generations to come.
1.When was Burton Holmes born?
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2.Did Burton take at least one camera with him everywhere he went?
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3.Why did Burton decide to have the slides painted?
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4.What did Burton Holmes do in 1910?
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5.What was the most valuable thing Burton did for future generations?
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No summer beach vacation in the northeast U. S. A state of Massachusetts is complete without an order of fried clams at a seaside restaurant. People enjoy eating the shellfish, which are dipped(蘸) in a mixture made from flour, water and spices and then cooked in hot oil.
One restaurant known for its seafood is Nancy’s on Matha’s Vineyard.
Martha’s Vineyard is a small island off the coast of Massachusetts U. S. President Barack Obama and his family like to visit Martha’s Vineyard in the summer. The Obama family often eats at Nancy’s during their vacations. It seems that one Obama has even started working at Nancy’s this summer.
The Boston Herald newspaper first reported that Sasha Obama the president’s younger daughter has a job there. She is 15 years old. The story says that Sasha Obama is helping the restaurant get ready for its lunch service each day. She is also bringing customers their food orders at a take-out window. She works about four hours. Her last day is Saturday, when the rest of the Obama family arrives for vacation. One of the other workers at the restaurant said Sasha started working earlier the week. She has been using her full name, Natasha, while on the job.
Many people followed the story on social media.“Sasha Obama” became a hot twitter topic. One person wrote on Twitter: “Keeping it real.” Another added hash-tag “Respect”. But a third person twittered that someone else who really needs the money should have the job. He said that Sasha Obama was only working because people would like the story.
The president’s daughter does have a safe team looking out for her. But they have been waiting in a large car nearby while she works.
1.Is Matha’s Vineyard the name of a restaurant?
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2.Who first reported the story of Sasha?
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3.How long did Sasha work at the restaurant a day?
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4.According to a third person, why did Sasha work at a restaurant?
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5.What do you think of Sasha?
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Television is one of the greatest technological inventions of the 20 century. A Scottish man called John Logie Baird invented it. Inventors in the USA and Europe were working on electronic television systems but Baird used a mechanical(机械的) system. In 1925, he was able to send the first black and white picture—of the head of a doll—from one end of his flat to the other. He then used a local office boy, not the doll, and this teenager was the first person ever to appear on TV.
In January 1926, Baird invited scientists to his flat and showed them his invention. He called it a “televisor”. Later that year, Baird started the world’s first TV station and gave it the name 2TV. In 1927, he sent images 730 kilometres from London to Glasgow using telephone cables(电缆). A year later, his company sent the first transatlantic(大西洋彼岸的) TV images from London to New York. Baird made the first television programmes for the BBC in 1929. These programmes had sound, not just pictures.
However, Baird's system was very limited and basic( 基本的). A totally electronic American system was more popular and practical. The inventor of this electronic system was an American, Philo Farnsworth. In 1936, the BBC started using Farnsworth's system because the picture was better than Baird’s.
More and more people had televisions after the Second World War. Colour TV began in the USA in the 1940s but only a small number of people had colour televisions in their houses. They were very expensive. In Britain and the USA, the first regular(有规律的) colour TV programmes only began in1967.
Now in the 21 century, we have digital television. TV has changed a lot since the face of a boy appeared on TV in John Logie Bairds flat.
1.Is television a great technological invention of the 20century?
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2.How far were the images sent from London to Glasgow in 1927?
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3.Who invented the totally electronic system?
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4.When did colour televisions go into their houses in America?
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5.What is the passage mainly about?
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DIY. which means Do It Yourself, is quite popular in UK. Lots of stores and supermarkets sell DIY things. TV programs show people how to DIY.
English people like DIY. There is a saying in UK—“An Englishman’s home is his castle(城堡)”. Huge numbers of people spend their holidays making their homes beautiful “castles”. If there is anything that needs fixing around their homes, such as painting the walls or putting in a new shower, they will do the jobs themselves. They share DIY experience with their friends. More and more people have discovered the joy of DIY. Sometimes people also DIY for saving money. With the economy (经济) becoming worse at present, many people cannot afford a big house. They are looking at how they can make their house better without spending a lot of money. It is not surprising that DIY is so popular.
DIY can be difficult. There is a huge market for DIY furniture. People need to get together pieces of furniture with a few basic tools. However, people often find it not easy to build a piece of furniture because they can't understand the instructions. Sometimes the instructions are simple and clear, but the furniture itself is difficult to build. One thing is for sure, though most DIY projects are started with the best ideas, many of them may not get finished. DIY can also be dangerous. For example, anything electrical should be done by a professional worker. Unluckily, many people don't care about this warning and put themselves in danger. It is reported that in just one year over 230, 000 people were hurt while doing DIY in UK, including 41, 000 who fell off ladders.
Therefore, DIY can bring us fun and help us save money, but it is not always as easy as it is thought to be if we bite off more than we can chew. Maybe factories should make products that are easier and safer for us to DIY. All in all, it is a very good and suitable thing for many people.
1.Is DIY quite popular in UK?
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2.How do many English people spend their holidays?
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3.What do people get together pieces of furniture with?
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4.How many people were hurt while doing DIY in UK in a year?
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5.Why do people in UK like DIY?
