Read this article and find out which one is a must-read for your children for Thanksgiving.

Clifford’s Thanksgiving Visit
Clifford has to stay home with his neighbors, as Emily Elizabeth’s family goes visiting her grandmother. At first, Clifford feels lonely, thinking of his own family, but then he decides to visit his mother too. He travels many miles, crosses bridges, and he even gets into the subway!   Follow Clifford’s trip to the big city! At http://www.powells.com. it is $3.99. The author is Norman Bridwell. It is for children aged 4-8.

The Magic Tree House
The Magic Tree House describes how Jack and Annie return back to the eve of the first Thanksgiving. There they meet the pilgrims(移民) as well as Squanto, a native American who helped them. The story offers an age-appropriate, in-depth picture of what life was really like for early settlers, as well as their adventures and excitements. It is for ages 4-8. The book costs $2.50 at http://www.powells.com. The author is Sal Murdocca.

Franklin’s Thanksgiving
Franklin thinks that there will be an over-abundance of food for Thanksgiving dinner. So he invites his teacher and friends for Thanksgiving dinner. It costs $2.50 at www.Powells.com. The book is for children aged 4-8. The author is Paulette Bourgeois.

The First Thanksgiving
The First Thanksgiving is for ages 4-8 and it tells about the story of the pilgrims’ learning languages. It is beautifully illustrated with plenty of beautiful watercolors(水彩画). The author is James Waiting and the price of the book is $2.50. You can find it on http://www.powells.com.
【小题1】Clifford travels to the big city probably because ________.

A.he is eager to visit his grandmother
B.he is not happy at home
C.he misses his neighbors very much
D.he likes traveling very much
【小题2】If you are interested in the pilgrims’ life you can read ________.
A.Clifford’s Thanksgiving VisitB.The Magic Tree House
C.Franklin’s ThanksgivingD.The First Thanksgiving
【小题3】Kids can understand The First Thanksgiving better with the help of ________.
A.teachersB.other readersC.picturesD.computers

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17,1706 in Boston,America. In his life he built a successful printing and publishing business in Philadelphia;he conducted scientific studies of electricity and made several important discoveries;he was a diplomat (外交官) and statesman;he helped establish Pennsylvania’s first university and America’s first city hospital;he also organized the country’s first subscription library (收费图书馆).

Franklin was also unequaled in America as an inventor until Thomas Edison. Ben had poor eyesight  and needed glasses to read. He got tired of always taking them off and putting them back on,so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of glasses cut in half and put half of them together. Today,we call them bifocals (双光眼镜).Another invention of his,an iron stove,allowed people to warm their homes.

He loved to learn about new things. He also thought it was important to make life better with the things that he invented. Electricity was one of the things he experimented with when he retired from his business. Ben discovered that lightning (闪电) and electricity were the same thing. The lightning rod was an important invention that we still use today to protect buildings and ships from lightning damage.

Franklin preferred to have his inventions used freely for the comfort and convenience of everyone. Thomas Jefferson,the third president of America,called Benjamin Franklin “the greatest man of the age and country in which he lived”.To Benjamin Franklin there was no greater purpose in life than to “live usefully”.

1.Benjamin Franklin was NOT a________.

A.diplomat                              B.scientist

C.businessman                           D.president

2.The underlined word “unequaled” in Paragraph 2 means________.

A.better than any other                    B.worse than any other

C.the same as others                      D.confident as others

3.Which of the following is NOT Benjamin’s invention?

A.Bifocals.                              B.The iron stove.

C.Printing.                              D.The lightning rod.

4.What was Benjamin Franklin’s purpose in life?

A.To live comfortably every day.

B.To be useful to others.

C.To be a famous person in the world.

D.To earn a lot by inventing things.

 

Everyone knows the story of Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite flight. He was a man of many talents and interests. His natural curiosity about things and the way they work made him try to find ways to make them work better. Although he made important discoveries and advancements, Ben didn’t “invent” electricity. He did, however, invent the lightning rod which protected buildings and ships from lightning damage.

In colonial America, most people warmed their homes by building a fire in a fireplace even though it was kind of dangerous and used a lot of wood. Ben figured that there had to be a better way. His invention of an iron furnace stove allowed people to warm their home less dangerously and with less wood. The furnace stove that he invented is called a Franklin stove. Interestingly, Ben also established the first fire company and the first fire insurance company in order to help people live more safely.

As the postmaster, Ben had to figure out routes for delivering the mail. He went out riding in his carriage to measure the routes and needed a way to keep track of the distance. He invented a simple odometer and attached it to his carriage.

In his old age, Ben retired from business and public service and wanted to spend his time reading and studying. He found, however, that his old age had made it difficult for him to reach books from the high shelves. Even though he had many grandchildren to help him, he invented a tool called a long arm to reach the high books. The long arm was a long wooden pole with a grasping claw at the end.

Later, other famous inventors, like Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, would follow in Ben’s footsteps by trying to find ways to help people live better. Today’s curious thinkers are keeping Ben’s traditions alive by inventing new and improved ways to make things work.

68. We can learn from the passage that Benjamin Franklin ___________________.

A. made his first invention using a kite

B. made his living by delivering the mail

C. set up some companies to help people to live better

D. made a stove which used other fuels instead of wood

69. The underlined word “odometer” in Paragraph 3 refers to something that ________.

A. contains the mail                                                 B. shows the direction

C. makes the carriage go fast                    D. records total miles covered

70. Benjamin Franklin invented a long arm in order to _________.

A. replace his disabled arm

B. play games with his grandchildren

C. get books from the bookshelf more easily

D. clean and tidy his house and the bookshelf

71. The last paragraph mainly wants to tell us that _____________.

A. Ben was the most famous inventor.

B. other inventors learned a lot from Ben.

C. Ben’s spirit of inventing remain with us.

D. thinkers are more likely to become inventors

 

 

Four people in England back in 1953, stared at Photo 51. It wasn’t much—a picture showing a black X. But three of these people won the Nobel Prize for figuring out what the photo really showed –the shape of DNA. The discovery brought fame and fortune to scientists James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. The fourth, the one who actually made the picture, was left out

   Her name was Rosalind Franklin. “She should have been up there,” says historian Mary Bowden. “If her photos hadn’t been there, the others couldn’t have come up with the structure.” One reason Franklin was missing was that she had died of cancer four years before the Nobel decision. But now scholars doubt that Franklin was not only robbed of her life by disease but robbed of credit by her competitors

   At Cambridge University in the 1950s, Watson and Click tried to make models by cutting up shapes of DNA’s parts and then putting them together. In the meantime, at King’s College in London, Franklin and Wilkins shone X-rays at the molecule(分子). The rays produced patterns reflection the shape.

   But Wilkins and Franklin’s relationship was a lot rockier than the celebrated teamwork of Watson and Crick. Wilkins thought Franklin was hired to be his assistant .But the college actually employed her to take over the DNA project.

What she did was produce X-ray pictures that told Watson and Crick that one of their early models was inside out. And she was not shy about saying so. That angered Watson, who attacked her in return, “Mere inspection suggested that she would not easily bend. Clearly she had to to go or be put in her place.”

As Franklin’s competitors, Wilkins, Watson  and Crick had much to gain by cutting her out of the little group of researchers, says historian Pnina Abir-Am. In 1962 at the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony, Wilkins thanked 13 colleagues by name before he mentioned Franklin, Watson wrote his book laughing at her. Crick wrote in 1974 that  “Franklin was only two steps away  from the solution.”

 No, Franklin was the solution. “She contributed more than any other player to solving the structure of  DNA . She must be considered a co-discoverer,” Abir-Am says. This was backed up by Aaron Klug, who worked with Franklin and later won a Nobel Prize himself. Once described as the  “Dark Lady of DNA”, Franklin is finally coming into the light.

72. What is the text mainly about?

A. The disagreements among DNA researchers.

B. The process of discovering DNA.

C. The race between two teams of scientists.

D. The unfair treatment of Franklin.

73. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Franklin didn’t feel shy about pointing out the mistake of Watson and Crick.

B. Wilkins and Franklin didn’t get along very well.

C. Franklin didn’t win the Nobel Prize because she was two steps away from the solution.

D. Without Franklin’s X-ray pictures, the other competitors couldn’t have won the Nobel Prize.

74. Why is Franklin described as  “Dark Lady of DNA”?

A. She developed pictures in dark labs.

B. She discovered the black X-the shape of DNA.

C. Her name was forgotten after her death.

D. Her contribution was unknown to the public.

75. What is the writer’s attitude toward Wilkins, Watson and Crick?

A. Respectful.     B. Disapproving.         C.  Admiring.     D. Doubtful.

 

 

The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin. Benjamin's older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper. He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects.  

Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin's Courant. few believe that newspapers in their present printed form will remain alive for long Newspaper complies are losing advertisers (广告商), readers, market value. and. in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago The chief editor (主编) of the times said recently, "At places where they gather, editors ask one another, 'How are you?', as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law came. “An article about the newspaper appeared on the website of the Guardian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.” 

perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death. Some American newspapers have lost 42% of their market value in the past thee years The New York Times Company has  seen its stock (股票) drop by 54% since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock-holders sell off their Times stock The Washington Post Comply has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education its testing and test-preparation service now brings in at least half the company's income.  

1.What can we learn about the New England Curran? 

A. It is mainly about the stock market.  

B. It marks the beginning of the American newspaper.  

C. It remains a successful newspaper in America.  

D. It comes articles by political leaders.  

2.What can we infer about the newspaper editors? 

A. They often accept readers' suggestions 

B. They care a lot about each other's health.  

C. They stop doing business with advertisers.  

D. They face great difficulties in their business.  

3.Which of the following found a new way for its development? 

A. The Washington Post           B. The Guardian 

C. The New York Times.          D. New England Courant 

4.How does the author seem to feel about the future of newspapers? 

A. Satisfied      B. Hopeful 

C. Worried       D. Surprised 

 

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