Long ago, Bluebird’s feathers were the colour of dust. She did not like her ugly colour. She was attracted by the colour of the lake near her home. It was as blue as the sky after a storm. Bluebird wanted to be the colour of that beautiful lake very much. Flapping her wings one morning, Bluebird flew from her tree to the blue lake. Then she bathed in the water three times. After each bath, she sang, “Blue water. Still water. I went in. I am blue.” Bluebird repeated this every morning. On the third day, she came out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers.
Now Coyote was a trickster(骗子)—and hungry too. He stayed behind Bluebird’s tree for a long time every day and watched her go to the lake. He pretended(伪装) to be interested in everything she did. He wanted Bluebird for lunch, but he was afraid of the blue water. On the third morning, Coyote saw Bluebird come out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers. Impressed, he sat next to Bluebird’s tree and waited for her. When she returned, he asked, “How did you get blue feathers? I want to be blue like the mountains too.” Bluebird didn’t believe Coyote, but she taught him how to bathe three times each morning and how to sing her song. Coyote did what she said, and after three days of bathing in the lake, his white fur turned deep blue.
Convinced(确信的) that blue fur was even more beautiful than blue feathers, Coyote forgot all about being hungry. He ran as fast as he could to the top of the hill. Standing on his back legs, he raised his front legs off the ground and howled. But Coyote slipped(滑倒) and rolled down the hill. He couldn’t stop himself, and the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. He rolled and rolled until he hit into Bluebird’s tree heavily. No matter how much he tried, foolish Coyote could not shake the dust from his fur. And so the fur of all coyotes had the dull colour of dust to this very day.
【小题1】How many times did Bluebird bathe every morning before she had beautiful blue feathers?

When you feel sad, tears will come down from your eyes. When you are happy, especially when you laugh hard, tears will also come down from your eyes. But tears have a more important job than showing your feelings.
Tears keep your eyes clean and healthy. They wash away dirt and germs(细菌) just like bath. Your eyes also need tears to keep them wet. And eyes must be wet so that they can move smoothly. Your eyes are busy looking here and there all day long. They move quickly from one thing to another. If you didn’t have tears, your eyes couldn’t move, and soon you would be blind.
Maybe you don’t like tears, but your eyes can’t do without them.
【小题1】The story tells us ____.

Most of my sweet memories are from my childhood. There are always so many interesting things in the far away village where I grew up. One thing that leaves a deep impression on me is shearing the sheep.
In my village, sheep are washed and sheared (剪毛) sometime in the month of June. This should be done quite early in the month, before the hot days begin.
It's best for the sheep to have the wool taken off, or they will be too hot in the summer time.
When the time comes for washing the sheep, they are driven to a pond or a little river.
Then they are thrown into the water, one at a time. The men who are in the water catch them, and wash them to get the dirt all out of the wool.
When the wool is dry, the sheep are taken to the shearer; and he cuts off the wool with a large pair of shears.
In a short time, before the cold winter comes, new wool grows out on the sheep. By the coming of spring, there is so much that it must be cut off soon.

【小题1】When are sheep sheared usually?

One windy spring day, I noticed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Colorful creations of different shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds flying and dancing. As the strong winds blew against the kites, a string kept them in control.
Instead of blowing away with the wind, they rose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining (控制的) string and the cumbersome (笨重的) tail kept them in control, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled against the string, they seemed to say, “Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!” They rose beautifully even when they fought the restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose(松散的). “Free at last,” it seemed to say. “Free to fly with the wind.”
Yet freedom(自由) simply put it in the control of an unkind wind. It fell down to the ground and landed in a mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. “Free at last”, free to lie powerlessly in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to stop lifelessly against the first obstacle (障碍物).
How much like kites we sometimes are. The Heaven gives us adversity (逆境) and rules, rules to follow from which we can grow and get strength. Some of us break away from the rules so hard that we never reach the heights we might get to. We keep part of the rules and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.
Let us each rise to the great heights, knowing that some of the rules that we may be angry about are in fact the strong force that helps us achieve.
【小题1】Why does the writer write the first paragraph?

At the shopping mall, you probably think about spending, not saving. Think about all the lights that keep the mall bright. Think about all the water faucets in the toilet. Think about all the air conditioning in summer. Saving energy is a hot topic for such a big place!
　　Many things at the mall use energy. Electric lights, infrared faucets and air-conditioners need electricity to work. One way to save energy is by keeping lights clean. More and more dust and dirt make the lights less bright. When  malls keep lights clean, they can use fewer lights and keep the area just as bright ,Using fewer lights means using less energy.
You step up to the  water faucet. The water starts to flow. You don't have to touch a thing. Why do malls have such fancy faucets?. The answer is simple. They save water. Sometimes people forget to turn the water off after they wash. Infrared faucets turn themselves off.
The…
【小题1】________is a hot topic for a big mall.