One day, Mr. Arnold was teaching a lesson, and things were going as normally as ever. He was explaining the story of mankind to his pupils. He told them that, in the beginning, men were nomads; they never stayed in the same place for very long. Instead, they would travel about, here and there, in search of food, wherever it was to be found. And when the food ran out, they would move off somewhere else.

He taught them about the invention of farming and keeping animals. This was an important discovery, because by learning to cultivate(耕作)the land, and care for animals, mankind would always have food steadily available. It also meant that people could remain living in one place, and this made it easier to set about tasks that would take a long while to complete, like building towns, cities, and all that were in them. All the children were listening attracted by this story, until Lucy jumped up:

“And if that was so important and improved everything so much, why are we nomads all over again, Mr. Arnold?”

Mr. Arnold didn’t know what to say. Lucy was a very intelligent girl. He knew that she lived with her parents in a house, so she must know that her family were not nomads; so what did she mean?

“We have all become nomads again,” continued Lucy, “The other day, outside the city, they were cutting the forest down. A while ago a fisherman told me how they fish. It’s the same with everyone: when there’s no more forest left the foresters go elsewhere, and when the fish run out the fishermen move on. That’s what the nomads did, isn’t it ?

The teacher nodded, thoughtfully. Really, Lucy was right Mankind had turned into nomads. Instead of looking after the land in a way that we could be sure it would keep supplying our needs, we kept developing it until the land was bare. And then off we would go to the next place! The class spent the rest of the afternoon talking about what they could do to show how to be more civilized.

The next day everyone attended class wearing a green T-shirt, with a message that said “I am not a nomad!

And , from then on, they set about showing that indeed they were not. Every time they knew they needed something, they made sure that they would get it using care and control. If they needed wood or paper, they would make sure that they got the recycled kind. They ordered their fish from fish farms, making sure that the fish they received were not too young and too small. They only used animals that were well cared for, and brought up on farms.

And so, from their little town, those children managed to give up being nomads again, just as prehistoric men had done, so many thousands of years ago.

1.From Paragraph 2, we can know that______ .

A.people got tired of living in the same place

B.people gradually got used to living in cities

C.people tended to settle down after learning farming

D.people spent a long time in learning to keep animals

2.In the teacher’s opinion, Lucy’s argument was______

A.shocking          B.ridiculous         C.puzzling           D.reasonable

3.Which of the following agrees with the message “I am not a nomad” (Paragraph 7)?

A.People eat young fish for its delicious taste.

B.Foresters leave the place where wood is not available.

C.Fishermen move elsewhere when there is no fish left.

D.People use recycled materials as much as possible.

4.The writer tries to make us believe that ______.

A.mankind has been progressing mainly through traveling about

B.it’s unwise for mankind to use the land in an uncontrolled way

C.it’s quite good for students to learn more about the history of mankind

D.in the beginning men were nomads.

 

One year, my school report made my parents angry. On Christmas Eve, all the presents were stolen, along with our TV. My parents told me that there were no presents because Santa was very angry with my behavior over the past year. The next year on Christmas Eve I slept downstairs with a plastic sword waiting for Santa to make sure that he didn't steal the new TV. The next morning, when I woke up, I saw Santa standing there. As soon as I saw that there were no presents, I grabbed my plastic sword and ran at him, shouting angrily: "THIEF! THIEF!"

Jack

When I was young, we always had a specific room for the Christmas tree. My mom never really liked the location, so one year she moved the tree into another room. I was convinced that Santa would not know where the tree was and would get lost in our house. I was worried that he would be mad and put me on the "bad" list and would not give me any gifts because he couldn't find the tree. I came up with the idea to make signs leading from the fireplace to the tree. They said things like: "Tree this way" or "Santa, put the gifts over here." When my big brother saw them he began to laugh his head off.

Lucy

Does everyone remember going to the mall and sitting on Santa’s lap to have his picture taken at Christmas time?

Well, I used to think that if I did that, Santa would get mad bcause he would have to go all around the world and give every kid the chance to have his picture taken with him. Of course his lap would hurt and he would be very fired. I thought he might keep a copy of the picture and that would be how he decided who would be on his naughty list.

My mom couldn't get me onto Santa's lap until she made him promise I wouldn't end up on his naughty list.

Lydia

1.The real reason why Jack's TV was taken away is that ______________.

A.his parents were too careless

B.his parents thought he had watched too much TV

C.Santa Claus was not satisfied with Jack’s behavior

D.Santa gave the TV to another child as a present

2.Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons why Lucy didn't want the tree to be moved?

A.Santa would not know where the tree was.

B.Santa would be angry and would not give her any gifts.

C.Her big brother might laugh at her.

D.Santa might think she was a "bad" child.

3.We can learn from the third story that _______________.

A.Lydia’s mother was very Strict with her

B.Lydia believed in Santa when she was young

C.Lydia was naughty when she was young

D.Lydia liked taking pictures with Santa

4.Why didn't Lydia want to take pictures with Santa?

A.She was afraid that Santa would get mad with her.

B.She was afraid that Santa would get too tired and hurt himself.

C.She disliked the idea that Santa would keep a copy of her picture.

D.She feared that she would appear in the Santa's naughty list.

 

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