阅读理解

　　Bells sound．Lighted messages appear．Men and women work at computers．They talk on the telephone．At times they shout and run around．

　　This noisy place is a stock exchange(证券交易所)．Here expert salespeople called brokers buy and sell shares of companies．The shares are known as stocks．People who own stock in a company own part of that company．

　　People pay brokers to buy and sell stocks for them．If a company earns money, its stock increases in value．If the company does not earn money, the stock decreases in value．Brokers and investors carefully watch for any changes on the Big Board．That is the name given to a list of stocks sold on the New York Stock Exchange．

　　Investors(投资者)and brokers watch the Big Board to see if the stock market is a bull market or a bear market．In a bear market, prices go down．In a bull market, prices go up．

　　Investors in a bear market promise to sell a stock in the future at a set price．But the investor does not own the stock yet．He or she waits to buy it when the price drops．

　　The meaning of a bear market is thought to come from an old story about a man who sold the skin of a bear before he caught the bear．An English dictionary of the sixteen hundreds said, to sell a bear is to sell what one has not．

　　Word experts dispute the beginnings of the word bull in the stock market．But some say it came from the long connection of the two animals－bulls and bears－in sports that were popular years ago in England．

　　Investors always care about the possibility of a company failing．In the modern world, a company that does not earn enough profit is said to go belly up．A company that goes belly up dies like a fish．Fish turn over on their backs when they die．So they are stomach, or belly, up．

　　Stock market investors do not want that to happen to a company．They want a company whose stock they own to earn more profit than expected．This would sharply increase the value of the stock．Investors are hoping for a windfall(横财)．

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　　Few people hate homework more than Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth．There is a hot discussion across the country：does homework really improve school results? A growing number of educators say no．

　　“We always think it is worth it,”says Kohn,“and homework will improve their school results and give them good study skills, but the research(研究)shows it is just not so．No study has ever found any academic benefit(学业上的成效)of assigning(布置)homework before kids are in high school．and even in high school the case is very weak．”

　　But how could hours of reading, writing and solving math problems not help kids to learn? We asked tenth graders at the Galloway School, in Atlanta．

　　“I learn everything that I need to in class,”says 16-year-old Matt Ritchie．“And it is really unnecessary to do homework．It is just boring．”

　　“If I listen in class and take good notes, I usually do well on tests,”explains his classmate Paige Solomon,“So I don’t think it is helpful－if anything, it just makes me kind of fearful of going to that class．”

　　“I’m usually in a bad mood when I have a lot of homework,”says 16－year－old Carter Parder,“because I stay up later．And then I’m groggy the next day．”

　　According to Kohn, even if kids learn a little through homework, the cost is too high．Homework may kill a student’s interest in learning．If kids seem to be sinking(陷入)under a mountain of work, parents should intervene(干涉)．Most adults wouldn’t want to work eight hours a day, and then come home to hours of extra work．Kids are no different．

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　　The 2008 National Year of Reading is a year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms．It aims to help build a greater national passion for reading in England－for children, families and adult learners alike．The following are some of the events．

　　＊The Big Picture Best New Illustrator(插图画家)

　　Date：17 April, 2008－3May, 2008

　　Location：22Bury Street

　　Booktrust(the organizer)is pleased to announce that the famous Best New Illustrators will be featured at an exhibition at the Illustration Cupboard, London’s only gallery dedicated(把…用于)to the art of illustration．

　　Date：8 May, 2008

　　Location：14 Great Peter Street

　　The Independent Foreign Ficton Prize celebrates the exceptional(杰出的)works of fiction by living authors(作者)which have been translated into English from another language and published in the Uk in 2007．

　　Some of them are：Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Brown Janeway from the German; The Model by Lars Saabye Christensen, translated by Don Barlett from the Norwegian, and The Way of the Women by Marlene van Niekerk, translated by Michiel Heyns from the Afrikaans．

　　The award ceremony will be held at a central London location－14 Great Peter Street．

　　＊Reading of The Moon Has Written You a Poem

　　Date：14 May, 2008

　　Location：180 South Lambeth Road

　　Two poets Jose Jorge Letria and Maurice Riordan will read The Moon Has Written You a Poem．This book of young people’s poetry was the first Portuguese picture book ever to be published in the UK．It really is a gem(精品)to be read out loud．

　　＊Football Reading Family Fun Day

　　Date：10 May, 2008

　　Location：Chelsea Library

　　A day of football reading activities with TomPalmer, author of the new football novel, Foul Play．There will be Penalty shoot-outs(罚点球决定胜负), quizzes, detective hunts and prizes．The day is open to 8-12 years and their families．

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　　Change is a natural part of language development．The words you like to use are probably a little different from those that your grandparents used when they were young．A study carried out by a British company found that the use of e-mail has had a bad influence(影响)of written English．

　　According to the research, computer users today are too busy to hit the“shift”buttons on their keyboards－e-mails are often written in lower case, that is to say, with no capital letters(大写字母)for names or the beginning o sentences．Spelling mistakes are generally accepted even in formal e-mails．And nouns are often used as verb(e.g．Please bookmark this site)．

　　With the development of the Internet, e-mail and mobile phone messages, a new language has developed within just a few years－we call it Weblish．The latest Oxford English Dictionary has included many new words showing the changes in our communication culture．

　　While some language experts care about the future of English and want to do something, John Simpon, chief editor of the dictionary says,“The standards may be different now but it has certainly encouraged writing and communication, which means a faster development of language change．There are a large number of words that either come from the Internet or have been given new meanings by the Internet．”

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　　Look at the light and beautiful snowflakes(雪花)falling．Ever wanted to hold them in your hands? They are always lost when they meet your hands．Well, this is not just a problem for you．It was a problem for Wilson Bebtley, too．In the 1870s, Wilson Bebtley was just a teenager．His family lived in a small town in Bentley．His family lived in a small town in northeast America．Winters there were long and hard．Bentley’s mother was once a school teacher．She taught him at home．Bentley didn’t go to school until he was 14．he was a quiet boy, and loved reading his mother’s books．

　　But it was his mother’s microscope(显微镜)that interested him．When the other boys were playing with balls, little Bentley was studying things like drops of water, flowers and snowflakes．Bentley loved watching snowflakes．For the next two years, young Bentley spent many winter days in a cold room watching these ice crystals(晶体)under his microscope．

　　The boy thought they were so beautiful that he started to draw pictures of them．But there were so many snowflakes that he couldn’t draw them all．

　　How could he keep their beauty forever? Bentley thought of buying a camera．

　　The boy and his mother asked his father to buy one．But, his father didn’t agree．He thought the whole thing was a bad idea．He thought the only thing a farmer should do was farming．

　　But finally Bentley did get a camera．For more than a year he tried to take picturs of snowflakes．On January 15, 1885, during a snowstorm, Bentley took the first ever photo of an ice crystal with his camera．“It was the greatest moment of my life,”Bentley said later．

　　For 13 years, Bentley worked quietly and took thousands of photos of ice crystals．Later he became known as“Snowflake”Bentley．

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　　Sheela spent three days memorizing a poem for an oral test, but her friend Nisha merely scanned a new poem twice before reciting it from memory!Why then was there a difference?Nisha just knew how to learn better than Sheela．She had increased the ability of her brain by using some skills．Here are some steps to better learning．

　　Preview the matter first：That is, don’t plunge your head long into reading new, unfamiliar material．You can understand more if you first scan it or skim over it quickly．Read the first sentence of each paragraph, and glance at the table of contents and the preface．

　　Slow down and read it aloud to yourself：Speed reading is fine for easy material but for more complex works, slower reading is much more effective．Good learners vocalize(发声), either loudly or in their minds, listening to each word as they read．They also actively think about what they read and take in it．

　　Organize facts into categories：For instance, if you have to memorize a jumbled list containing names of animals, types of transport, items of clothing and kinds of jobs, it is easier if you divide them into groups or categories．Dividing it into smaller, meaningful parts makes it easier to learn．

　　Be focused：To improve concentration(专心)and focus, fix a particular time and place for studying．Use a variety of methods, like writing down what you’ve read or taping it and then listening to it, or making an outline．

　　Follow your own learning style：Each person has his own way of learning．lf given the pieces of an object to assemble(集合), each of us uses a different method to arrive at the same result．Analyze your approach and follow the method that you feel most comfortable with．

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　　Physically active children may be more likely to become active and healthy adults．In the United States, elementary and middle schools are advised to give students two and a half hours of physical activity a week．

　　Yet many schools across the country have reduced their physical education programs．Criticism(批评)of the cuts has led in some places to efforts to give students more time for exercise, not less．

　　A study reported that life expectancy(预期寿命)has fallen or is no longer in creasing in some parts of the United States．The situation is worst among poor people in the Southern States．Public health researchers say it is largely the result of increases in obesity(肥胖), smoking and high blood pressure．They also blame differences in health services around the country．

　　A study found that only four percent of elementary schools provided daily physical education all year for all grades．This was true of eight percent of middle schools and two percent of high schools．The study also found that twenty-two percent of all schools did not require students to take any P．E．

　　Charlene Burgeson is the executive director of the National Association for Sport Physical Education．She says one problem for P．E．teachers is that schools are under pressure to put more time into academic(普通文化课的)subjects．

　　Also, parents may agree that children need exercise in school．Yet many parents still have bad memories of being chosen last for teams because teachers favored the good athletes in class．

　　But experts say P．E．classes have changed．They say the goal has moved away from competition and toward personal performance, as a way to build a lifetime of activity．These days, teachers often lead activities like weight training．

　　Some parents like the idea of avoiding competitive sports in P．E．class．Yet others surely dislike that idea．In the end, schools may find themselves in a no-win situation．

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　　Every year there are hundreds of earthquakes in different parts of the world．In Sept．1923, Tokyo and Yokoham were both destroyed by an earthquake and the fires that followed it．They had to be completely rebuilt．One of the world’s most serious earthquakes was in China’s Shanxi Province in 1556．It killed almost one million people．

　　We measure an earthquake’s strength on the Richter Scale(里氏震级)．The Richter Scale was introduced in 1935 in Southern California in the USA．It measures earthquakes on a scale of one to ten．Any earthquake measuring five or more is usually serious．

　　The earth’s crust(地壳)is made up of layers of rock called plates．As these plates move, they sometimes crash against each other, causing the crust to quake．In cities such as Tokyo, where small quakes happen quite often, many modern buildings are designed to be flexible(可变动的), so when the earth moves, they move with it．

　　Earthquakes can also break gas and oil pipes．This can cause fires to break out, which can do as much damage as the earthquake itself．

　　Another effect of earthquakes is tsunamis(海啸)．These are huge waves created by earthquakes beneath the sea．They can be many meters high and cause great damage to coastal towns and cities．

　　China, Japan, Russia and the USA have the highest occurrence(发生)of earthquakes in the world．

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　　Last summer, after finishing my work in China, I took the trip of a lifetime on the Trans-Siberian Railway(西伯利亚铁路)．Leaving Beijing early on a Wednesday morning in July, my wife and I travelled through some awesome(令人惊叹的)countryside before we arrived in Moscow the following Monday．

　　The first part of the journey took us past the Great Wall and through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia．At the Mongolian Republic border, we had a delay(耽搁)while the wheels were changed because the railway is different．

　　On our way to the capital, Ulan Baator, we saw herdsmen on horseback looking after their cattle．There was a great thunderstorm as we crossed a vast open plain．Later we had a quick tour of Ulan Baator．

　　Next, the train took us into Sibeia．After a stop at lrkutsk, a popular holiday resort(度假胜地), where a tour group left the train, we passed the great Lake Baikal．Later, we saw some lovely wooden houses in pretty, sunny countryside．This surprised us, as we had imagined Siberia as being covered in thick snow．

　　Over the next few days, we passed through Novosibirsk, Omsk and other cities in the heartlands of the Russian Federation．By now, our body clocks were losing their sense of time．We wanted to sleep and eat at the wrong time!

　　At last we reached Moscow．We were so tired that we slept for 16 hours that night．The next day we went sightseeing．We saw the Dremlin and some other magnificent(宏伟的)buildings in the Russian capital．Then, all too soon, it was time for us to return to our home in London．

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　　Amanda Nunez is a US high school student．She used to be a picky(挑剔的)eater．Because her mother is a cook, Amanda enjoys cooking, too．

　　She often cooks Italian food herself．Her favorite dish is pasta(意大利面食)．She has special ways of making very different dishes．But Amanda may never have imagined that her love of cooking would win her ＄40,000．

　　Last week, Amanda won the yearly Best Teen Chef 2007 competition held in Dallas, US．The competition started in 2000 and is open to high school students from both the US and Canada．

　　This year, the competition attracted hundreds of students．But only 23 made their way to the final(决赛), including Amanda．During the two-hour competition, all the students had to make a soup, a salad and a pork dish．

　　The competition has many rules．First, judges have to see whether students can cook tasty dishes cleanly．The students also have to make a speech about their dishes．

　　Chef Michael Nenes is one of the judges．He explained why Amanda stood out from the other students．“Besides cooking excellent dishes, a good chef should have many other qualities．Amanda’s cooking skills are very impressive(给人印象深刻的)．Although she was under a lot of pressure．She remained much focused．”

　　As the winner, Amanda not only won the ＄40,000 cash(现金)prize, but also won the chance to study cooking at a Dallas college．

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