Do you know what the White House is? Perhaps some of you do，while others don't.

　The White House is a house in Washington. The president of the U.S.A. lives in it. It's really white. But do you know why the White House is white? The story happened in 1812. That year England was at war with America. The British army got to Washington and set the president's house on fire. In 1814，in order to hide the marks of the fire，the stone walls of the president's house were painted white and it has been the “White House”ever since.

1. White House is a house for ___________.

　　  A. the American people.　　  B. the soldiers of U.S.A.   C. the presidents of U.S.A.　 

2.England fought with America in ____________.

　　  A. 1810　　　　　　       B. 1812　　　 C. 1814　　　  　　 

3. The house is called “White House” because ____________.

　　  A. it's covered with snow      B. the house is very clean

 C. the stone walls of the house were painted white

4.The White House was painted white because ____________.

　　  A. the house is old　　  B. the house is new  C. it was once on fire and was with marks

5. “ever since” means ___________.

　　  A. never　　               B. once　　   C. from then on　　

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It's sometimes reported that strange objects have been seen high up in the sky. These unidentified(未确认的) flying objects - UFOs have made a lot of people interested. Some of the reports about them are difficult to believe.Some have been explained in scientific ways, others have never been explained.

　　It is not easy to decide whether a report is true or not. One report of UFOs came from a British plane on its way from New York to London in 1954. The British plane was flying over an island at 19,000 feet when the captain noticed that something was on their left and a little lower than their plane. It's about five miles away.

　　"It was not one object but several," the captain said. "We saw one large and six smaller objects. I sent a radio to report about them and I received the answer that the other planes were coming out to meet us. Before the planes arrived, the smaller objects entered the big objects. The big object then became smaller and moved away fast."

1.Some_____ have been explained in scientific ways.

2. In 1954, a British plane met a UFO when it was flying from_____ to_____.

3. The captain_____ and saw something on the left of their plane.

4. How many objects did the captain see?

5. The big object moved away because_____.

"Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else can make you happier," the researchers from a team at the University（大学）of British Columbia and Harvard Business School reported.

    Their experiments on 600 volunteers in the US showed people were feeling happier when they spent money on others.

    The team asked their 600 volunteers about their income（收入），their daily costs, gifts for others and donations to charity. "No matter how much money each person made, those who spent money on others could get greater happiness than those who spent money only on themselves," Dunn said.

     Dunn's team also surveyed 16 workers at a company in Boston after they received an award of between $3,000 and $8,000. "Of course they felt happy after receiving the awards," they wrote in their report. "But when they gave the people in need $5, they were happier."

     "The findings showed that as little as $5 could be enough to produce happiness on a whole day," Dunn said.

1. There were ______ people in all who took part in the experiments.

2.The underlined word "experiments" means ______ in Chinese.

    A. 会议　　　　　　B. 表演             C. 实验             D. 化验

3.What does the passage mainly tell us?

    A. Money is not important for people.

    B. Money really can "buy" happiness if you spend it on others.

    C. We should try our best to give our money to more people in need.

    D. Spend all the money on others and you'll feel happier.

"Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else can make you happier," the researchers from a team at the University（大学）of British Columbia and Harvard Business School reported.

    Their experiments on 600 volunteers in the US showed people were feeling happier when they spent money on others.

    The team asked their 600 volunteers about their income（收入），their daily costs, gifts for others and donations to charity. "No matter how much money each person made, those who spent money on others could get greater happiness than those who spent money only on themselves," Dunn said.

     Dunn's team also surveyed 16 workers at a company in Boston after they received an award of between $3,000 and $8,000. "Of course they felt happy after receiving the awards," they wrote in their report. "But when they gave the people in need $5, they were happier."

     "The findings showed that as little as $5 could be enough to produce happiness on a whole day," Dunn said.

1. There were ______ people in all who took part in the experiments.

2.The underlined word "experiments" means ______ in Chinese.

    A. 会议　　　　　　B. 表演             C. 实验             D. 化验

3.What does the passage mainly tell us?

    A. Money is not important for people.

    B. Money really can "buy" happiness if you spend it on others.

    C. We should try our best to give our money to more people in need.

    D. Spend all the money on others and you'll feel happier.

1 

Three kids have been learning chemistry for only a few months. But they have already begun to challenge (挑战) a world famous scientist!

Li Weichi, Huang Runling, and Xiao Yan are from Zhongshan Huaqiao Middle School in Guangdong. They have just found a red cabbage that could be a new kind of acid-base indicator (酸碱指示剂). They want it to take the place of litmus (石蕊) paper.

"We've learnt to think of and ask questions about life by ourselves," said Li, "We work well with each other."

British scientist Robert Boyle discovered the use of litmus paper over 300 years ago. Now it is used widely in experiments all over the world.

But when the kids did some experiments in class last winter, they saw that the litmus paper didn’t turn very blue with base matter. It's hard to get a clear result.

Will there be a better indicator than litmus paper? The three kids decided to try and find out!

How? They went to collect over 40 plants in parks, gardens and markets. Then they ground (研磨) leaves, flowers and stems (茎) to get the pigments (色素) from them.

The kids mixed pigments with acid and base. They spent months watching carefully to see which paper showed the best color change. They decided it was the litmus paper!

"It's our first scientific journey, Huang said, "But it makes me want to try harder."

1.Whom did the three kids want to challenge?

A. Their chemistry teacher.

B. Their headmaster.

C. Robert Boyle

D. Thomas Edison

2.From the text, a red cabbage is a kind of ____.

A. plant　　B. animal　　C. paper　　D. liquid

3.What is widely used as the acid-base indicator now?

A. red cabbage              B. litmus paper

C. any plant                D. any flower 

4.The story mainly tells us ____.

A. how to make litmus paper

B. about the three kids' spirit

C. scientists were wrong

D. the kids are heroes