— No, it's not     .

— I want to keep fit.

— Yes, please. Thanks very much.

— London.

— He     with his father in the park.

— Next week.

Taking Care of Things

    "You're going to be alone on the farm this weekend," my father said as though that was no big deal. "I expect you to take care of it."

    I had never been left alone on our farm, but I knew that I could deal with just about anything that might come up. I was ready to1 that to my dad.

    As soon as my dad left on his trip, I headed out to check on our cows in the barn (谷仓). I saw Loretta, my dad's favourite cow, eating apples.

    Just after I left the barn, I heard a sound I'd never heard before. I ran quickly back and found Loretta down on her front knees, eyes rolled back, looking as though she was about to 2 . She seemed to have a hard time breathing. I knew right away that she'd got an apple stuck in her throat. I tried to force the apple out but3 , so I ran to call our vet (兽医), Dr. Carrico.

    When Dr. Carrico arrived, he felt around her neck 4 the situation. He told me to get him two boards. Finally, Loretta swallowed (咽下) the apple. Loretta, was now free to breathe.

    "Did your dad leave you to see about things?" asked Dr. Carrico. "Yes, sir." "Well, it's not easy.  5, you know when to call for help."

    I thought about not telling my dad about what had happened, but 6  that stupid idea in a hurry, since he was not a man you kept things from. After I told him, he didn't seem to react much, just kept saying, "Hmm, I see." a lot. I guessed he was very7 in me.

    However, when two weeks later Loretta had her baby, my father asked me to name it. That surprised me because he always named the baby cows by himself. I looked at him in 8.   He smiled at me and said, "She's yours. Take good care of her." he said as though he trusted I could do that. I thought a lot and finally called the baby cow Apple.

Nature in Art

    Many artists paint and use nature in their works, but the results are very different. Here are four of them.

    Many scientists believe our love of sugar may actually be an addiction (上瘾). When we eat or drink sugary foods, the sugar enters our blood and influences parts of our brain that make us feel good. Then the good feeling goes away, leaving us wanting more. All tasty foods do this, but sugar has a particularly strong effect. In this way, it is in fact addictive, and doctors suggest we all cut down on it.

    "It seems like every time I study an illness, I find my way back to sugar," says scientist Richard Johnson. One-third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure (血压), and up to 347 million have diabetes (糖尿病). Why? "Sugar, we believe, is one of the reasons, if not the main reason," says Johnson.

    Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar. Early humans often had very little food, so our bodies learned to keep sugar as fat. In this way, we had energy stored for when there was no food. But today, most people have more than enough. So the very thing that once saved us may now be killing us.

    So what is the solution? It's obvious that we need to eat less sugar. The trouble is, in today's world, it's extremely difficult to avoid. From breakfast cereals to after-dinner desserts, our foods are increasingly filled with it. Some manufacturers (制造商) even use sugar to replace taste in foods that are advertised as low in fat. This may make the food appear as healthier, but large amounts of sugar are often added.

    But there are those who are fighting back against sugar. Many schools are offering more fruit instead of deserts. Other schools are building facilities for students to do exercise. The battle has not yet been lost.

阅读理解

The Teenage Brain

    Parents, teachers, and others who deal closely with teenagers know how difficult the adolescent (青少年的) years can be. This was thought to be due to the "foolishness of youth." Now, brain-imaging technology allows scientists to study the physical development of the brain in more details than ever before. Their discoveries have led a new theory of why teens act this way.

    Recently, scientists have discovered that though our brains are almost at their full size by the age of six, they are far from fully developed. Only during adolescence do our brains truly "grow up." During this time, they go through great changes, like a computer system being upgraded. This "upgrade" was once thought to be finished by about age 12. Now scientists have found that our brains continue to change until age 25. Such changes make us better at balancing impulses (冲动) with following rules. But a still-developing brain does this clumsily (笨拙地). The result, scientists believe, is the unpredictable behavior seen in teenagers.

    The studies show that teens are more likely to take risks. Luckily, the news isn't all bad. As brain scientist B. J. Casey points out, the teen brain inspires such behavior in order to help teens prepare for adult life.

    One way the brain does this is by changing the way teens measure risk and reward (回报).

    Researchers have found that when teens think about rewards, their brains release more of the chemicals that create pleasure. Researchers believe this makes the rewards seem more important than the risks, and makes teens feel the excitement of new experience.

    Research into the structure of the teen brain have also found that it makes social connection seem especially rewarding. As such, teens have a strong need to meet new people. Because it is still developing, a teen brain can change to deal with new situations. So it connects social rewards with even more pleasure. In this way, the brain encourages teens to have a wide circle of friends, which is believed to make them more successful in life.

    Unluckily, this need for greater rewards can sometimes lead teens to make bad decisions. However, it also means that teens are more likely, and less afraid, to try new things or to be independent. And in the long run, the impulses of the teen brain are what help teens leave their parents' care and live their own life successfully.

阅读理解

    It is quite obvious that there are serious differences in sleep patterns (模式) in different parts of the world, and that sleep patterns have also changed over time. Traditions, cultural values and local conditions and environments all have an effect on sleep practices and attitudes.

    One main cause of these differences is the widespread use of man-made light, which has led to big changes in sleep patterns in the industrialized world. It is thought that today we sleep at least an hour less each night than was just a century ago, and probably several hours less than before industrialization and electricity. According to some studies, man-made lighting has encouraged  people  to  go  to  bed  later  and  have  monophasic  sleep,  rather  than polyphasic sleep(多阶段睡眠) which is the more broken-up sleep patterns.

    During the long nights of the winter months, our prehistoric ancestors may have broken sleep up into two or more parts, separated by an hour or two of quiet restfulness. In nomadic (游牧的) societies, even today, it is more common for people to have this kind of polyphasic sleep, sleeping on and off throughout the day or night, depending on what is happening.

Even within the developed world, there are considerable differences in sleep patterns. A study carried out in ten countries in 2002 showed some of these regional (地区的) differences. For example, while the general time the study participants slept was about 7.5 hours a night, the results from different countries differed from 6 hours 53 minutes in Japan to 8 hours 24 minutes in Portugal. Over 42% of Brazilians took regular afternoon naps (午睡), compared to only 12% of Japanese people.

    A daytime short sleep or nap is commonplace among adults in many Mediterranean countries. Spain, in particular, has raised the nap almost to the level of an art form, although, in the busy modern world, it is less ubiquitous than it once was. Naps are also common in parts of Africa and China.

    It is clear, then, that there are cultural and historical differences in the amount of sleep we get and the way we get it. Yet one thing is for sure: the need for sufficient sleep, however we may define this, is universal and unchanging.

    English dictionaries which were written before 18^th century had only words which were not common, or words which were difficult to spell. Then, in 1755, Dr. Samuel Johnson, a great English writer, wrote a famous dictionary. This dictionary contained common words as well as unusual ones. It also showed how words should be used in sentences.

    In 1858, a group of people who study language started to write The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). They wanted to list all the words of the English language. They even included words which were not used any more. They also wrote sentences that show the meanings of words. They also described the history of words, saying when words were first used in English, and which languages they came from. The OED tells us, for example, that "algebra" comes from Arabic and was first used in English in the 16^th century. The dictionary took hundreds of people over seventy years to complete. It has been improved many times, as the number of words used in English has increased. The more recent dictionary gives the meanings of over one million words. It is put into twenty-one books: each one is over one thousand pages long.

    Although Americans speak English, they use some words that are not used in British English. For example, the season an English person calls "autumn", is called "fall" by an American. The first dictionary of American English was published by Noah Webster in 1828. He also decided to spell some words in a simpler way. For example, he wrote "colour" as "color", "centre" as "center", and "plough" as "plow". These spellings are still used in America today. Since 1828, Webster's Dictionary of American English has been improved and made bigger many times.

    A good dictionary is a very important tool for every reader. Many modern English dictionaries are now available. They give different kinds of information. It is very important to choose the best dictionary for your needs and to use it often.