Jack Green is 75 years old. He is not in good condition. "I think I'm ill," he tells his wife, "I feel awful. I've got a headache and I don't feel like eating."

"You've put on a lot of weight recently. You should see the doctor," his wife says, "ask him how to lose weight. It's not good for your health."

"OK," says Jack. He goes to see a doctor.

The doctor checks his heart and weighs him. Then he says, "You are too heavy. You need to do some excercise to lose about 30 kilograms. Run two miles a day for the next 100 days. Then call and tell me your weight."

A week later, the doctor receives a call from Jack. "Doctor, I ran two miles every day and I feel much better. But I have a new problem."

"What's that?" asks the doctor.

"I'm 14 miles away from home, and I can't find my way back."

Choose the right answer according to the passage.

We are all busy talking about and using the Internet, but how many of us know the history of the Internet?

Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s. At that time, computers were large and expensive. Computer networks didn’t work well. If one computer in the network broke down, then the whole network stopped. So a new network system had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working, information could be sent through another part. In this way, computer network system would keep on working all the time.

At first the Internet was only used by the government, but in the early 1970s, universities, hospitals and banks were allowed to use it, too. However, computers were still very expensive and the Internet was difficult to use. By the start of the 1990s, computers had become cheaper and easier to use. Scientists had also developed software that made “surfing” the Internet more convenient.

Today it is easy to get online and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending email is more and more popular among students.

The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people’s life．

Grown-ups are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never practiced ever since. A man who has not had a chance to go swimming for years can still swim as well as ever when he gets back in the water. He can get on a bicycle after many years and still ride away. He can play, catch and hit a ball as well as his son. A mother who has not thought about the words for years can teach her daughter the poem that begins “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” or remember the story of Cinderella or Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

One explanation is the law of overlearning, which can be stated as follows: Once we have learned something, extra learning trials (尝试) increase the length of time we will remember it.

In childhood we usually continue to practice such skills as swimming, bicycle riding, and playing baseball long after we have learned them. We continue to listen to and remind ourselves of words such as “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” and childhood tales such as Cinderella and Goldilocks. We not only learn but overlearn.

The multiplication tables (乘法口诀表) are an exception (例外) to the general rule that we forget rather quickly the things that we learn in school, because they are another of the things we overlearn in childhood.

The law of overlearning explains why cramming (突击学习) for an examination, though it may result in a passing grade, is not a satisfactory way to learn a college course. By cramming, a student may learn the subject well enough to get by on the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned. A little overlearning, on the other hand, is really necessary for one’s future development.

An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money for a very expensive operation.

When she heard her daddy say “Only a miracle (奇迹) can save him now,” the little girl went to her bedroom and pulled her money from its hiding place and counted it carefully.

She hurried to a drugstore with the money in her hand.

“What do you want?” asked the salesman. “It’s for my brother, Andrew” the girl answered. “He has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell a miracle here, child. I’m sorry,” the salesman said with a smile.

“Listen, if it isn’t enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs.”

A well-dressed man heard it and asked, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”

“I don’t know,” she answered with her eyes full of tears. “He’s really sick and mum says he needs an operation. But my daddy can’t pay for it, so I’ve brought all my money.”

“How much do you have?” asked the man.

“$1.11, but I can try and get some more,” she answered.

“Well, what luck,” smiled the man. “$1.11, the price of a miracle for your little brother.”

He took up the girl’s hand and said, “Take me to your house. I want to see your brother. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”

That well-dressed man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a famous doctor. The operation was successful and it wasn’t long before Andrew was home again.

How much did the miracle cost?