Long ago, England was ruled by a cruel king named John. One day, the people of Gotham heard that King John and his men would soon be riding through their town.This worried the villagers, for they knew the greedy king would demand food and accommodation for his men. What’s more, if he saw anything to his liking, he would surely take it.
A town meeting was called. After much discussion, the townspeople decided to cut down a number of huge trees to block the roads leading into Gotham. When King John and his men reached the outskirts of the village, they could not pass. Angry, King John ordered his men to go into the town and punish the villagers.
When the king’s officers finally made their way over the trees, they found a village of fools. Some say that was because the people of Gotham had a plan—they had decided to act like fools since they had never heard of anyone being punished for being a noodlehead. Others say that’s just the way they were.
In the village, the king’s men encountered a man riding a donkey. The man was bent over because he carried a huge bag of grain on his own shoulders. He looked exhausted. One of the king’s men approached him and asked, “Why, in heaven’s name, are you carrying that bag? Why don’t you just put it behind you on your donkey’s back?”
“You see,” replied the man from Gotham, “my donkey is feeling poor today. It’s bad enough that she has to carry me, so I decided to lighten her burden by carrying the bag myself.”
The king’s men said, “But sir, don’t you see that if you’re riding on top of the donkey, she’s
still carrying the weight of the bag?” The man didn’t reply. He just looked at the king’s men as if they were crazy and went on his way. The king’s officers giggled at the foolishness of the man. Before long, they passed a pond where they found a number of villagers in the midst of a great argument. Two of them were holding a big eel. “Quiet down,” commanded one of the king’s men. “What’s the problem here?”
One of the villagers stepped forward and said, “Last year we took all the extra fish we [caught and put them in this pond so they would multiply. But this year when we came back, all we caught was this one huge eel. Obviously it has eaten all of our fish! Since then, we have argued long and hard over how to punish this bad eel. But we have finally agreed on the perfect punishment. We are just about to drown the eel in this very pond!” The king’s officers couldn’t believe their ears. Drown an eel whose home is in the water? These men were sillier than the first man they met!
Before long, they reached the center of the village, where they were in for another surprise. There they found the rest of the townspeople building a towering stone wall. When the soldiers inquired what was going on, one of the villagers replied, “Every spring a cuckoo comes to live in our village. It always brings warm weather. When it leaves, the cold weather returns. Last year we decided that if we could get the cuckoo to stay here all year, we would always have warm weather. We built this stone wall, but it obviously wasn’t high enough because the bird flew away. This year we’re determined to build it so high that the cuckoo can’t escape.”
The king’s officers had heard enough. They couldn’t bring themselves to punish such stupid people. They returned to King John and told him all about the fools of Gotham. Whether it’s fair or not, the people of Gotham have been known as fools ever since.
What do you think? Were the villagers of Gotham wise or foolish?
1. This story is most like___________.
| A．a news article | B．a folktale |
| C．realistic fiction | D．historical fiction |
| A．A city | B．A forest |
| C．A royal palace | D．A small village |
| A．To make room for their crops. |
| B．To block the roads to the village. |
| C．To create a gift for the king’s men. |
| D．To build accommodation for the king’s men. |
| A．laugh at them |
| B．cut down their trees |
| C．take anything he wants |
| D．want to move to their town |
| A．They trick the king’s men into thinking they are fools. |
| B．They think ahead by putting their extra fish into a pond. |
| C．They make sure their donkeys are healthy enough to work. |
| D．They realize the importance of warm weather to their crops. |
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The University of Illinois in the United States has a project called SAWBO—Scientific Animations Without Borders. It produces educational videos that can be downloaded to cell phones. The goal is to help people in developing countries improve their lives.
One video shows farmers how to make a natural insecticide from neem seeds to prevent insect damage to crops. The process starts with sorting and drying the neem fruits. Then let the fruit dry in the sun for about three or four days, until they become brown. Using a mortar(碾槌) and stick, the fruits are slightly pounded to remove the shells from the fruits without breaking the seed inside.
The videos use computer animation(动画). Some of the animated characters are a little funny looking-like a farmer with a long nose. But the subjects are serious, including a health video on preventing cholera(霍乱). Team member Francisco Seufferheld says the information in the videos is meant to be quickly understood. He says, “The information is digested in such a way that in two minutes, we can transmit a complex idea.”
The researchers tested the seven-minute video on seven mobile phones. They wanted to see if people would share the video using Bluetooth wireless technology. With Bluetooth, files can be passed to a nearby phone even if neither phone is connected to the Internet. As a result, in one month, the video had spread to one hundred eighteen people in fifty different villages. “This is just incredible impact,” said Francisco Seufferheld.
The team has made a few videos so far. These are available in a total of eighty languages, dialects and accents. Professor Barry Pittendrigh says there are plans for more videos later this year.
1. What is the text mainly about?
| A．A best-selling mobile phone |
| B．A valuable educational project for farmers |
| C．United States support for developing countries |
| D．A new type of scientist –farmer relationship |
| A．raise farmers’ standard of living |
| B．do some research on mobile phones |
| C．develop farmers’ practical skills |
| D．help farmers prevent insect damage to corps |
| A．includes health video on preventing cholera |
| B．can be passed to farmers using Bluetooth technology |
| C．can be used to sort and dry the neem fruits |
| D．is easy for farmers to understand |
| A．moved | B．beat | C．picked | D．cut |
【推荐2】A Brown University sleep researcher has some advice for people who run high schools: Don't start classes so early in the morning. It may not be that the students whonod offat their desks are lazy. And it may not be that their parents have failed to make sure bedtime. Instead, it may be that biologically these sleepyhead students aren't used to the early hour. "Maybe these kids are being asked to get up at the wrong time for their bodies, " says Mary Carskadon, a professor looking at problems of adolescent sleep at Brown's School of Medicine.
Carskadon is trying to understand more about the effects of early school time in adolescents. And , at a more basic level, she and her team are trying to learn more about how the biological changes of adolescence affect sleep needs and patterns. Carskadon says her work suggests that adolescents may need more sleep than they did at childhood, no less, as commonly thought. Sleep patterns change during adolescence, as any parent of an adolescent can prove. Most adolescents prefer to stay up later at night and sleep later in the morning. But it's not just a matter of choice—their bodies are going through a change of sleep patterns.
All of this makes the change from middle school to high school—which may start one hour earlier in the morning—all the more difficult, Carskadon says. With their increased need for sleep and their biological clocks set on the "sleep late, rise late" pattern, adolescents are up against difficulties when it comes to trying to be up by 5 or 6 a. m. for a 7: 30 a. m. first bell. A short sleep on a desktop may be their bodies' way of saying, "I need a timeout. "
1. Carskadon suggests that high schools should not start classes so early in the morning because ________.| A．it is really tough for parents to ensure bedtime |
| B．students are so lazy that they don't like to go to school early |
| C．students work so late at night that they can't get up early |
| D．it is biologically difficult for students to rise early |
| A．turn around | B．agree with others |
| C．fall asleep | D．refuse to work |
| A．Adolescents depend more on their parents. |
| B．Adolescents need more sleep than they used to. |
| C．Adolescents sleep better than they did at childhood. |
| D．Adolescents have to choose their sleep patterns. |
| A．Changes in adolescent sleep needs and patterns. |
| B．Problems in adolescent learning. |
| C．Adolescent sleep difficulties. |
| D．Adolescent health care. |
【推荐3】Most kids grow up learning they cannot draw on the walls.
The project is called Writing On It All,and it's a participatory writing project and artistic experiment that has happened on Governor's Island every summer since 2013.
＂Most of the participants are people who are just walking by or are on the island for other reasons.
The 2016 season runs through June 26 and features sessions facilitated by everyone from dancers to domestic workers.
| A．Each session has a theme. |
| B．But they are not well-behaved. |
| C．But it might be time to unlearn that training. |
| D．Sometimes those just kind of happen to be there. |
| E．The notes and art on the walls are an experiment in self-expression. |
| F．This year's session will be watched by domestic and international media. |
| G．Governor's Island is a national historic district long used for military purposes. |
