Saving Baby Elephants

Mishak rubs (擦) his eyes when he prepares warm milk. Like other people looking after babies, he is ________. It is 5:30 a.m., and he hasn’t had much sleep. Mishak sits next to the baby elephant, smiles and makes sure she finishes the breakfast.

Mishak is a ________ from an elephant rescue (救援) center. ________, many elephants meet problems, so they need rescuing here. For one thing, hunters ________ elephants for their ivory. For another, people build homes and plant fields where ________ used to live. Hungry elephants walk into the villages and fields to look for food. They often cause serious damage(破坏), so farmers kill ________. As a result, adult elephants often leave their babies behind.

When a baby elephant ________ its mother, it’s also in great danger. This is because it needs its mother’s milk for about four years. ________ this milk, the baby has little chance to live. Research shows that elephants, like people, have ________. If the mother elephant dies, the baby elephant often becomes sad and ill.

The center’s job is to raise these baby elephants and send them back to the ________ step by step. First, keepers take turns looking after the baby elephants ________ they don’t want an elephant to depend on one of the keepers too much. Then keepers take the elephants into the forest. This is a(n) ________ part of the process because the elephants learn how to eat in the wild and communicate with others. When an elephant is four and no longer needs ________, keepers move it to the wild. This makes elephants become ________. It often takes them eight to ten years to get used to the wild.

At bedtime, Mishak has to lie down and ________ with his baby elephant. Mishak says that when he leaves the babies, they cry. Does he need an alarm to wake up? “Oh, no,” he says. “The elephants are our alarms.”

Many years ago, there were many states in China. The State of Qi used to be very strong, but it became less powerful. Yan Zi was a     24     adviser, so the king of Qi sent him to ask Chu to support each other.

The king of Chu knew Yan Zi was very short. He tried to make Yan Zi feel shy about his     25    . When Yan Zi arrived, the guard told him     26     through the small gate. Yan Zi didn’t get angry. “Only a state of dogs will greet     27     with a gate for dogs. I’m visiting the State of Chu. This gate isn’t for me.” Yan Zi said. So the guard had to take him through the main gate.

The king of Chu was unhappy at     28     Yan Zi did. “Why did Qi send YOU? Don’t they have anyone better?” the king tried     29     way.

“If Qi meets a great king, it’ll send the best ambassador (使臣). I’m the worst. That’s why I’m here.” Yan Zi replied calmly (镇定地). At this time, the guards brought a thief (小偷) to the king. The thief was from Qi. “Ha! Yan Zi, is Qi a state of thieves?” asked the king     30    .

Yan Zi replied, “The orange trees south of Huai River produce big and delicious fruit,     31     the orange trees north of Huai River produce small and sour fruit. The     32     makes the fruit grow differently. In Qi, people are good and honest, but here, they     33    . What made that person a thief here?” Finally, the king looked at Yan Zi and     34    , “I was wrong about you and your state!”

A Bright Idea

Evans Wadongo was from a village of Africa. He had to do homework by the light of a kerosene lamp（煤油灯）. Evans’ eyes hurt and this made studying difficult. It was common in his village. Many children left school for this reason, so they remained poor for the rest of their lives.

Although studying was difficult, Evans was an excellent student and went to a university. He continued to worry about the kerosene lamp. By this time, he realized it was not just bad for schoolchildren but for the whole family. First, it can cause illnesses such as coughs. Also, the light can hurt people’s eyes. Besides, it can lead to fires. Lastly, kerosene is expensive, so families have less money for food. It was difficult to come up with a different kind of lamp that was cheap and good for the environment. Yet Evans did not give up.

One day, he had an idea. He could use a small solar（太阳能的）light. Sunlight is free and solar power is good for the environment. Evans built his first solar lamp, and it worked. He began to build more lamps and sent them to local families. An organization heard about this and provided money for him to build more solar lamps.

Each lamp only cost $20. However, this was a lot of money to many villagers, who only earned around $34 a week, so Evans made sure he kept the cost down. First, Evans used recycled materials. Next, volunteers built the lamps. Finally, people from many countries gave away money to his team, so the lamps were usually free.

Thousands of people had safe light. Julia, a mother of three, said, “Thanks to Evans, my children have light to read, and I have my own light to cook.” The solar lamps made a big difference.

When we think of art, we probably think of painting a picture on a strong cloth or special paper, even on walls of a city. However, in many cultures people paint their faces instead.

①_________

In fact, face painting may be the very first form of art. Painting faces are in different colors and patterns. This has been part of people’s traditions for thousands of years. The way that people painted their faces can tell stories and lessons from the past.

②_________

People still paint their faces for lots of reasons. Patterns on faces connect people to a tribal (部落) family and can show who is the most important person in the family. For fighters, it is a way to make their enemies afraid. Face painting is also used in many ceremonies and special celebrations.

How is face paint important in theater?

Face paint was important in Japanese and Chinese ancient ceremonies. It was also used in traditional theatre to change the actors’ roles. Actors in those countries still wear white, black and red face paint today to show feelings and make the bad people look dramatic (戏剧性的) and awful.

③_________

Tribal people make face paint from the natural colors in plants and earth. Plant parts are used to make different colorings. The ingredients are dried over a fire and then made into a powder (粉末). This is then mixed with animal fat.

Why do We Yawn?

Do you yawn? There are about 20 reasons that scientists think are possible for yawning after research. They do not know exactly why yawning happens, but they do know many facts about yawning.

We know that everyone yawns in the same way. First you open your mouth slowly. Your mouth stays open for about five seconds. You take in a lot of air and then push it out. Then you quickly close your mouth. We also know that yawning is contagious. When you see someone yawn, you yawn, too.

Many people say they yawn because they are bored or tired. That might be true. People do often yawn before they sleep and after they wake up. However, we know that people also yawn when they are excited or nervous. Olympic runners, for example, often yawn before a race. Why is that? In 2007, scientists found that a yawn can help a warm brain cool down.

Some scientists believe that yawning makes you notice things more quickly. When you yawn, you breathe deeply. You also stretch (强化) the muscles (肌肉) in your face, mouth, and neck. Your eardrums stretch, too. Maybe this helps you to be quicker to notice things.

In some countries, people think yawning is not nice. People put their hands over their mouths to cover a yawn. In other countries, people think yawning is healthy. They think that opening the mouth very big can let good things in. When they breathe out, they think that bad things go out of the body with the air.

Scientists do not spend much time studying yawning. That is probably because yawning does not hurt. It is just something we do.

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Bamboo is a wonderful plant for many people around the world.     53     People make tables, clothes, medicine, and musical instruments with it. Pandas may eat bamboo every day, but people can also eat it.

    54     Some bamboo grows so quickly that people say they can watch it grow. The speed of growth depends on the type of bamboo, the earth and the season. Normal bamboo grows 3—10 cm a day. It usually grows in tropical (热带的) areas.     55     Bamboo plants are found in Asia, Australia, parts of Africa, and South America.

One of the world’s oldest building materials is bamboo. Like today, people use it because it’s very strong. They used it to build houses, boats, and bridges. The Chinese made a bamboo bridge over the Min River in Sichuan, China almost 1000 years ago.     56     Also, bamboo is still used to make houses today, especially in China and Philippines.

As a part of history, bamboo is very important. The great scientist Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb (灯泡), but he made it perfect. He wanted the material inside to burn for a long period of time. He tried over 1000 different types of materials.     57     One day, he tried to use a piece of bamboo and the light bulb lit up for over a thousand hours. This invention helped other scientists to make the modern light bulb we use today.

63. 通过阅读理解A篇我们感受到户外活动的有趣。本月底你校将举办一次户外活动，为了更好地开展这次活动，校英语社团正在向学生征集意见。假设你是张华，请根据表格内容写一篇短文（先介绍你喜欢的户外活动，再说明理由，最后就活动安排提出合理的建议），向社团投稿。

备注：如果出现地名，请以East________代替，例如：East Mountain…

1. 短文应包括表格中所有的写作要点，条理清楚，行文连贯，可适当发挥；

2. 短文中不能出现真实的人名和地名；

3. 词数80-120，短文开头及结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

I’m happy to hear there will be an outdoor activity in our school at the end of this month. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope my suggestions help.

Yours,

Zhang Hua