It’s a hot day today. When you jump into a swimming pool to keep cool, do you know how animals fight against the heat? Animals have their own ways to keep cool in the heat. Here are some examples.

Few animals can sweat like humans do, but horses can. They sweat to keep cool. If a horse keeps exercising for one hour, it can lose 15 liters of fluid (液体) by sweating.

Dogs can not sweat, but they can keep cool by panting (气喘). Panting means breathing shortly and quickly. In summer, we often see dogs putting out their tongues and breathing shortly and quickly.

An African elephant’s ears can grow to be 1.8 meters long and 1.2 meters wide. On the back of an elephant’s ears, there are many tiny blood vessels (血管). When the temperature of the elephant’s blood is higher than the temperature of the environment, heat is released from the ears. Besides, elephants also flap (拍打) their ears to create cool wind. The wind can make the elephant feel cool, too. Generally speaking, an elephant’s ears can cool its body by up to 5°C. Isn’t it amazing?

    20     The day after tomorrow is Women’s Day. LiuYu is thinking about buying his mother a gift. She hurt her foot while walking yesterday. Now it still hurts from time to time. He is looking for something for her sports pain.

    21     Children’s Day is coming. Helen has a four-year-old daughter, she becomes interested in riding and dreams of buying a bike for children. She also likes eating desserts but Helen thinks deserts are bad for her daughter’s teeth.

    22     Double Ninth Day is three days away. David’s grandmother is 70 years old, she lives alone, sometimes she can’t see the clock clearly.

    23     Father’s Day is several days away. Ann is thinking about a gift for her father. Her father is a sports lover. He enjoys riding bikes to the countryside on weekends. He’d like to have a better bike.

    24     The Spring Festival is in two weeks. Ann is considering to buy a gift for her grandfather. He always forgets to turn off the gas after cooking. Ann is worried about his safety.

Pizza is popular. It’s usually round and made with tomato sauce and cheese.

Pizza may have begun as     25     food for the poor in Italy. They took flat bread and topped it with olive oil，tomatoes, and cheese. In 1889, a pizza was     26     that was fit for a king! It was made by using items in the     27     of the Italian flag. Tomatoes made red, the cheese was white, and fresh basil (罗勒)     28     added some green. An Italian baker made this pizza for the king and queen of Italy. Pizza wasn’t just for the poor     29    !

Italian immigrants (移民) brought pizza to America. This happened     30     the late 1800s. Pizza gained fans outside Italy after WWⅡ.They were     31    known by American soldiers. They had these     32     pizzas in Italy. In 1948, a boxed mix (混合配料) appeared in grocery stores. People could buy Roman pizza mix and make their     33     pizzas. Pizza restaurants spread across the land. Pizza delivery got     34    start in 1960. America’s love for pizza continued to grow. Now there are even barbecue pizzas!

Tea in China is as important as coffee in western countries. As a Chinese, I am proud     35     our tea culture. Tea originated (起源) in China, so it should be no surprise that the use of teapot (茶壶) is from China as well. However, it is strange that the invention of teapots came at     36     (little) 500 years after tea was first made to drink.

During the early days of tea drinking, tea leaves were placed     37     (direct) into a cup of hot water. It wasn’t until the Ming Dynasty that the first teapot was created.

The first teapot came from Yixing, China. Since the Sung Dynasty, a kind of purple clay     38     (call) zisha had been mined (开采) around Lake Taihu, and it was used to make teapots. The purple clay can take in the taste of tea.     39     a teapot is used long enough, it’ll store enough of the tea’s taste. Then it is possible     40     (make) tea with the teapot and boiling water alone.

Yixing teapots were the prototype (雏形) of teapots. They were made     41     hand and in some     42     (tradition) ways. Yixing teapots are still used today in China, and their construction (构造) has changed little over the centuries.

Chinese teapots     43     (stay) nearly the same in the past few centuries. From their first     44     (introduce) to the West in the late 1600s, however, western teapots have changed a lot at the European market.