【推荐1】Hundreds of years ago, a Roman（古罗马的）army came north from England to make war on Scotland（苏格兰）. The Scots, a brave people, loved their country very much. They fought hard to drive the enemy out of Scotland, but there were too many of the Romans. It looked that the Romans would win.

One night, the leader of Scots marched（行军）his soldiers to the top of a hill. “We will rest here tonight, my men,” he said, “Tomorrow we will fight one more battle. We must win or we will die.”

They were all very tired, so they ate their supper quickly and fell asleep. There were four guards on duty, but they too, were very tired, and one by one, also fell asleep.

The Romans were not asleep. Quickly they gathered at the foot of the hill. Slowly they climbed up the hillside, taking care not to make a sound. Closer and closer they came to the sleeping Scots. They were almost at the top. A few minutes more, the war would be over. Suddenly, one of them put his foot on a thistle（蓟）. He cried out and his sudden cry woke the Scots. In a moment, they stood up and ready for battle. The fighting was hard but it did not last long.The Scots wiped out the Romans and saved their country.

The thistle is not a beautiful plant. It has sharp（锋利的）needles（刺）all over it.Few people like it. But the people of Seotland liked it so much that they made it their national flower.

【推荐2】Everyone loves money! But do you know where money came from? Who were the first people to use money? Scientists say that over 10,000 years ago, people in Swaziland(斯威士兰), Southern Africa, were using red dye(染料) as a type of money around that period of time. Later, people in several places used shells and other valuable things as a type of money to “buy” or “trade for” things they wanted. This is known as a form of trade where some goods are exchanged for other goods.

Many things have been used as “money” from pigs to salt. For a long time, pepper(胡椒粉) could be used to “pay for” things in Europe. On the Micronesian island of Yap, people used very big stone “coins”, some of which were up to eight feet wide and weighed more than a small car.

But the most convenient forms of money were pieces of valuable metals like gold and silver. Historians think that the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins around 650 BC. Gold and silver are still quite valuable today.

The first banknotes(纸币) appeared in China in the 7th century, and the first banknotes in Europe came out in 1661.

Money has changed through the ages. However, it is more important today than ever before.

【推荐3】The word photography was first used in 1839. However, at that time the subject (被拍对象) had to keep still while a picture of it was taken. Few people had ever tried to take photos of moving subjects. The first man to do so was Eadweard Muybridge, a world-famous photographer. He created the first moving picture.

When a horse is running, do all four hooves (蹄)ever leave the ground at the same time? That was the bet that a gentleman called Leland Stanford had with some of his friends. Most people believed that a horse always had one hoof on the ground, but Stanford didn’t think: so. Because a horse’s legs are moving so fast, it’s impossible to tell just by looking. Stanford needed a way to record the movement of a running horse. In 1872, Leland Stanford offered Eadweard Muybridge $25,000 to find the answer. Muybridge had no idea if he could successfully set up and perform an experiment to settle (解决) the bet, but he thought he should give it a try.

In 1878, after years of experiments, Muybridge got what he wanted. He had a sequence (连续) of 12 images (图像), and one of them clearly showed all four of the horse’s hooves were off the ground at the same time. In the end Muybridge collected his well-earned $25,000 from Stanford.

Though Thomas Edison is usually considered as the person who created the first cine-camera (电影摄影机) in 1889, it was the work of Eadweard Muybridge and the bet that led to Edison’s invention.

【推荐1】Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing （令人疑惑的）. A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They decided that misunderstandings and miscommunications were always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.

On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks? ” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows （眉毛）, which in Micronesia means “yes”.

Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the waiter,   “Do you have cabbage today? ” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.

Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with different nods （点头）and shakes （摇头） of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”.