1 . The natural world is colorful with humans, plants and animals showing different colors.

Human skin can be many different colors and it changes with the sun, our feelings or our health for example. This is because of pigments (色素), which reflect light and make what the eye sees as colors. So, when we feel excited or angry, our heart can send more blood to the face and the pigments in the skin become red. This is why we have the expression that someone “sees red” when they are angry.

Plants also have pigments. Color is important for them to live on. The bright colors of flowers catch the attention of insects (昆虫), which then carry their pollen (花粉) from one flower to another. Bees can see colors we cannot, and they follow these to the inside of the flower. Without bees visiting flowers in this way, many plants would die out.

Animals also use color for their own need. They protect themselves with different colors so as not to be seen by predators. The snowshoe hare for example, a type of wild rabbit, changes color with seasons for this reason. During summer it is a brown color, and in winter it is white so that it can hide in the snow. However, some animals use color as a warning to make predators stay away. Bright colors such as yellow and red are often used in this way. Nature, however, is very clever, and predators also use colors to attract (吸引) the animals they feed on.

So, we can see that there may be many different reasons and uses for colors in the natural world. Some uses of color in nature remain unknown, but one thing is for sure, color not only makes our planet beautiful but it is also necessary for our planet to live on.

2 .

It’s been 100 years since the actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin produced the film The Kid, which many people consider to be his greatest one.

Like all films at the time, The Kid was made in black and white and was silent (made without any sound, not even the characters talking). The story is about the relationship between “the Tramp”, played by Chaplin, and his adopted (领养的) child, played by Jackie Coogan. The pair develop a partnership where the six-year-old boy breaks windows and runs away, so that Chaplin’s character can offer his services as a window fixer.

Although the film is a comedy, it also has some tragedy, reflecting Chaplin’s own life. He started testing actors for the role of the Kid just a few days after his baby son had died. Chaplin was known for being hard to please, and it is said that if he could, he would have played every role in every one of his films. When Chaplin visited a theatre, a dancer brought his son, Jackie Coogan, on stage, and Chaplin knew he had his co-star (联袂主演者). Chaplin later wrote, “All children in some form have talents; the trick is to bring it out in them. With Jackie it was easy.”

Like the Kid in the film, Chaplin and his brother Sydney grew up very poor. They lived in London and were raised by their mother. When Chaplin was 10 years old, his mum became too ill to look after her sons, so they had to take care of themselves. He later wrote that the film sets in The Kid were based (基于) on the places where he and Sydney had lived with their mother as children. “Perhaps that’s why the film had some truth,” he said.

3 . 17-year-old Brennan Agranoff, a colorblind boy, started his custom sock business in middle school, with a small loan (贷款) he got from his Parents. Up till now, he has sold over I million worth of socks onlinein the last four years.

Brennan thought of the idea for his custom sock company at just 13 years old. He was attending a high school basketball game in his hometown of Sherwood, Oregon, and noticed that many kids his age were wearing the same white Nike sport socks. The boy told himself that if these white plain socks were so popular with kids,then some cool custom designs would surely be an even greater hit.

But the boy didn’t tell his parents about the business idea immediately. He spent six months researching things like printing machines and technology and drawing up a business plan. Only when he had everything planned out did he ask his parents for a loan. “They thought the idea was a little out there,” Brennan recently told CNN Money, but he kept pushing, and finally received a S 3,000 loan to start his company. Then he began to work on his own designs. The fact that he was colorblind didnt stop him and he has created over 200 designs now.

Business was slow the first year, but then Brennan started pushing his Hoopswagg products heavily on the other Internet. Orders soon started coming in in large numbers, and Hoopswagg became a popular brand among custom sock lovers. Right now, his designs can be found on Hoopswagg website, Amazon and eBay.

Four years after starting his business, Brennan has achieved great success while balancing schoolhouse chores and his social life. And he says he loved every minute of it.

8 . Conversation 1

Conversation 2

9 . Mark Twain was a great writer in America. He was also a funny man. There were many interesting stories about him.

In his city, a man didn’t like Mark Twain. On April Fool’s Day, the man wanted to play a joke on the great writer. A newspaper in New York said that Mark Twain died. All his friends around the country were sad when they read it. Then they decided to visit his home. When the friends got there, they found Mark Twain writing in front of his desk. They got a big surprise and thought the newspaper did a bad thing. But Mark Twain didn’t get angry. He smiled and said, “The report(报道)about my death is right. But the time is too early.”

10 . Xiao Ming gets up very late. He rides his bike to the school quickly. He doesn’t look at the traffic lights, so he hits a car. The driver takes him to the hospital right now. The doctor looks over Xiao Ming very carefully. Xiao Ming wants to go to the school but the doctor and the driver ask him to stay in bed.

“ Now my boy,“ says the doctor.“ Could you tell me your name, please?”

“ What are you going to do?” asks Xiao Ming.

“I’m going to tell your parents and your teacher. ”answers the doctor.

“But my parents know my name and my teacher knows my name, too.“ says Xiao Ming.