The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!
Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186, 000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth! (175 words) Useful Words and Expressions: matter n．物质；内容；事情 reading matter阅读材料
This is a matter of no account．这是一件无关紧要的事。 I have an urgent matter to atend to．我有一件急事要办。
Passage 21 Soils
There are many different kinds of soils. Different soils have different types of rock and minerals in them. Some soils have more water in them than others. Some soils might have more plant and animal material in them, too. Different kinds of soils are found in different parts of the world. There are several kinds of soils found in the United States. In some areas, the soil has a lot of clay. Other soils are very sandy. Loam is a kind of soil that has a good mixture of clay and sand.
In some places, soil layers are very thick. Lots of plants grow in places with a thick soil layer. In dry and windy places soil layers are much thinner. Layers of soil on mountains are thin because gravity pulls the soil downhill.
The type of soil in a particular place affects what kinds of plants can grow there. (150 words)
Passage 22 Crisis
Life is a contest! Who will win? A bluebird and sparrow both compete for space to build their nests. A fast-growing maple tree and slower-growing dogwood compete for the sunlight they both need. Oil competes with coal and nuclear power as an energy source for electric power plants.
There is a problem. There is a limited amount of space for birds, sunlight for trees, and energy for people! If we do not cut back on our uses of some of our resources, someday they will be gone!
How can we use energy today and know we will have enough to go around in the future? We can choose alternate, or replacement, energy resources. It takes the earth millions of years to create coal, oil, and gas. They are nonrenewable resources.
Solar energy, wind energy and water energy are renewable. What other ways can we conserve our resources? How can we make sure there is always enough to go around? (159 words)
Useful Words and Expressions: bluebird n.北美产的蓝知更鸟 sparrow n．[鸟]麻雀 compete for为……竞争
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maple n．［植］枫，枫木 dogwood n．山茱萸
nuclear power n．核动力
power plant n．发电厂，发电站 alternate n．替换物
replacement n．代替者；替换物
nonrenewable resources不可再生资源 conserve vt．保存，保藏
conserve one's strength 保存力量
conserve our national heritage in the face of bewildering change在面临令人手足无措的改变时，要保护我们的民族遗产
Passage 23
America's Worst Surprise
December 7,1941 was one of the worst days in American history. Nearly all Americans who are old enough to remember that day can still remember what they were doing at the moment they heard \America had been attacked!
Shortly before 2:00 P.M., a radio dispatch came into Washington from Honolulu, Hawaii, \planes had begun an attack on the largest American military base in the Pacific. They first destroyed planes on the ground. Then they bombed the ships in the harbor.
No one had expected the attack. So no one was prepared for it. And it did not take long for the Japanese to do their damage. When the smoke cleared, the Navy counted its losses- Eighteen ships had been sunk or badly damaged. Nearly 150 planes had been destroyed. More than 2,400 Americans had been killed and more than 1, 200 wounded. (157 words) Useful Words and Expressions: dispatch n.派遣，急件 air raid n.空袭 Pearl Harbor珍珠港
Drill n．军事训练，操练
Military adj．军事的，军用的，军人的 military base军事基地
a military bearing 军人的气度 military attire军人的服装 military service兵役
military operations军事行动 bomb n．炸弹Vt．投弹于，轰炸 sink［Sfor」Vi．（使）下沉 sunk sink的过去分词和过去式
Passage 24 Great Depression in the U.S
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In 1929, the bills started to come in. American industry had produced too many goods. Americans could not afford to buy all of them. So factories had to cut down on their production. Many workers lost their jobs. Investors tried to get their money back. But businesses did not have enough money to pay them. Banks tried to get their money back from investors. But the investors could not pay, either. Too many people owed money. And few of them could pay their bills.
During the next few years, business got worse and worse. By 1932, banks all over the country were closing.
People without money could not buy goods, so more businesses closed. More and more people lost their jobs. By 1932, more than 12 million Americans were jobless. Millions more were earning barely enough to live on. The country was in a great depression they had never experienced before. (151 words)
Useful Words and Expressions: bill n．账单，票据
foot the bill otheb 付账；负责 cut down on减少 investor n．投资者 barely adv．仅仅，刚刚 be arely of age刚成年
a barely furniished room陈设简陋的房间
He barely escaped.．他好不容易地才逃了出来。 live on v．继续生活，靠……生活 depression n．沮丧，萧条 Great Depression 大萧条
Passage 25 A Place of Our Own
We are all usually very careful when we buy something for the house. Why? Because we have to live with it for a long time. We paint a room to make it brighter, so we choose the colours carefully.
We buy new curtains in order to match the newly decorated room, so they must be the right colour. We move the furniture round so as to make more space or we buy new furniture---and so on. It is an endless business. Rich or poor, we take time to furnish a room. Perhaps some people buy furniture in order to impress their friends. But most of us just want to enjoy our surroundings. We want to live as comfortably as we can afford to. We spend a large part of our lives at home. We want to make a small comer in the world which we can recognize as our own. (151 words)
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Useful Words and Expressions: curtain n．窗帘，门帘 furniture n．家具，设备
a piece of furniture 一件家具 a lot of furniture许多家具
the furniture of one's pocket钱财
furniture of one's mind 知识，见闻，才能 furnish vt．装备，布置
furnsh a library with books供应图书馆书籍
I will furnish all you need．我愿供给你所需要的一切。 The house is well furnished.这房屋室内布置得很 好。 surroundings n．环境
The house is in beautiful surroundings.．这座房屋四 周的环境优美。
Passage 26 Travel for Work
You can see them in every airport in the world. They are businessmen and women who have to travel for their work.
When they first applied for the job, they may have thought of good food and hotels, huge expense accounts and fashionable cities. Now they hnave to sit in airport lounges, tired and uncomfortable in their smart clothes, listening to the loudspeaker announce \flight to Tokyo, or Berlin, or New York is delayed for another two hours\lucky you are to be able to travel abroad in your work! You can go sightseeing without paying any money by yourself!\They think that my job is like a continual holiday. It is not. There are advantages, of course, and I do think I am lucky, but only because I can go to places I would never visit if I was a tourist. (149 words) Useful Words and Expressions: apply for请求，申请
apply to the consul for a visa向领事申请签证 apply a theory to practice把理论应用于实践 apply a plaster to a wound 给伤口贴上膏药 apply paint to a house油漆房屋 apply one's mind专心于……
We must apply our energies to finding a solution．我们必须全力想出一个解决的办法。
expense n．费用，开支 accounts账目，账号
fashionable adj.时．流行的，时髦的 a fashionable hairdo时髦的女发型
become fashionable for a time风靡一时 lounge n．休闲室 go sightseeing观光
a sightseeing car游览汽车
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a sightseeing party参观团 a sightseeing tour旅游观光
Passage 27 Intelligence
Are some people born clever and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience?
Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus, the limits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, held by most experts now, can be supported in a number of ways. As is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people is, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. (154 words) Useful Words and Expressions: Intelligence n．智力，聪明
a boy who shows intellge6nce智力低下的男孩
Use your Intelllignce，and you'll sure to achieve sometning．发挥你的聪明才智，你一定能取得成就。
have secret intelligence of the enemy's plans获得敌方计划的秘密情报。 extent n．广度，程度
to some extent在某种程度上
extent of one's knowledge某人的知识多少 see fullextent ofthe park看到公园的整个范围 a vast extent of land辽阔的土地 unlimited extent无限空间
I agree with you to a certain extent．我在某种程度上同意你。 No one knows the extent of his debts．没有人知道他负债多少。 no amount of怎么（再多）也…··不
Passape 28 A Free Dress Every Week
The temptation to steal is greater than ever before especially in large shops and people are not so honest as they once were.
A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed
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