Long ago, there was a queen who lived in a palace. She felt bored and said to her advisor(顾问 ), "AIl the things around me are too boring. I need a different kind of beauty. Let everyone know that I will hold a competition for the most beautiful thing in the world. And the prize will be this crown (王冠)."

     Several days later, lots of people came to the competition and showed their things. The queen was not satisfied with what she saw. The advisor suggested, "What you are looking for cannot be brought to you. You must look for it by yourself. What about a journey?"

     The queen was interested in the idea, so she started immediately. As she was on top of the hill near her palace, she looked down and suddenly something cried in her heart. "Why have I never found my palace so beautiful?"

    The queen spent one year travelling. She saw beauty on the farm, in the forest and even in the stars twinkling(闪烁)at night on her journey. But what was the most beautiful thing? She thought it over. Suddenly, she understood beauty was everywhere. She should learn to enjoy the world. She left the pieces of her crown at different places that she had seen. As time went by, the queen's crown got smaller and smaller until nothing was left.

    She found the most beautiful thing at last. It was the world!

 根据短文内容判断正、误。

    Men have always wondered about the earth they live on and about the ①_____ above them.

    When early men looked at the night sky, they asked themselves a lot of questions. They looked at the moon, and wondered what this strange bright object in the sky was. They did not understand why it changed its shape from night to night. They looked at the stars and planets. They also wondered why some of them changed their positions, while others did not.

    ②他们也思考地球的形状。 Most early people believed the earth was flat.

    ③In different parts of the world, there were different ideas about the universe. The ancient Greeks were the first people to study the universe(宇宙) more scientifically. In the sixth century BC Pythagoras put forward the idea that the world was round. However, he could not explain why people at the bottom of the world did not fall off.

    It was not until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that scientists found the answers to some important questions. ④With the help of Galileo's telescope, people could see the sky more clearly, and find the positions of the stars and planets. Finally in 1665, Isaac Newton explained to the world what gravity (重力) was and people at last understood why they did not fall off the earth.

Albert Einstein(1879-1955)

Early Life

    Albert Einstein was born on I4th March,1879 in Germany. He was an extraordinary (非凡的)person since he was born. Einstein wasn't able to speak a word until three. He was curious(好奇的)and imaginative. He loved watching things carefully and asked a lot of questions about them

His questions were often hard to answer for teachers.

Schooling

    Einstein started school in 1885. Though he did well in maths and science, he failed in many subjects like history geography and languages. He was not the teachers' favourite. He didn't enjoy going to school. Einstein finished high school in Switzerland and entered a university in Zurich. He graduated（大学毕业）as a teacher of maths and physics in1900.

Scientific Work

    After graduation. Einstein worked at the Patent Office. He spent much time studying physics. By 1909, Einstein had become a top scientist. Though he became successful in the field of science, he still put great effort in scientific research. Finally, he won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921.

Later life

    Einstein kept at his research until he died in 1955. Scientists studied his brain(脑)after his death to see if there was anything special about it. However there was no conclusion(结论).

    Today, many famous scientists still think Einstein is the smartest man in the world.

    In March 2016, a group of people walked into a theater in New Mexico, USA to watch the movie Finding Nemo. The movie first hit the big screen in 2003 and it was a great success. Now it came back! What was special about it this time? It was dubbed(配音)  in Navajo. That's the language spoken by the Navajo, one of the biggest Native American tribes(美国土著部落). This movie wasn't made just for fun, though. It was made to save a dying language.

    The number of people who speak Navajo is dropping. In 20 14, only about 164, 000 people spoke it at home. That was down from about 173, 000 in 2005.

    Like many other Native American languages, Navajo has been in trouble for a long time. In the 1800s, thousands of Native American kids were forced to attend boarding schools. They were allowed to speak only English there. Over the years, fewer people learned their native languages. Some of these languages have been lost forever.

    Today, many Navajo kids aren't good at speaking Navajo. Some people worry that if today's kids don't learn Navajo and pass it down, the language could disappear.

Information Card

    Many people were really surprised last Wednesday when money started falling from the sky. The accident happened on Green Street. A company clerk（职员） was crossing the busy street with a bag. In the bag, there was 50,000 dollars. She was going to put the money in the bank. Suddenly, a strong wind blew her skirt up. The clerk put her hands on her skirt right away. But she dropped the bag at the same time. The wind blew the money into the air and it fell all over the street. She rushed to pick up all the money she could find at once, and a lot of people came to help her as well. But she could only get back 44,500 dollars.

    When the clerk went back to the company, she felt really worried. She thought she had to pay off （偿清） the lost money. However, after she told her boss what had happened, to her surprise, the boss didn't ask her to pay back the money. Instead, he told her to wear trousers to work from then on.

    I am Larry. I have some serious problems to tell you. Please listen to me carefully, will you?

    I am a bear and I live in the Arctic Pole (北极). I was very happy in the past because I like the cold weather. However, these years, the weather is getting warmer and warmer. And the water is getting very dirty.

    I can't stand it. Many friends and I will die off. What should we do? I think people should know the importance (重要性) of the clean environment. The serious pollution should draw their attention (注意力). They should not throw rubbish everywhere and they can't waste any paper. They should use the bikes more and the cars less. To save electricity (电), they should turn off the TVs and computers at once after using them.