阅读理解

Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in the world. He was born in 1942. He's a famous scientist and expert on space and time. Stephen is trying to find the answers to some very big questions, such as: how did the universe begin? How will it end? These questions are very hard for us to understand. But they are very important and can tell us many things about the universe.

Stephen studied Maths and science when he was a student at university. Then, at the age of twenty-one, he became sick. He was so young, but the doctors said to his family, “He has only two more years to live.” As a matter of fact, the doctors were wrong — he didn't die. He can't walk now but he uses a wheelchair. He can't feed himself and get in or out of bed himself. But he refuses to give in. He talks with the help of a computer. After Oxford, Stephen went to Cambridge University. Three years later, in 1965, he became a Doctor of Philosophy.

Because of his serious health problem, it was difficult for him to draw diagrams (图表) or write. So he started to think in pictures. With this new way of thinking, he became one of the most famous scientists in the world. In 1981, he met the Pope (教皇) in Rome. They talked about his ideas. Then in 1988, he wrote his first important book, A Brief History of Time. It was sold more than 5.5 million copies in 33 different languages. He was once invited to China. He impressed us with his self-confidence and humorous conversation.

A

    Little Tom likes cartoons very much. When the cartoons begin on TV, he does nothing until they're over. Sometimes he'd rather(宁可）wait for a long time and go to bed late. In the morning his mother has to wake him up, or he'll be late for school.

    Yesterday Tom heard there would be an interesting cartoon today. This morning, as soon as he got up, he turned on the television, but he didn't see the program on it. He had to have breakfast and then go to school. After school he ran home while his mother was cooking supper in the kitchen. He hurried to the sitting room and turned on the television again, but he couldn't find the cartoon. He rushed into the kitchen and asked his mother for help.

    “It's only five now，''said the woman. “Your program will be after supper. ”

    “Well，let's have supper right now!”

    Tony Wheeler was born to travel. His father worked for an airline. For the first 16 years of his life, Wheeler and his family lived in many counties.

    In the early 1970s, Tony met a young woman named Maureen. Soon they got married. Before getting jobs, Tony and Maureen wanted to travel. They took a year-long trip from England, through Asia, to Australia. On the trip, they visited places like Iran, India and so on.

    When Tony and Maureen arrived in Australia, people asked many questions about their trip. To answer these questions, Wheeler wrote a book called Across Asia on the Cheap. The book told people about different countries weather, customs, and places to see. But unlike other travel books of that time, Tony Wheeler's book also talked about places most tourists didn't go. He also wrote about special things to see and to do. The book was very popular.

    Tony and Maureen started a company called Lonely Planet. They went on traveling. They wrote books for each place they visited. Today, 800 people work for Lonely Planet. The company has over 650 books. Tony Wheeler, the great traveler, still writes about travels to many places and will bring us more surprises.

    Uncle Li and Uncle Wang are good friends. They live next to each other and their farms are both at the foot of the mountain. So they can help each other. But neither of them likes to use his head. They're both poor though they work hard. Most villagers have built new houses，but they still live in the low and broken houses. They never find out why.

    Once Uncle Li went to town to buy some medicine for his wife. In the town he heard the apples in a city were expensive. He told Uncle Wang about it as soon a she went back. They decided to carry some apples to the city. They borrowed some money from their friends and bought nearly 1, 000 kilograms of apples in the villages and carried them to the city on a tractor. Bad luck！A lot of apples have already been carried there when they arrived. A few days later they had to sell them at a low price. They felt unhappy and returned to their village.

    "I can't understand why we sustained（蒙受）losses in business while others always profit（盈利）. "Uncle Li asked one day.

    "The tractor was too small，"Uncle Wang said without thinking. "We'll carry more apples on a truck next time！"

    "I agree!" said Uncle Li. "How foolish we were!"