Tony stops his car by the side of the road. He is very tired and wants to get some sleep. Just when he lies down on the seat, a man comes and asks him the time. He looks at his watch and says, “It's a quarter past eight in the morning. “ Tony tries to sleep again, but there is another knock on the window of his car. “Sir, do you know what time it is, please?” a woman asks. He has to look at his watch again and tells her, “It's half past eight a. m..”

    Tony can't sleep well because there are too many people knocking at his window. He writes a note and puts it on the window of his car. It says, “I don't know what time it is!”

    Once again Tony tries to get some sleep. Just at that time, a young man knocks at his window and says, “Hi, sir ! It's a quarter to nine a.m. now!”

    Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor^ Palace. Although Marco Polo was young, he was very clever and could speak some foreign languages. The Emperor was impressed by him. He asked Marco Polo to serve in his court (宫廷) and sent him to do many important tasks across the country.

    Marco Polo was amazed by the beautiful China. He was impressed by Beijing and the Emperor's Palace, especially the Summer Palace which he described as "The greatest palace that ever was..." The walls were covered with gold and silver and the hall was so large that it could easily seat 6,000 people for dinner.

    There were inventions and developments in China which were not used in Europe at that time. He was puzzled (困惑的) by the black stones people used to bum to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco Polo had never seen coal before!

In 1295, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco Polo returned to Italy. He was then a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down the stories that Marco Polo told him in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.

    Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco Polo's stories about China were too fantastic to be true. But Marco Polo always stood by his tales. Just before he died in 1324, Marco Polo was asked the question, "Were they all true?" And this was his answer, "I have only told half of what I saw!"

Baloo was an old brown bear. He enjoyed {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(teach) Mowgli. He taught him how to speak to the different Jungle-People,{#blank#}2{#/blank#}he taught him the important Master-Words. But Mowgli {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(real) got bored with all the lessons. One day, when he was not listening, Baloo was angry, and Mowgli {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(run) away unhappily. 

Bagheera was not happy about this. He said {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Baloo, "Remember how small he is.{#blank#}6{#/blank#} can his little brain remember all your long words? "

"These words will keep him safe from the Snake-People and all the other {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(animal), "said Baloo." It is {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(true) that he is small. But no on will hurt {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (he) if he remembers all the Master-Words. Come, Mowgli! "he called into the trees. "Come and say the words again. "

Mowgli climbed down from {#blank#}10{#/blank#} tree and came to sit next to them. "I will say the words to Bagheera, not you! " he said crossly(生气地).

Charles Darwin

Early years

Charles Darwin was one of the six children from a big family. His grandfather and father were doctors and the young Darwin went to Edinburgh University to study medicine. However, he hated to see blood and he soon realized that he couldn't be a doctor. He then went to Cambridge University and discovered that he had a great interest in studying plants, insects and animals. Luckily, one of Darwin's university teachers helped him join the perfect trip for a biologist: a voyage around the world to study nature.

The Beagle

In 1831, Charles Darwin left Plymouth on The Beagle, a ship that took him around the world for five years. While he was travelling, he studied the plants and animals in the countries and on the islands that the ship visited. Darwin also spent his time on The Beagle writing notes about the things he had seen. When he finally arrived back in Britain, Darwin was already starting to create his famous theory that all living things had a common ancestor (祖先).

Down house

At home at Down House, a place that you can still visit today, Darwin wrote many articles and books about his travels, but he didn't want to make anything about his theory known to the public. He worked in his study, where he wrote 250,000 words about his theory of evolution (进化论), but he was frightened about what people might say about his idea that monkeys were the ancestors of humans. He thought the public would be against it and was so frightened that he became ill with worry. However, when another scientist started to write about similar ideas, Darwin decided to print his book, On the Origin of Species.

Most scientists accepted Darwin's theory and people continue to study it today. On 12th February, the day he was born, Darwin Day is celebrated around the world to encourage more people to study the natural world.

I've always loved the radio.1 I was a child, I had a dream to be a presenter at a radio station or a TV station.I started to present shows for the school radio station at the age of ten.And I always expect to visit a radio or a TV station someday.

Yesterday my teacher took us to visit a radio station, I couldn't help being 2 . I 3 early in the morning and took a bus to the radio station with my classmates.We were so lucky that one director was4 and he showed us around the studio.We saw the programme that was on air in it.We had a chance to 5 a presenter and we were very happy.

 We knew that in order to 6 making mistakes, the presenter would practise what he would say many times.It seemed that he knew 7 everything about the national and international background and information.He knew what the listeners wanted very well.He would read the articles written by the part﹣time reporters many times 8 . He must know the 9 of the articles, and then got ready for the programme well.So everything is not easy to do. If we want to do 10 well, we must work hard, keep on practicing and get ready for it all the time.

 An aquanaut(潜水员) called Fabicn Cousteau drew many people's eyes. He helps to build the world's {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(large) underwater research(研究) station. He wants the building {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(be) an underwater form of the International Space Station (ISS). And it can be used by astronauts from different countries. It's not {#blank#}3{#/blank#} easy thing to do, but the idea receives much support(支持).

 The station, named Proteus, will be at the bottom(底部) of the sea. It will be a place for{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(scientist) to study the ocean.

 Inside the station, there will be bedrooms, laboratories, medical facilities(设施) and the{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(one) underwater greenhouse for growing food. Cousteau says that it will {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(take) three years to build.

{#blank#}7{#/blank#} he is short of money to develop the project, he is trying to raise money.

 Cousteau says that underwater research is even {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(important) than doing research in space, So far, people have known only about one fifth of the ocean floor {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(clear). There are still many possible things waiting {#blank#}10{#/blank#} people to find out. So Cousteau hopes the base will lead to many exciting discoveries.