Maria is a beautiful young girl. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes. But she is still very insecure(缺乏信心的). She often thinks most of her friends are more beautiful than her. One day a new girl joined her class. Her name is Sarah. She has dark brown hair and green eyes. Maria thought the new girl was beautiful and wished she looked like her. One day she decided to take action.

    She went out and bought some hair dye（染发）. When she returned home, she told her mother what she planned to do.

    "It's your decision," said her mother sadly. "But I think you look beautiful as you are."

    Maria didn't hear what her mother said. She spent a few hours dyeing her hair dark brown. She felt much better and went to school happily the next day. As she reached her class she saw a new blonde girl sitting near the front. Later she knew it was Sarah. Sarah dyed her hair blonde. It was almost the same color as Maria's was before. Sarah turned around and Maria spoke to her.

    "Why do you dye your hair?" asked Maria.

    "Well, I always love your hair' said Sarah.

    Maria sat down and sighed(叹气).

    [1]Once, when there was a famine（饥荒）, a rich baker sent for twenty of the poorest children in the town, and said to them, “In this basket there is a loaf（面包）for each of you. Take it, and come back to me every day at this hour for more.”

    [2]The hungry children gathered eagerly about the basket, and fought over the bread because each wanted the largest loaf. At last they went away without even ______ the good baker.

    [3]Gretchen, a poorly dressed little girl, did not fight or struggle with the other children, but stood quietly in the distance（远处）, When the badly behaved children had left. Gretchen took the smallest loaf, which was all that was left in the basket. She kissed the baker's hand and went home.

    [4]第二天，孩子们表现得像以前一样糟糕。Gretchen got a loaf almost half the size of the one she got the first day. When she came home, her mother cut the loaf open. Many new shining pieces of silver fell out of it.

    [5]Her mother was very worried and said, “Take the money back to the baker at once. The silver must have fallen into the dough by accident. By quick, Gretchen!”

    [6]When the little girl gave the rich man her mother's message, he said, “It was no mistake, I had the silver pieces put into the smallest loaf to reward（奖赏）you. Always be as content（满足）,peaceable, and thankful as you now are. Go home now, and tell your mother that the money is yours to keep.”

的最佳选项。选项中有一项是多余选项。

    On Sept, 19,2014 Alibaba went public on the New York Stock Exchange (纽约证券交易所), raising $25 billion through an IPO (公司股票的首次公开发行), the biggest in the US history. It shows that Ma Yun has done his business successfully. The short Chinese man seems to be the tallest in the world right now. Ma, who was an English teacher, has become one of the richest men on the Chinese mainland.

    Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Ma grew up as a happy kid. At the age of 12, he wanted to learn English. Every morning, he woke up at 5 a. m., cycling 40 minutes to a hotel near the West Lake where he could chat with foreign tourists.

    On a trip to the US in 1995, Ma was shown the Internet for the first time. Seeing the chance, Ma returned to China and set up a website called China Pages without even knowing much about computers.

    Four years later, 18 people including Ma, his wife and his friends founded Alibaba in Hangzhou. People called him "Crazy Jack Ma". But 15 years later, Alibaba has developed into the world's largest e-commerce (电子商务) company.

    No one thinks he's mad now. Ma's favorite line has been printed on Alibaba's souvenir T-shirts. It reads, "Everybody should have a dream. What if that dream comes true?"

    A city without cars would be very strange, right? But Venice is such a city.

    Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It isn't built on land, like Beijing or Shanghai, but on more than 110 islands. Seawater is everywhere around the city.

    Even so, travel isn't difficult. The waterways have always been the best way to get around. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that can lead you where you want to go.

    People in Venice move from place to place by boat. They like to enjoy cool summer nights while taking boat trips. They can talk to other people as they go along.

    Venice grew out of small islands in saltwater lakes when some Italians escaped(逃跑)from a war more than 1,500 years ago, and built homes there.

    Water makes the city special, but it is also a big problem.

    Once, people used too much underground water. This made the city get lower, little by little. Now the city has gone down by 23 centimetres.

    Another problem is the rising seawater. The temperature has risen over the years. This has made arctic(北极的)ice melt.

    Scientists are trying different ways to stop the city from getting even lower.