Death Valley is a huge place. It is more than 225 kilometers across the southern part of the state of California, and across the border (边界) with the state of Nevada.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It can be dangerously cold during the winter months. The air temperature during the summer can be as high as 57℃. The heat of Death Valley has killed people in the past. It will continue to kill those who do not honor the climate. Death Valley does not forgive (原谅) those who are not careful.

    Death Valley was named by a woman in 1849. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Thousands of people from other parts of the country traveled to the gold mining (开采) areas in California. They were in a hurry to get there before other people did.

    Many people were not careful. They made bad choices or wrong decisions. One group of people had reached Death Valley by December. They avoided the terrible heat of summer, but there was not enough water. There were few plants for their work animals to eat. The people could not find a pass through the tall mountains to the west of the valley. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They had to kill their work animals for food and began to walk out of the valley.

    As they left, one woman looked back and said, “Good-bye, death valley.” {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

A. Slowly, they ran out of food.

B. Death Valley has a long history.

C. The name has never been changed.

D. Death Valley is a beautiful but dangerous place.

E. That was the year after gold was discovered in California.

Do you think all plants need light, soil and water?   ①   . Some plants “eat” meat. These plants usually grow in places with poor soil. This soil can't give them all the food they need, so the plants have found another way of getting it —-by eating insects(昆虫) and other small creatures. Don't be afraid, though.   ②   . Plants only eat people in the books and film.

    One famous meat-eating plant is the flytrap(捕蝇草). Insects fly into the plant and then the leaves trap them inside.   ③   . Curious insects go inside for a taste and discover that the flower is slippery. They slide down and become the plant's next meal.

       ④   . You can grow them in flower-pots,but you must water them often.

A. Then you are wrong.

B. Another meat-eating plant, the pitcher(捕虫草), has a sweet, sticky drink.

C. They won't eat you.

D. Keeping some of these plants at home is easy.

    Once a king got two nice falcons(猎鹰) from his son. He had never seen such beautiful falcons before. He loved them so much and he ordered the best falconer to train them to fly.

    After several months, the king came to see how the training was going on. He found that one falcon had already been able to fly high in the sky, while the other one was staying on the branch(树枝) of a tree quietly without moving.

    The king called all his falconers together and ordered them to try every way they could to make it fly. But none of them succeeded. One day, while the king was taking a walk in the forest, an idea came to his mind. He decided to find someone who knew the natural environment well to solve the problem. Then he sent for a farmer who lived in the forest into his palace to train it at once.

    The next morning, the king saw the other falcon flying above in the sky freely. "It is unbelievable!" shouted the king. "How could you make it happen?"

    The farmer replied, “It's very easy. I just cut off the branch where the falcon rested.”

    It is always the same to humans. We all have "two flying wings in our hearts as well, but we often seem not to notice them and stay where we feel safe and comfortable. We won't realize we can fly so high and freely until the "branch" we are resting on breaks.

    Great white sharks (鲨鱼) in the Pacific Ocean. Wildebeest (角马) in Africa. Arctic terns (北极燕鸥) in the Atlantic. At first, these animals seem quite different. One swims, one walks, and the other flies. But they all have one thing in common. They all migrate (迁徙).

    Some migrating animals move to a place with better temperatures. Some go to find food or water. The groups travel as one, but during the trip, they face many different challenges.

    One challenge is distance (距离). Some migrating animals take very long trips. For example, one great white shark swam from Australia to South Africa and back. In nine months, it swam about 20, 000 kilometers!

    Another challenge is finding enough food or water during the journey. For example, each Mali elephant needs over 200 liters (升) of water each day. To get this, they need to go from one waterhole to another.

    Besides, migrating animals have to keep away from other animals because they want to eat them. The zebra (斑马) has to avoid lions. Traveling as a group helps keep them safe. When one zebra is in trouble, the other members make a circle around it.

    By working as a group, migrating animals travel to live better lives.

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    Tom is a cool boy. He is from America. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} His birthday is on November 21st. Every year he has a birthday party at home. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They sing the song Happy Birthday to him. They often have a good time. Tom likes blue T-shirts and black trousers, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} His favorite subject at school is Chinese because it's interesting and useful. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} So he makes some pen pals(笔友)in China and often talks with them in Chinese. He likes tomatoes and milk. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} He is a healthy and nice boy.

A. Many friends come to his party.

B. But it is difficult for him

C. He is thirteen years old now.

D. For breakfast, he has them every day.

E. He thinks he looks cool in them

    How do people find their inner talent (潜力)? British author Kenneth Robinson talked about this at TED. He told the story of Gillian Lynne, a dancer and a choreographer (编舞者) who has worked on many famous musicals (音乐剧).

    Gillian Lynne never did well in school as a child. She couldn't sit for long and often found herself moving restlessly (不安地). Her mother was really worried about her. She took Lynne to a doctor and told the doctor the problems Lynne was having in school. Then, the doctor said to Lynne, "I need to speak to your mother first. Wait here."

    As they left the room, the doctor turned on the radio. He then said to Lynne's mother, "Just stand and watch her." Later they found Lynne start dancing to the music on the radio.

    The doctor then turned to Lynne's mother and said, "Mrs. Lynne, your daughter isn't sick. She's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."

    So the mother did. Lynne found there were many people like her in the new dance school. They all had to move their bodies to think. Lynne later went to the Royal Ballet School (皇家芭蕾学校) one of the world's greatest dance schools, and became a great dancer, she worked on some of the most successful musicals in history, such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera (《歌剧魅影》). It is hard to believe that years ago, somebody else would just put her on medication (药物治疗) and tell her to calm down.