John and Jack met at the old bench every afternoon. Then they played football. But they didn't have enough money to buy a real football. So Jack made a ball out of old socks covered with a piece of plastic. Every time, the two friends didn't stop kicking and running until very late.

    On Monday afternoon, John and Jack met again at the old bench. Soon the home-made ball was running across the grass. The boys laughed and shouted happily. The ball was stopped by a boy wearing a nice pair of sports shoes. John was upset when he saw it was Steven.

    The next morning, John's mother gave him a bill. “Your uncle sent you a birthday present.”She smiled. John's eyes grew big when he saw the ＄100 bill. Later that day, his mother bought a pair of new sports shoes and a real football.

    That afternoon Steven invited John to play football. Steven did not want Jack to join them only because Jack's sports shoes were dirty. When the game was over, John and Steven walked past the old bench where Jack was sitting. Steven picked up a stone and threw it at him. John, holding his new football in his hands, walked on and did not look back.

    Several days later, as John walked past the old bench, he saw something lying under it. He looked closer and saw it was the home-made ball. John was full of sadness when he saw the ball. As his sadness turned to anger, he picked up his new football and kicked it into the air. Then he walked to the beach, sat down and waited.

C

    In England, people often talk about the weather because they can experience (经历) four seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the late afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun will begin to shine, and it will be like in summer at this time of a day.

    In England, people can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter they can swim sometimes, and in summer sometimes they should take warm clothes.

    When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella (伞) or a raincoat with them on a sunny morning, but you should not laugh at them. If you don't take an umbrella or a raincoat, you will probably regret (后悔).

    Most of us spend a third of our lives sleeping. Scientists have been studying the brain to learn what happens while we sleep. Scientists tell us that there are four stages(阶段)of sleep. During each stage our brain behaves differently, and so does our body. Each stage is marked by changes in the pattern of brain waves, which can be recorded by machines.

    In the first stage, we drift off to sleep. Our muscles(肌肉)begin to relax. Our heartbeat and breathing slow down. Body temperature and blood pressure(压力)begin to drop. Stage-two sleep is a time of small, fast brain waves. Our eyes move quickly from side to side as if watching a movie. This is known as rapid eye movement, or REM sleep. During REM sleep, dreaming takes place. In stage three the brain wave becomes slower again.

    Within about 45 minutes after falling sleep, we progress into the fourth stage – deep sleep. As this happens, our brain sends out slower but larger brain waves. This is the most restful kind of sleep, but it is also the time when sleepers are most likely to change positions or sleepwalk. After deep sleep we return to stage two. As the hours pass, we repeat the sleep cycle four or five times. Then we wake up.

    Sun bears(马来熊)are the smallest of the world's eight bears species(物种). They have a black coat and a white or golden colour on their bodies. Their homes are in the tropical(热带雨林)of Southeast Asia. They live in trees and eat both plants and animals. They can grow to be 1.4 metres in height and 65 kilograms in weight. They usually live alone and are happy to spend most of their time by themselves.

    Scientists studied sun bears in the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center. They found that although sun bears live alone, they have developed a surprising social skill. They can copy (模仿) other sun bear's facial expression (面部表情) as a form of communication. They can even copy exact muscular (肌肉的) movements that other sun bears make— such as making a face.

    The ability to copy facial expressions is found in humans, gorilla's (大猩猩), some monkeys and some other animals. But until now, only humans and gorillas have the ability to exactly copy facial expressions. However, scientists found that sun bears can copy facial expression as well as humans and gorillas. This surprised them because sun bears are alone and they have no close relationship with human beings.

    Although they live alone in the wild, the sun bears in the study often played gently with each other. Sometimes they played with faster actions as hitting and biting. Scientists are still not sure what messages the sun bears were sending to one another.