阅读短文，按要求完成下列各题。

     “Who did this？”asked Miss Green.

    There were 30 children in the classroom and all were trying to think about not only what they did, but also what our teacher already knew.

    “Who broke this window?”  

    “Uh, Oh.” I thought. I was the one who broke the window with a football. I did not mean to do it. I would be in a lot of trouble. How could I pay for a big window like that? I didn't want to put up my hand. But I had to tell the truth. So, I raised my hand and told the teacher I broke the window.

    Miss Green went to the bookcase and took down a book.“I know how you like birds, Peter.” She said .“Here is a book about birds and the book is yours now. I will not punish you this time. But Peter, you should remember that I am rewarding （奖赏）you for your honesty（诚实）, not for breaking the window.”

    I couldn't believe it! The teacher didn't punish me and I was getting my very favorite book. Now, I still use that book, and it always reminds me of (使我想起)the lesson my teacher taught me. Honesty is always best.

B

Venus is close to Earth．It is the second planet from the Sun．Earth is the third planet from the Sun．Venus is similar to Earth in size and mass (质量).It is often described as Earth's“sister”.

    Scientists have been learning about Venus for a long time．First they looked at Venus through telescopes(望远镜)．But Venus is covered with thick(厚的)clouds．Scientists could not see Venus well through the clouds．So they made guesses about it．

    For a long time, scientists thought that Venus had water and plants．They thought Venus might have animals，too．But they didn't know for sure．

    Then scientists found a way to learn more about Venus．In the 1960s，they began sending probes (航天探测器) to Venus．The probes flew through the thick clouds．They took pictures of Venus up close．They found out many things ,too．The probes sent the pictures and things they found out back to the scientists．

    The scientists learned a lot from the probes．First they learned that most of their guesses were not right．And they learned that Venus is very hot．

    After that，scientists knew they could not send people to Venus．But they still wanted to know more about it．So they sent new probes．These new probes took great pictures of the planet．The pictures showed that Venus has plains(平原)and mountains! And in some ways，Venus looks like Earth．

    A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind. Please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(认出) his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

    Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    When Ana Dodson was 11 years old, she travelled to Peru. She went on more than just a vacation. She was visiting her native country.

    Ana was born in Peru, but she was adopted(领养)by an American family and grew up in the USA. While in Peru, Ana wanted to know what her life could have been like if she had not been adopted. She visited several orphanages, including one in the hills of Cuzco, near her birthplace.

    "The orphanage was really cold and dry," Ana said. "The paint was falling off. The girls were in poor health."

    When Ana returned home, she kept thinking of the orphanage in Cuzco." I really couldn't get the girls out of my mind, and I really wanted to do something because I could have been one of those girls in that orphanage."

    Ana decided to start a group called Peruvian Hearts to help. Her goal was to improve orphans' living conditions. In the first two years, Peruvian Hearts raised about $18, 000 for the orphanage. The group also bought a chicken coop(鸡舍)so the girls can eat fresh eggs.

    Ana's efforts have been noticed. She won a Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes. The prize is given to kids who make a difference. Ana says any kid can do what she did. "Really believe in yourself, and follow your heart, "she says.

    Many people seem to know well about the rain forests. Some people even go to the rain forests to spend some of their time trying to make friends with the plants and animals there. The scientists are actually hard at work studying the plants that grow in the very top level of a rain forest. Rain forests are one of the richest environments on Earth. They are home to millions of species of plants and animals. The red research raft provides scientists with a platform from which to study life in the treetops. Scientists can even sleep on the raft, so they can stay up in the treetops for days at a time.

    Rain forests cover only about 6 percent of Earth's land surface. However, they contain more than half of the plant species on Earth. Many of these plants provide useful medicines to use against human diseases. In fact, about 25 percent of prescription medicines in the United States are based on chemicals from rain forest plants. Scientists think that many new medicines might be developed from plants that are yet to be discovered.

    Unluckily, rain forests are disappearing. Rain forest trees are being cut down for wood. Huge chunks of the forests are cleared to provide land for farm animals and crops. Scientists haven't identified all the plants in these forests yet. Some scientists think thousands of kinds of plants that we'll never even know about are being destroyed each year.