短文理解  阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C三个选项中，选出最佳选项回答问题或完成句子。

    Why is clean water so important to developing countries? A recent report shows that about 80 percent of diseases in developing countries are caused by poor water and low sanitation（卫生）conditions. In those countries, women and girls spend several hours collecting water, but often polluted, far away from their families. The polluted water more or less influences their health. In this case, there is an urgent（迫切的）need for people in developing countries to have access to（有机会或权利使用）clean water to improve their health.

    Here is a short story about Hadjara Zakari, a 12-year-old girl in Niger. Having access to clean water changed her life. She learned about the importance of hand-washing when the school first received clean water three years ago. That evening, she told her father, "You shouldn't eat with me unless you clean your hands." Her father was very angry and shouted at her, "It's not up to you to tell me what to do!"Stunned（目瞪口呆的），Hadjara sat in silence. But she knew she was right. In protest,Hadjara refused to eat dinner that night. After her father questioned Hadjara's head teacher, he understood the importance of hand-washing and his daughter's intentions（目的）. The girl really wanted her family to live longer and healthier lives.

    For people in developing countries, clean water can change many things, especially improve their health. So, from now on, let's avoid wasting water and take action to save water, which is important to people all over the world.

阅读理解

You Can Make a Windsock(风筒)

    Have you ever seen a windsock blowing in the wind? Well, you can make one of your own! This is a fun project that you can do with things you may have. You just need to follow a few easy steps.

You will need:

●one piece of heavy colored paper   ●five ribbons

●strong tape       ●a string

●a pencil

What to do:

Step 1: Draw pictures on the paper. You can write your name on it. Do anything that will make it special to you.

    Step 2: Make the paper into the shape of a tube. Hold one of the shorter edges(边缘) over the other. Then make them together with the tape at each end and in the middle.

Step 3: Use a pencil to make a hole into both sides of the tube. The holes should be only on one end of the tube. Pull the string through both holes. Then tie the ends of the string together.

    Step 4: Now make five holes around the top of the other end of the tube.Put a ribbon through each of the holes. Tie a knot in the ends.

    Make sure the knots are bigger than the holes.

    Now your windsock is ready to use, but how does it work? The shape of the tube plays an important part. Wind blows through the tube and makes it fly and dance around. Hold the windsock up in the air by its string and run around. It will fly behind you. You can also hang it outside and watch it dance around on its own!

    Life will be different in the future, because many changes will come. But what will the changes be? Let's have a look now.

    Children will not use pens or books in the future. Every student will have a computer at school. Just use their computers and they will find everything they are interested in.

    People will wear a kind of clothes. They are made of newspapers. People don't have to wash them because the clothes won't get dirty.

    People needn't work for eight hours a day. They will have more free time for sports, watching TV and family trips.

    Robots will help people to clean the room. What's more, they can play chess with people, play the piano and talk to people.

    I think we will live a happy and healthy life in the future.

    Fraser Island is in Queensland, Australia, about 200 kilometers north of Brisbane. It is about 120 kilometers long and 240 kilometers wide. It is a very important island because it is completely made of sand. In fact, it is the largest sand island in the world. There is no airport on the island, but there is a long beach along the east coast. Planes arrive and leave from here.

    The sand makes unusual shapes. There are hills made of sand called sand blows. Nothing grows on them. They move one or two meters a year from the northwest towards the southeast of the island, getting bigger and bigger. At other places on the island, such as Rainbow Gorge, The Cathedrals and Red Canyon, the sandy rocks have different colors. Sometimes the rocks are so brown that they turn the sea brown, like coffee.

    Surprisingly, the sandy island has a lot of different plants and animals. There are dark forests—eucalyptus woods, beautiful flowers and over a hundred lakes. There are many kinds of birds, like owls and curlews. There are many animals there, too, such as crocodiles, flying foxes and wild dogs called dingoes.

    About 500,000 people visit the island every year to see the island's beauty and nature. People enjoy camping and hiking（徒步）there. Unluckily, the visitors create problems. They damage plants and frighten animals. Their sun cream（防晒霜）makes the water dirty. So it is necessary to manage the visitors. For example, people may not use motor boats or go fishing in the lakes, and they need official papers to drive there.

    Man has a big brain（大脑）. He can think, learn and speak. Scientist once thought that men are different from animals because they could think and learn. They know now that dogs, rats, birds can learn too. They are beginning to understand that men are different from animals because they can speak.

    Animals cannot speak. They make noises when they are afraid, or angry or happy. Apes（类人猿）can understand some things more quickly than men. One or two of them have learnt a few words. But they cannot put words together to make sentences. They cannot think as we do because they have no languages. The language is a wonderful thing. Man is able to build a modern world because he has language.

    Each child can speak his own language very well when he is four or five, but no animal learns to speak. How do children learn it? Scientists don't know. They only know that man can speak because he has the brain.