Captain James Cook was a famous English explorer(探险者). He was the first European to visit many Pacific islands. He put these islands on maps around the world.

 James Cook was born in1728. His parents were poor farm workers. James started to work on ships as a sailor when he was eighteen. When he was twenty-seven, he went into the navy(舰队). He fought a war in Canada and made maps of some of the eastern coast there.

 In1768, the King of England sent him to explore the Pacific Ocean. Cook spent three years on that trip. He went to the Pacific again in 1772 and made maps of the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.

 He began his third trip in 1776. This time he went to the North Pacific and made maps of the west coast of North America. When he finished making maps there, he went to Hawaii. Then the sailors and the Hawaiians  started fighting and some Hawaiians killed Captain Cook.

 Captain Cook took gifts to the Pacific Islander·. He gave them cattle, sheep, goats and new plants. He was a very good leader of his men.  When Captain Cook died, the world 1ost one of the greatest explorers in history.

 Judge the following sentences true( T) or false( F) according to the passage.

      Bob is eleven years old. One day, his friend Jenny said to him, “I'm going to have a birthday party on Saturday. Bob, can you come?”

      Bob asked his mother, and his mother said, “Yes, you can go.” On Saturday afternoon, his mother said to him again, “Now, Bob, when you go to the party, you must be polite(礼貌的), and don't ask for food until someone gives it to you. ”

     “All right, Mom.” Bob said, and he went to Jenny's house by bike.

      There were many children at the party. They played games for about an hour, and then Jenny's mother gave them some food, but she forgot Bob and didn't give him any. After a long time, he took up his plate（盘子）and said loudly, “Does anyone want a nice clean plate?”

Michael Jackson is one of the world's best singers. Michael Jackson was born in the middle west of the city of Gary, Indiana, in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group “The Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. They started singing in 1965, and became popular soon. In 1970 the group made their first record with the name of “I Want You Back”. It was very popular. One of their hit records was “Never Say Goodbye”.

Michael was good at dancing as well as singing, for example, his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time, and in the same year he made a record on his own, which sold eight million copies all over the world.

    Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint(晕倒) when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raised money for charity. This made him win the Guinness World Records(吉尼斯世界记录) in 2006. He died on June 25^th, 2009, but he would live in our heart forever.

    Fifteen hours is a long time to be on a plane, but you know, Africa is a long way from America. Finally, we're in Namibia, a country in southwest Africa. Namibia is about one size of California. However, it is home to just over two million people. And the country's main airport is 45 kilometers east of its capital, Windhoek.

    Now we are in a wildlife park. We will spend five days finding ways to protect this area's wildlife. At the moment, my wife and our two kids are enjoying some local dishes. I'm talking with workers in this park. I'm so much looking forward to the following days!

—Thomas

    Yesterday morning, I had nothing to do. So I went to visit the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of Paris. It was my first time there, so I took a lot of photos.

    Finally, the big moment came! A lot of artists came to watch my show. It was a great success. After the show, I attended a big party. It was great, but I felt so sleepy after it.

    When I got back to my hotel, it was already1:15 am. I went to bed without washing. I just needed a good rest before my two—hour journey home by plane.

—Jessica

Meeting a polar bear

I put my day's supply of food into my bag and then began to take down the tent. Suddenly I heard a deep, long growl (嚎叫) from my dog Charlie. I looked at him and then in the direction he was watching closely. A polar bear!

It was a mother 1 by two cubs coming slowly towards me. They were 200 meters away. With a pounding (狂跳) heart, I picked up my flare (照明) gun and 2 walked sideways a few steps to Charlie. Without taking my eyes off the bear, I untied Charlie and, again walked sideways.

The bear, now only 150 meters aways, wasn't stopping. Her cubs had dropped back but she kept going, while I tried to remember all the 3 that had been given. Keep eye contact, move sideways or forward, never backward, stay calm, don't show 4 . Don't wound a bear and you'll make it 5 to control it. Never run. Repeating to myself, "Stay calm, stay calm," I fired a warning shot (射击) to the bear's left. The loud noise had no 6 . She came around. I fired a flare, landing it a little to her right. Her head moved in its direction but she didn't stop. I fired another, this time dropping it right in front of her. She stopped, looked at the flare. She was only 30 meters away now.

By this time, I was so nervous that my heart could have been heard at base camp. The bear began to step around the flare, and I dropped another a meter in front of her. again she 7 , and then she fixed her tiny black eyes on Charlie, who was trying to reach her. She looked back at her cubs, waited, and then moved to my left in a half circle. I fired two more flares, trying to draw a line between her and me. She stopped again and seemed to want to 8 the line of flares but was unsure of the result and of Charlie, so she decided to stay 9 . Finally, with a last long look, she walked north with her cubs behind her.

My hands were still shaking, but I now knew that I could 10 a bear in the wild bravely and stay calm enough to act properly.