Read a Timeline

Every family has a history. A timeline can show events in a family's history. A timeline is an ordered group of words and dates that shows when events happened. 

Learn the skill   

Step1 The title tells what the timeline is about. The timeline has a line divided in equal parts. Each park stands for 10 years.

Step2  Look at the first and last numbers on the timeline. The numbers are years. The events on the timeline happened between these years.

    Tom is a TV reporter. An amazing thing happened to Tom yesterday evening. He was walking alone on his way home when he saw bright lights in the sky. Then a spacecraft(航天器) showed up. At first he thought it was orange and white, and it was coming closer and closer. Then it stopped a few metres above the ground. He saw two people inside. They had big ears and small eyes, but no hair. Tom thought they were aliens. He had a camera with him then, but he was too scared to take a photo. Then he began to feel weak and fell to the ground. An hour later, he woke up. He found himself lying on the grass in front of his house. He couldn't explain how he got there. Of course he told his friends about this strange experience. All of them said he was kidding.

    Sam hated doing chores. And he had many chores. For example, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he took out' the rubbish. And on weekends he always washed his father's car. He also cleaned his own room once a week. Sometimes he even had to (1) look after "his little sister and brother.

    Sam had a foreign friend at school. His name was Kumar. Doing chores in Kumar's family was very different. In the house only the girl did chores. His sisters made all the beds and cleaned all the rooms too, even his bedroom. His mother always cooked the meals, and his sisters helped her to go shopping, and prepare(准备) the food. They worked hard at home, doing all the chores with their mother. So when Kumar talked to his friend Sam about chores, he felt very lucky. One day, Sam had an idea. He asked Kumar, "Could I borrow your sisters?" He wanted them to help him clean his room, but (2) they said "no". Instead  (相反), they asked Sam to teach their brother how to do chores, so that he could make his own bed.

Sam and Kuimar are very good at science. They are going to be scientists after university. They want to make a robot to do the chores. Then everyone一mothers and fathers, sons and daughters- will be happy!

任务一: 根据短文,回答问题。

Environmental protection is one of the hottest topics nowadays. It was also something that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world's earliest environmental protection idea, ministry （部门） and law were all born in China. How did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?

The world's earliest idea of "managing state affairs（政事）through environmental protection"

Xunzi, a famous thinker in the Warring States Period, came up with the idea of "managing state affairs through environmental protection". He wrote in his book that vegetation（植被）should be protected well by humans.

Guan Zhong, a government officer 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. He said "a king who cannot protect his vegetation is not doing a good job".

The world's earliest environmental protection ministry"

Nine ministries set up by Shim, an ancient Chinese emperor, included "Yu"（虞） , an environmental protection ministry. Hie first " Yu'' leader was Boyi, an environmental protection expert. He invented wells so people could drink clean water. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.

The world's earliest "environmental protection law"

Over 4, 000 years ago, Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert and also an emperor, made a rule, not allowing people to cut down trees in March or catch fish in June, because it was the time when they grew quickly.

Almost 3,000 years ago, Tianlv, the first environmental protection law, appeared in Qin. It recorded many ancient environmental protection rules. Two of them were interesting: firstly, rivers should not be blocked（堵塞）; secondly, grass and trees should not be burned to be fertilizer （肥料）except for summer. The second one is inspiring even for today. It can help to keep air clean and fresh.

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