A

    People have been making and flying kites for about 2,000 years. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Some historians believe it the ancient Chinese may have started kite flying 2000 years ago. It is still a popular hobby in China, Japan and Korea and in other countries of the Far East where beautifully decorated appear in different colors.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Simple kites are made by crossing two sticks and covering them with paper or cloth. Then you attach a string at the end. More expensive kites have frames made of fiberglass, plastic or aluminum. The name comes from a graceful bird called kite.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}A flat kite is the oldest and simplest type of kite.  It flies because air flows over and under the kite's wing. The pressure under the wing helps the kite lift into the air.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Early scientists sent kites up into the air to measure temperature at different heights. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin used a kite to prove that lightning was a form of electricity. He attached a metal key to the string of a kite. When lightning hit the kite, electricity passed down the string and Franklin got an electric shock. It was a very dangerous experiment that you shouldn't copy.

    Kites were also used to develop airplanes. The Wright Brothers experimented with kites before they flew the first airplane. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} In World War I the Germans developed a large kite that could transport people to a submarine. Kites were also used to carry radio signals over long distances.

    Today most people fly kites as a hobby. Kite festivals are organized in many cities in all parts of the world.

A. Kites are made in many different sizes, colors and shapes.

B. flying kites is great fun and it is easy if you know some secrets.

C. Kites have also been used in experiments.

D. No one knows for sure who invented the kite.

E. In Japan families fly fish kites on Children's Day, May5th.

F. Stories of kites were brought to Europe till the end of the 13^th century.

G. In the past, kites were sometimes used to take pictures in wars.

    Scientists investigated why Ebola virus is so deadly when it spreads from animals to humans and then from human-to-human contact. The research team looked at the Zaire Ebola virus in an animal system to understand how it gains strength. This virus is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. They found that initially the animal systems were not affected by the virus, but succeeding transmission(传送) into other animals caused the virus to “hot up” and become more severe.

    The team analyzed the viruses at different stages and were able to identify several changes in its genetic material that were associated with increased disease.

    Professor Julian Hiscox, who led the study from the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health, explains: “The work tells us that the evolutionary goal of Ebola virus is to become more fatal.”

    “We were able to show through genetic analysis which parts of the virus are involved in this process. The information we have gathered will now allow us to monitor for such changes in an outbreak as well as develop future treatment strategies.”

    Professor Roger Hewson, leading the study from Public Health England, Porton Down, said: “Ebola virus is such a destructive infection to the people affected by the disease and the economy of West Africa.”

    “Our understanding of Ebola virus biology is way behind that of other viruses and our cooperation shows how we can bring together our specialists' skills to close this knowledge gap.”

    Professor Miles Carroll, a co-author of the work, said: “This study has allowed the team to be at the forefront of developing methodologies to analyze patient samples recently taken by the European Mobile Laboratory from West Africa to understand disease evolution during the current outbreak.”

    In the fall of 1985, I was a bright-eyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty-one years later I am still a bright-eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.

    My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.

    Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic－and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No.3. In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.

    You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8! Our home was a complete zoo－a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college fulltime. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.

    The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.

    In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!

    I am not special, just single-minded. It always struck me that when you're looking at a big challenge from the outside, it looks huge, but when you're in the midst of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won't arrive in your life on one day. It's a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.

Dear Alcohol,

    You've been around forever. I can remember all the pain you've caused for me.

    Do you remember the night when you almost took my father's life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He's addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went spinning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn't the only one hurt by you that night.

    Do you remember the night of my first high school party? You were there. My friends were intrigued by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen completely. “I'm so embarrassed,” they said as I patted them on the back so that they could vomit(呕吐). “I'm sorry,” they said when I called taxies for them, walking them out and paying the drivers in advance. “This won't happen again,” they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night thanks to you.

    Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lessons? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car and killed the two people in the other car? He died the next morning too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn't realize her brother was in the midst of it at all. She never saw him again. And it's all your fault.

    I wish you'd walk out of my life forever. I don't want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you've caused. Sure, you've made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you've caused in the lives of millions is inexcusable. Stop luring(引诱) the people I love. Stop hurting me, please!

Sincerely,

Anonymous

    Barbara McCintock was one of the most import scientists of the twentieth century. She made important discoveries about genes（基因） and chromosomes （染色体）.

    Barbara McClintock was born in 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family moved to Brooklyn area of new York City in 1908. Barbara was an active child with interests in sports and music. She also developed an interest in science.

    She studied science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Barbara was among a small number of undergraduate students to receive training in genetics in 1921. Years later, she noted that few college students wanted to study genetics.

    Barbara McClintock decided to study botany, the scientific study of plants, at Cornell University. She completed her undergraduate studies in 1923. McClintock decided to continue her education at Cornell. She completed a master's degree in 1925. Two years later, she finished all her requirements for a doctorate degree.

    McCintock stayed at Cornell after she completed her education. She taught students botany. The 1930s were not a good time to be a young scientist in the United States. The country was in the middle of the great economic Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed. Male scientists were offered jobs. But female geneticists were not much in demand.

    An old friend from Cornell, Marcus Rhoades, invited McClintock to spend the summer of 1941working at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It is a research center on Long Island, near New York City. McClintock started in a temporary（临时的）job with the genetics department. A short time later, she accepted a permanent （永久的） position with the laboratory. This gave her the freedom to continue her research without having to teach or repeatedly ask for financial aid.

    By the 1970s, her discoveries had an effect on everything from genetic engineering to cancer research. McClintock won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1983for her discovery of the ability of genes to change positions on chromosomes. She was the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize.