Round the World

    Mr and Mrs Spencer both had very busy jobs and didn't have much time to spend with their young children. They wanted to change this, and because their hobby was boating, they decided to sail round the world together.

    It took six years to prepare everything for the trip. First, they bought a new boat. Then, both the husband and wife had to take advanced(先进的) sailing lessons and learn all about the sea and the weather. Mr Spencer also did several courses in repairing engines and Mrs Spencer spent an hour in a restaurant learning to cut up fish.

    In October, they had one year off from their jobs and sailed away from England with their two children. The next year, in August, their long journey ended in Australia.

    The boat was not big, but they took a teacher for the children with them. None of them found the trip boring because there were three computers, many CDs, a TV and a DVD player on the boat.

    The family loved being at the sea and seeing the stars in the sky. But, most of all, Mr and Mrs Spencer enjoyed spending time with their children while they were still young.

    Some students, parents and teachers in Shanghai were surveyed last month. According to the result of the survey, the generation gap (代沟) between students and parents as well as teachers is becoming wider. Here is what they said.

     Voice of the students:

         “Our parents hold too high expectations（期待）which put us under lots of pressure（压力. They care too much about our lives and studies,” one student said.

    “It's impolite that some students' parents read their children's diaries without permission!”one student said angrily.

    “Some of our teachers are so serious that we can't make friends with them at all,” another student said sadly.

    Voice of the parents:

    One mother said, “After school, my daughter usually locks herself into her room and spends lots of time talking with others on the phone. And I can't stand her clothes and hairstyle!”

    “I thought my son was doing very well in his studies. I didn't realize I was being cheated (欺骗)by him until I got a call from his teacher,” said a father.

    Voice of the teachers:

    An English teacher said, “Today, the role of the teacher is to put knowledge into students' brain. The power teachers have kept students away from them.”

    “Some parents pay too much attention to their children's grades. They never create a lively and colorful environment at home,” another teacher said.

    “In the past, teachers and students often played games together or talked with each other. Today, only studies and grades are talked about,” said a teacher.

    Voice of scientists:

    Scientists say that a school should be a place where students can learn not only knowledge, but also how to face failure bravely enough.

    Mr Green is our foreign(外国的)teacher. He is a good teacher. He likes to teach us a lot, and he is nice to every student. His lessons are very interesting. we usually have fun in his classes. We all like him.

     He is a tall and strong man. He says he is 40 years old. But he looks very young. He comes from the USA. Now he lives in Nanjing with his family. He has a daughter. She is a pretty girl. And she studies at our school too.

    Mr Green is very"in". He can sing many English songs. We all like to listen to him singing. He also likes sports. He is in the school basketball team. Mr Green likes reading. He has lots of books. We often borrow books from him.

    I think we are lucky(幸运的)to have a teacher like Mr Green.

根据短文内容，完成下面的表格。（每空一词）

    THE HISTORY OF LIVING IN SPACE

    Space travel is nothing new. The first spacecraft with a human on board blasted into space In 1961. since then, people have not only been travelling to space, but many of them have also lived there for extended periods.

Food

    All the meals on space stations are put together on Earth and sent to the space station, along with the astronauts, by space shuttle. Because the food has to last a long time (sometimes up to three months), a lot of it has to be preserved by dehydration or canning.

    The space station does not have a freezer to preserve food, but It does have a cool room to keep fruit and vegetables fresh.

Astronauts also eat many other foods such as cereals, cereal bars, nuts and dried fruit that do not need any special preparation.

    Eating

    Astronauts have a set timetable each day. This tells them when to do everything, including when to have their meals. At meal preparation time, they start getting their food ready, which often includes adding water to re-hydrate the dehydrated foods.

    Without the help of gravity, sitting down to eat can be tricky. Astronauts sometimes have to strap themselves and their food into place. Because of lack of gravity, astronauts cannot use ground salt and pepper, and all drinks must be taken from bottles. They also have to be careful that crumbs do not fly off and get stuck in vents and instrument panels.

    When I was a child, my parents always told me that I never talk to strangers. This was part of a whole list of things I should never do: Never accept food or candy from strangers, never get in car with strangers, and so on.

    But if we didn't start conversation with strangers, we'd never make new friends. We would never get a job. ①We may miss the joy that comes from talking with strangers. And the more people you know, the more chances you can find.

    The following passage offers you some advice on how to ②break the ice.

    Don't just stare at your shoes. Go and say "Hi" to that new guy. It will be easier to break the ice if you know more about different cultures.

    British: Beautiful day, isn't it?

    The weather in Britain is changeable. So, it's one of the topics the British care most about. And there's a simple rule: Say "Yes" whether you agree with the person's idea on the weather or not. ③That's because the British start a conversation using the weather so that they can continue their talk.

    French: Where did you go on holiday?

    To talk with a French person, the safest way is to ask about his or her last holiday. French students enjoy a 10-to-15-dayholiday every two months. French employees(雇员 )get more than six weeks of holidays per year.

    American: So, where are you from?

    The US is so big and people move so often that location is always source(来源) of talk. You can try to find connection with the place they're from. For example, if someone is from Los Angeles, you could say, "Oh. I have friend who studied there."