Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhood．When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.

    We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn't a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.

    I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.

    I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.

    I had left the cage out on our back porch, and on the second day of the bird's captivity my new pet's mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.

    The following morning when I went to see how my captive（被俘虏的） was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.

    Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity.”

    Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.

    Most people who move to a foreign country may experience a period of time when they have a lot of stress in the new culture. This feeling is often called “culture shock” and it is important to learn how to deal with culture shock. First of all, you should know that everyone in a new situation will go through some form of culture shock. There are four general stages of cultural adjustment(适应).

    The first stage is usually referred to as the honeymoon stage. Upon arriving in a new environment, you'll be interested in the new culture. Everything will seem exciting, and everyone will seem friendly and helpful.

    The second stage is called the withdrawal stage. The excitement that you felt before changes to frustration(沮丧) as you find it difficult to deal with new problems. The language is hard to learn; friends are hard to make; simple things like shopping and going to the bank are challenges. It is at this stage that you are likely to feel anxious and homesick.

If you are one of those who manage to stick it out (坚持下来), you will enter the third stage—- the recovery stage. At this point, you'll feel more confident in the new culture. You'll start to understand and accept the way things are done and the way people behave in your new environment.

The last stage is the stability stage—- this is the point when people start to feel at home in the new culture. At this stage, you will behave well in the new culture, and prefer some aspects(方面) of the new culture to your own culture.

    There is, in a sense, a fifth stage to this process. If you decide to return home after a long period in a new culture, you may experience what is called “reverse culture shock”. This means that you may find aspects of your own culture “foreign”, because you're so used to the new culture. Reverse culture shock is usually pretty mild(温和的) and doesn't last for very long.

    Retired nurse Sue Collins was just beginning the second length of her local pool when her morning swim suddenly became anything but a pleasure.

    Two months ago Sue, 69, who has never suffered from asthma or any other breathing problem in the past, suddenly found herself hard for breath.

    “I felt as if my throat and oesophagus (食道) were closing up,” says Sue.

    Sue is convinced the problem is related to the indoor swimming baths. “I spend half the year in Turkey and swim every day outside in a pool or the sea there and never have this problem,” she says.

    She may be right, because although a trip to the pool is the perfect exercise for many, the chlorine (氯气) used to keep the water free from germs can lead to problems.

    But in most cases it's not the chlorine that causes problems, but the by-products formed when chlorine interacts with other substances — and this is mostly due to people not showering before they enter the pool.

    “This then poisons the water for them and for others,” says Dr. Hull. “The chlorine interacts with sweat and urine(尿素) on the skin and forms by-products called chloramines that float above the surface as a gaseous solution that can be inhaled in.”

    Chloramines are heavier than air so hang over the water where they are easily breathed in. Some believe they may cause lung disorders. A Swedish study in 2013 examining the health of 146 workers at 46 indoor pools found that 17 per cent had airway trouble at work — but no problems at home.

    As Dr. Hull says: ‘People need to remember that showering isn't just for them. It is for the greater good.'

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    I had offered to watch my 3-year-old daughter, Ramanda, so that my wife could go out with a friend. I was getting some work while Ramanda appeared to be having a good time in the other room. No problem, I figured. But then it got a little too quiet and I yelled out, “What are you doing? Ramanda” No response. I repeated my question and heard her say, “Oh, nothing?” Nothing? What does “nothing” mean?

    I got up from my desk and ran out into the living room, and then I saw her take off down the hall. I chased her up the stairs and watched her a little behind made a hard left into the bedroom. I was gaining on her! She took off for the bathroom. Bad move. I had her cornered. I told her to turn around. She refused. I pulled out my big, mean, authoritative(命令式的)Daddy voice, “Young lady, I said turn around!”

    Slowly, she turned toward me. In her hand was what was left of my wife's new lipstick. And every square inch of her face was covered with right red (expect her lips of course)!

    As she looked up at me with fearful eyes, lips trembling, I heard every voice that had been shouted to me as a child. “How could you… you should know better than that… How many times have you been told…What a bad thing to do…”It was just a matter of my picking out which old message I was going to use on her so that she would know what a bad girl she had been. But before I could let loose, looked down at the sweatshirt my wife had put on her only an hour before. In big letters it said “I'M A PERFECT ANGEL!” I looked back up into her tearful eyes and instead to seeing a bad girl who didn't listen, I saw a child of God …a perfect little angel full of worth, value and a wonderful spontaneity(自发行为)that I had come dangerously closet shaming out of her.

“Sweetheart, you look beautiful! Let's take a picture so Mommy can see how special you look.” I took the picture and thanked God that I didn't miss the opportunity to reaffirm(再肯定)what a perfect little angel he had given me.

    First published in 2001, the book Life of Pi written by Canadian author Yann Martel won the Man Booker Prize and an Asian American Prize for Literature. It is the story of a young boy named Pi who spends 227 days at sea with a small group of animals after disaster strikes their ship and is an account of his journey of survival and hardship.

    Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel, on whom Life of Pi is based, is a young boy living in Pondicherry, India, where his father owns a zoo. The story starts when Patel's family decide to move to Canada, along with their zoo animals for their new home.

    However, because of the bad weather, the ship sinks. Pi along with an orangutan (猩猩), an injured zebra, a hyena (鬣狗) and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker are the only survivors who take shelter in a small lifeboat. Both the injured zebra and the orangutan are soon killed and eaten by the hyena. The tiger in turn kills and eats the hyena, leaving just the two of them alone on the boat now.

    In an effort to avoid being eaten by Richard Parker, Pi acts himself as the head of the group and remains safe from harm. Since he does not want the tiger to die for fear of going mad by being alone on the boat, he fishes and feeds the two of them in order to stay alive.

    The life of Pi then enters its third stage when their lifeboat washes up on the shores of Mexico and the tiger escapes into a nearby forest leaving Pi alone. After the Mexicans refuse to believe Pi's story, he changes his tale by replacing the animals with his mother, a cook and a sailor and asks the Mexicans which one they prefer. They prefer hearing the first story though they do not believe a word of it.

    In my view, Life of Pi is a must read book for all those who love reading.

    Below is a web page from http://www.parents.com/ .

    Kid of the Year Photo Contest

    Enter your kid's photo today and win! We're giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers' Choice votes. PLUS our editors will select one entry (参赛作品) to win our grand prize of $7,000.

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    No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12:00 a.m. March 23, 2019, and ends on January 21, 2020 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must be received by 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2020 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

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