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.

    It is said that about half of the people in China smoke．Many young boys and girls have the habit of smoking，though they are middle school students．

    More and more people have come to realize how serious this problem is．But they are never bored with it．Some people think it is a kind of fashion，some think it is of great fun and others think that smoking can refresh(提神)themselves．

    (A)Smoking causes many illnesses ． A lot of people always cough(B)           smoking．The most serious illness caused by smoking is lung cancer(肺癌)．At the same time smoking is a waste of money．Besides，careless smokers may cause dangerous fire．

    (C)我们都知道吸烟对我们的健康有害。In order to keep healthy，we should get rid of the bad habit of smoking．Please stop smoking at once．

    My name is Xia Jun. I come from Changsha. Now I live in Foshan with my aunt. My favourite star is Kobe. I think he's a very good basketball player. I want to be like him, so I play basketball every day.

    I have a new friend in Foshan. His name is Chen Xun. He is a reporter (记者). Chen Xun is twenty-six years old. He is from Harbin. This boy is very great. He plays basketball very well. I can learn a lot about basketball from him. He likes taking photos and dancing. Chen Xun and I both like travelling (旅游). We plan to go to Yunnan next week. I think we'll have a great trip (旅行).

⑴题判断正误；⑵题完成句子；⑶～⑷题简略回答问题；⑸题将文中划线句子译成汉语。

    Many young people would like to go to west China to help children to study. One of them, Lu Yi, was a university student. One day, when she went to a small village in Guizhou, she saw the poor children herself. She felt sad. She thought she should do something for them. So she decided to stay there and to be their teacher. Money is the biggest problem for her. But she didn't give up. She worked hard and her students like her very much. After graduation(毕业), she went back to that village at once and she worked as a volunteer teacher for five years. She worked hard and her students liked her very much. When the journalist at the CCTV Station interviewed her, she said she liked being a good influence(影响). She said she hoped to change the poor children's lives. She enjoyed the time as a volunteer very much. She would try her best to help the poor children.

Information Card

    A young lady was driving a family car home with her father when they were caught in a heavy storm. The young lady was a little afraid and asked her father. "What should I do, stop or keep driving?"

    Her father said, "Keep driving."

    After driving a few kilometers, the storm was becoming heavier and heavier. The young lady noticed that some cars and big transport trucks were pulling over（靠边停）to the side of the road. The young lady asked her father again if they should stop. But her father said nothing. So, she had to keep on driving.

    Ten minutes later, the storm started to become small and she could see a little more clearly. After a couple of kilometers, she drove out of the storm. Moreover, the sun came out and the road ahead was dry.

    Her father told her to stop and get out of the car.

    "But why now, Father?" she asked in surprise.

    Her father said, "When you get out, you can look back at all the people in cars and big trucks that gave up and they are still in the storm. Now, your storm is over because you didn't give up.

    Don't give up, even if the stronger do. If you keep going, soon your "personal storms" will be over. The sun will shine on you again and the road ahead will be dry and clear.

    Do you have a tail? Of course not, we know. But tails are like opinions, actually, everyone has them: fishes, birds, most reptiles, and even some of our closest relatives

    Since tails first evolved(进化) at least 500 million years ago. Geckos (壁虎)use them to store fat. birds use them to steer through the air, But for most mammals (哺乳动物).{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Yet, as you get closer to humans on the evolutionary tree, tails disappear, Gorillas(大猩猩)don' t have them, and neither do chimps(黑猩猩) or any other apes (类人猿) including us, of course, To understand why, take a look at how we walk.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}walking like this gives us a huge advantage because unlike four﹣legged animals. which have to pour energy into every step they take, two legs take advantage of gravity(重力),which does some of the work for us. You see, each time we take a step, gravity pulls us forward. The end result is that when we walk, we use around 25% less energy than walking on all fours, and this way of getting around also totally eliminate (淘汰) the need for a tail.

    It's said that you can still see a reminder of a time when our ancient ancestors had one. Just look at a human spine(脊椎).{#blank#}3{#/blank#}That's your tailbone. It's all that's the rest of our tail.

    Now, babies are born with what looks like a tail, but that's not what's really going on. Most often, these tails are actually a parasitic twin(寄生虫). These types of tails usually form as a birth defect(瑕疵).{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    So the tail of humans has gone, it's the result of evolution millions of years Will humans be much taller, stronger or smarter in the future?