Captain James Cook was a famous English explorer(探险者). He was the first European to visit many Pacific islands. He put these islands on maps around the world.

 James Cook was born in1728. His parents were poor farm workers. James started to work on ships as a sailor when he was eighteen. When he was twenty-seven, he went into the navy(舰队). He fought a war in Canada and made maps of some of the eastern coast there.

 In1768, the King of England sent him to explore the Pacific Ocean. Cook spent three years on that trip. He went to the Pacific again in 1772 and made maps of the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.

 He began his third trip in 1776. This time he went to the North Pacific and made maps of the west coast of North America. When he finished making maps there, he went to Hawaii. Then the sailors and the Hawaiians  started fighting and some Hawaiians killed Captain Cook.

 Captain Cook took gifts to the Pacific Islander·. He gave them cattle, sheep, goats and new plants. He was a very good leader of his men.  When Captain Cook died, the world 1ost one of the greatest explorers in history.

 Judge the following sentences true( T) or false( F) according to the passage.

    It was a cold snowy morning after the winter vacation. And it was my first day at my new school. I was walking alone slowly and worrying about lots of things. It was early and there weren't many people on the road. Suddenly a girl who was riding a bike on ice fell down. She was trying hard to get up but fell again. Without thinking, I went over and helped her. She said" thank you" with a smile and then rode away. Her words warmed me a lot.

    Finally, I got to school. The teacher led me to the classroom and introduced me to the class. Then he asked me to sit down beside a girl. I felt so nervous that I didn't dare to look at her. Soon the first class, English, started. Their textbooks were different from those in my old school. As I was wondering what to do, an English book appeared in front of me. "Let's share," the girl beside me said. "Hi, I'm Carrie." I looked up. It was the girl I helped this morning. Later on, we became good friends.

    From that I learned: To help others is actually to help ourselves!

Mr．Young worked in a hospital in the capital．He was busy all the time and little time to have a rest．And one day he felt unwell and couldn't go on working．He decided to spend a week's holiday in a quiet village where he could go swimming or fishing．He got off at a small railway station and soon got to the village．He took a room hotel and went to sleep as soon as he had a good meal．

    At first Mr．Young enjoyed himself there．He could do everything he wanted and went wherever he liked．Nobody disturbed（打扰） him and knocked at the door at mid﹣night．But on the fourth day he was in trouble．After lunch it was very hot．He went swimming in the river．Suddenly he saw a beautiful bird in a big tree．He wanted to catch it and walked to it，but it found him and flew away and soon was gone．He began to pick some flowers in the forest and before long he lost his way．

    The sun had gone down and night had fallen before Mr．Young found a small restaurant in another village．He came in and told them to bring him some bread，two eggs and a glass of tea．After a while his food was brought．

    Soon he ate up all the bread and eggs．When he was going to have the tea，he found there was a fly in the glass．

    "What's in my tea？"Mr．Young called out，"A fly？"It's impossible （不可能的），sir，"said the owner or the restaurant，"I had told them to pick all the flies out of your tea before they brought it to you!"

    On a sunny Sunday, ten fully well-dressed people were standing at the airport (机场) waiting for the parachute (降落伞) training. Suddenly, with the help of a guide dog, a blind (瞎的) man was coming with a parachute on his back.

    "Do you also come for the parachute training (训练)?" someone asked.

    "Yes!" the blind man answered in a loud voice.

    "Ah-" the people cried in surprise.

    "I know. Are you wondering how a blind man can parachute?" the blind man said happily, "It's not difficult. I'll parachute like you."

    "But how do you know when to jump?" someone asked.

    "Although I'm blind, I can hear! When the bell for the training rings, I'll carry my dog to follow you." the blind man replied.

    "Then how do you know when to open the parachute?" someone asked again.

    "The coach (教练) says, counting to five from the time I jump down, I can open it." replied the blind man.

    "But when you are about to fall to the ground (落地), how do you know when to fall to the ground? It is the most dangerous minute."

    "It's easy. When my dog is afraid into crying and the rope (绳) in my hands becomes light, I'll be ready for falling to the ground." They looked at each other, with no words.

    At the end of the training, the coach told everybody," In this training, Robert gets the highest score (得分) for his best action."

    "Who is Robert?" they asked.

    "He," the coach replied, pointing at the blind young man.

    A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of "office boy" at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. "You have passed the test," he said. "Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the form to fill in and the date when you may start." The man answered, "But I don't have a computer, neither an e-mail." "I'm sorry," said the HR manager. "If you don't have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn't living cannot have the job."

    The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only 10 dollars in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with 60 dollars. The man came to know that he could make money in this way, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles (运货车队). Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商) in the US.

    One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, "I haven't got one." His friend couldn't believe his ears. "Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?" The man thought for a while and answered, "Yes, I'd be an office boy at Microsoft!"

Birthday cards and parties are always the most popular ways for children to celebrate their birthdays, but not for Logan Brown in the US. He has serious autism. He can't talk and doesn't have any friends. According to his mother Catherine, he stopped getting birthday cards and having parties years ago. This year was Logan's 12th birthday. His mother loved him and wanted him to have a great birthday, just like other children. She asked Facebook (a website) for help, inviting friends and strangers to send her son cards for his 12th birthday. In Catherine's Facebook post, she wrote, "Will you write Happy Birthday Logan一from

your friend-in Washington，Hawaii …? Help us celebrate Logan's birthday!"

    Then the Browns were excited to receive more than 3,000 birthday cards from all over the world. When one police officer read Catherine's Facebook post, he decided to organize a surprise party for Logan at a local restaurant. On that day, many policemen took part in the party and gave the little boy a birthday cake and some other gifts. "We couldn't let Logan's birthday pass without anything special for him," said the police officer.

    With the help of his mother and the Internet, Logan had a special birthday.