It was a weeknight. We were a half dozen guys in our late teens, hanging around “the flat” — as usual. The flat was poorly furnished, which, after some time, grew tiresome. We wanted action.

    We got in a car, big enough for all of us to crowd into — and off we went, in search of adventure. We soon found ourselves at Blue Gum Corner, a place named after the huge old blue gum tree that stood by there, a well-known local landmark. It stands at a minor crossroad leading to our town. The trunk is tall and smooth with no handholds for climbing. About six metres from the ground the first branch sticks out over the road. We parked beneath the huge old tree and discussed what we might do. All of a sudden we hit upon an idea — a hanging! I was chosen as “hangee”.

    The plan was quite simple. As I stood upon the roof of the car, the rope (绳子) was threaded down my jacket through my collar and down one leg of my jeans. I put my foot through the loop at the bottom. There I hung, still. The boys rolled about laughing until, a car, I hear a car! Before they ran to hide in the nearby field, they gave me a good push so that “the body” would swing as the car drove by.

    To our disappointment, the car simply turned off for town without even slowing. The boys came out of their hiding places and we discussed the situation. Surely they had seen me, hadn't they? Then we heard another car. The act was repeated, but still without any obvious reaction. We played the game about five or six times, but as no one seemed to notice, we abandoned the trick.

    What we did not know was that every car that had passed had unquestionably seen “the body” and each one, too scared to stop, had driven directly to the local Police Station. Now at that time of the night, the local policeman was sound asleep in his bed, so the first person sent to the scene was the traffic officer that happened to be on duty that particular night. He had been informed that some person had been killed, by hanging, at Blue Gum Corner. When he arrived, the body was gone! And he was hearing “unnatural sounds” from the surrounding area. As far as he knew, some fierce animal was hiding in the field before him, possibly dragging a body behind him — and we thought we were scared!

    He went to his radio and made a call that really began to worry us. I lay so close that I could hear every word. He called for the “armed police” and a “dog team, better make it two” and he had a “serious situation” at Blue Gum Corner. Then the police officer arrived. After a briefing from the traffic officer he decided not to go into the field until armed police and dog teams arrived. Now two spotlights were on the field and none of us could move.

    As luck would have it, police cars cannot leave their spotlights on all night without charging their batteries. So, after a time, the two officers began lightening the field by turns, allowing us the opportunity to move on our fours for freedom. One by one, we all managed to steal away and make our way home. Behind us we left what must have looked like a small city of lights, police cars, roadblocks, barking dogs, armed officers and an old rope hanging from a tree.

    When I think back to that night, to that tree, to what the drivers of the cars think happened, to what police believe happened, and to what I know happened, I am reminded of a simple truth — our eyes see darkness and light, color and movement, our ears hear only vibrations (振动) in the air. It is how we explain these vivid pictures that shapes our “reality”.

    Blogit is the first online subscription（订阅） network connecting individual readers and writers．As Blogit grows, amazing things are happening．A friendly, active community has formed: readers are finding writers they enjoy; strangers are becoming friends; old classmates are running into one another; even romances are blossoming．And popular writers have already earned more than $1,000 on Blogit each month．

Want to try? First of all, Blogit lets writers easily realize their dreams to write．Writers get their own writing space, where they are free to write on any topic, whenever they want: from opinion and observation to novel and poetry．Secondly, writers experience the excitement of knowing they are read, and enjoy gradually gaining a loyal（忠实的） following．It' s simple for writers to find readers on Blogit, since there is a various, worldwide audience of people, waiting to read and comment —-right now．

    You never know whom you might meet on Blogit．Whether writers are looking for a quiet readership or are hungry for a spirited discussion, they will find it on Blogit. Many writers even have readers who have become new friends. Blogit member introduction appear on many of the top Internet search engines, which allows writers to publicize （宣传）their identity and helps increase their number of readers．

    Thanks to modern technology, writers get everything they need to begin．They can even make additional choices, to add pictures and select different styles, for example．There is nothing to install(安装), and no  special software is needed．As Blogit grows, we are upgrading（更新）our systems and adding new features(专题节目) requested by members．We do our best to help members, replying to most questions within one business day．

I invite you to try Blogit today．Here' s my promise: if you find that you aren't being read on Blogit, simply cancel（取消） your subscription and you will not be charged again．It' s quick and easy to sign up．If you sign up now, you'll get all of Blogit's benefits for only $12.95 per month．You can start to be read and begin earning money directly!

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。

    While your pet fish may appear to be unaware of your presence, chances are that it knows you extremely well and can probably even identify you from a crowd of human faces!

    To test if this was accurate, some scientists decided to study archerfish（喷水鱼）. These animals don't have a sophisticated（复杂的）brain that is necessary to recognize the slight differences between human facial features.

    They began by presenting four archerfish with images of two human faces. Initially, the fish spit at both. However, they soon learned spitting water at the one selected by the researchers earned them a food treat. After that, they focused primarily on that image. The researchers then took the experiment one step further by introducing 44 other human faces to the mix.

    To the researcher's astonishment, the trained archerfish were able to recall the learned image almost 81% of the time. And this accuracy improved to 86% when the researchers made the identification even harder, by replacing the colored photos with a set of black and white images and hiding the shape of the head.

    The results of the study suggest that though having tiny brains, archerfish may have developed high visual discrimination abilities. While it is contrary to the previous theory that a sophisticated brain is necessary to recognize human faces, the researchers believe they do not recognize faces by recalling complex facial information like gender and identity, but more likely by discriminating between detailed  patterns. Even so, the fact that these archerfish could “remember” those faces demonstrates that they have an impressive memory for details that lasts much longer than the originally-thought 3 seconds!

    This is not the first time researchers have realized how “smart” fish are. Previous studies have shown that fish can recognize those fish they have “socialized” with previously, and even recall complex three-dimensional maps of their surroundings.

    “To another little girl.”

    That's what 3-year-old Ariana of Winterport, Maine, said when her father Josh Smith asked where her donated (捐赠的) hair was going to go. It was then that the dad of two realized his young daughter had a heart that was too big for words.

    “I run a charity called Extra Life where I play video games to help raise money for kids,” he said. “Ariana happened to be sitting next to me when a video was playing, showing a little girl who was bald(秃顶的), lying in a hospital bed with tubes in her.” When their daughter got curious, Smith and his wife Crystal explained how medicine was what made the child in the video lose her hair.

    “Without a second thought, Ariana said, 'She can have some of my hair,'” Smith said. “That's when my wife told me that there are many organizations that we could donate it to.” The Smiths chose “Locks of Love” to send Ariana's generous gift to a child with medical hair loss.

    A week later, Ariana was taken to the family hairdresser where 10 inches was cut from her hair.

    “It was her first haircut,” Smith told ABC News. “She can be so selfless like that. Her first reaction is 'How about me giving up something that I have, so a little girl can feel pretty?'” Smith posted his daughter's moving gesture on his personal webpage, where it has received almost 645,000 views in just two days.

    “She'll take an adult-like approach and it's really amazing,” Smith said. “She is just a little kid, but if she sees somebody in need, she certainly cares for them. This made Ariana feel special and she'd definitely like to do it again.”

Teaching Poetry

    No poem should ever be discussed or "analyzed", until it has been read aloud by someone, teacher or student. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.

    All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling "interpretation" of it, suggesting tone, rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching can not replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.

    I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than "analyzing" it, if there isn't time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is "a criticism of life", and "a heightening of life". It is "an approach to the truth of feeling", and it "can save your life". It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.

    I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. Those who don't like it should not be forced to communicate this to anyone else. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.

    Five thousand square meters of old damaged cars, motorcycles and boats fill this junkyard. For a casual onlooker, this might be a very sad sight. But for Andy, it's a real treasure. "I've been a junk hoarder (囤积者) for my whole life and I like fixing up what shouldn't be thrown away. Around 200 old cars end up in this junkyard every week. Some of them are sold for parts, others get repaired, and still others are beyond repair."

    His father Bobby started the business some 50 years ago and still spends every morning there. The father and son have very different approaches to their work. They got a Dean cab that was getting thrown away and that was the father's project, which Andy did not want him to do. "He did basically the opposite of everything I told him and I think he did it just to make me mad. He dumped a ton of money into this car, but in the end it wouldn't run." Andy said jokingly.

    The unusual family business attracted the attention of a TV crew. That's how the show Janka Empire came to be featured on a network of the Discovery Channel. This show, five years of shooting, five seasons and 60 episodes (集), is popular. "There are hundreds of junkyards throughout the United States. I think what's interesting is that it is a family business. My father and I started the business and we joke very well back and forth and I think that's what people like. The cars that end up at the junkyard come out with endless surprises. See, this was a junk car and we restored it with a blown motor. Yet I don't get a chance to ride around it too often. Because despite its shining appearance, the noise of the engine is truly deafening and I worry my neighbors will not put up with it."