1、Book1 Unit 1 FriendshipANNES BEST FRIENDDo you want a friend whom you could tell everything to, like your deepest feelings and thoughts? Or are you afraid that your friend would laugh at you, or would not understand what you are going through? Anne Frank wanted the first kind, so she made her diary
2、her best friend.Anne lived in Amsterdam in the Netherlands during World War II. Her family was Jewish so they had to hide or they would be caught by the German Nazis. She and her family hid away for nearly twenty-five months before they were discovered. During that time the only true friend was her
3、diary. She said, “I dont want to set down a series of facts in a diary as most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty.“ Now read how she felt after being in the hiding place since July 1942.Thursday 15th june.1944Dear kitty.I wonder if its because I
4、 havent been able to be outdoors for so long that Ive grown so crazy about everything to do with nature. I can well remember that there was a time when a deep blue sky， the song of the birds， moonlight and flowers could never have keep me spellbound. Thats changed since I was here.For example, one e
5、vening when it was so warm, I stayed awake on purpose until half past eleven In order to have a good look at the moon by myself. But as the moon gave far too much light. I didnt dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs at dusk when the window was open. I didnt go d
6、ownstairs until the window had to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the thundering clouds held me entirely in their power; It was the first time in a year and a half that Id seen the night face to face.Sadly I am only able to look at nature through dirty curtains hanging before very dusty
7、windows. Its no pleasure looking through these any longer because nature is one thing that really must be experienced.Yours. AnneBook1 Unit 2 English around the world THE ROAD TO MODERN ENGLISHAt the end of the 16th century, about five to seven million people spoke English. Nearly all of them lived
8、in England. Later in the next century, people from England made voyages to conquer other parts of the world and because of that, English began to be spoken in many other countries. Today, more people speak English as their first, second or a foreign language than ever before.Native English speakers
9、can understand each other even if they dont speak the same kind of English. Look at this example:British Betty: Would you like to see my flat?American Amy: Yes. Id like to come up to your apartment.So why has English changed over time? Actually all languages change and develop when cultures meet and
10、 communicate with each other. At first the English spoken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from the English spoken today. It was based more on German than the English we speak at present. Then gradually between about AD 800 and 1150, English became less like German because
11、 those who ruled England spoke first Danish and later French. These new settlers enriched the English language and especially its vocabulary. So by the 1600s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British settlers moved to America. Later in the 18th cen
12、tury some British people were taken to Australia too. English began to be spoken in both countries.Finally by the 19th century the language was settled. At that time two big changes in English spelling happened: first Samuel Johnson wrote his dictionary and later Noah Webster wrote The American Dict
13、ionary of the English Language. The latter gave a separate identity to American English spelling.English now is also spoken as a foreign or second language in South Asia. For example, India has a very large number of fluent English speakers because Britain ruled India from 1765 to 1947. During that
14、time English became the language for government and education. English is also spoken in Singapore and Malaysia and countries in Africa such as South Africa. Today the number of people learning English in China is increasing rapidly. In fact, China may have the largest number of English learners. Wi
15、ll Chinese English develop its own identity? Only time will tell.Book1 Unit 3 Travel Journal-Reading JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONGPART1 THE DREAM AND THE PLANMy name is Wang Kun. Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike trip. Two years ago she bought an exp
16、ensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one. Last year, she visited our cousins, Dao Wei and Yu Hang at their college in Kunming. They are Dai and grew up in western Yunnan Province near the Lancang River, the Chinese part of the river that is called the Mekong River in other countries
17、. Wang Wei soon got them interested in cycling too. After graduating from college, we finally got the chance to take a bike trip. I asked my sister, “Where are we going?“ It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends. Now she is
18、planning our schedule tor the trip.I am fond of my sister but she has one serious shortcoming. She can be really stubborn. Although she didnt know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly. Now I know that the proper way is always her way. I kept asking her,
19、 “When are we leaving and when are we coming back?“ I asked her whether she had looked at a map yet. Of course she hadnt; my sister doesnt care about details. So I told her that the source of the Mekong is in Qinghai Province. She gave me a determined look - the kind that said she would not change h
20、er mind. When I told her that our journey would begin at an altitude of more than5,000 metres, she seemed to be excited about it. When I told her the air would be hard to breathe and it would be very cold, she said it would be an interesting experience. I know my sister well. Once she has made up he
21、r mind, nothing can change it. Finally, I had to give in.Several months before our trip, Wang Wei and I went to the library. We found a large atlas with good maps that showed details of world geography. From the atlas we could see that the Mekong River begins in a glacier on a Tibetan mountain. At f
22、irst the river is small and the water is clear and cold. Then it begins to move quickly. It becomes rapids as it passes through deep valleys, travelling across western Yunnan Province. Sometimes the river becomes a water fall and enters wide valleys. We were both surprised to learn that half of the
23、fiver is in China. After it leaves China and high altitude, the Mekong becomes wide, brown and warm. As it enters Southeast Asia, its pace slows. It makes wide bends or meanders through low valleys to the plains where rice grows. At last, the fiver delta enters the South China Sea.Book1 Unit 4 Earth
24、quakes-Reading A NIGHT THE EARTH DIDNT SLEEPStrange things were happening in the countryside of northeast Hebei. For three days the water in the village wells rose and fell, rose and fell. Farmers noticed that the well walls had deep cracks in them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. In the farmya
25、rds, the chickens and even the pigs were too nervous to eat. Mice ran out of the fields looking for places to hide. Fish jumped out of their bowls and ponds. At about 3:00 am on July 28,1976, some people saw bright lights in the sky. The sound of planes could be heard outside the city of Tangshan ev
26、en when no planes were in the sky. In the city, the water pipes in some buildings cracked and burst. But the one million people of the city, who thought little of these events, were asleep as usual that night.At 3:42 am everything began to shake. It seemed as if the world was at an end! Eleven kilom
27、etres directly below the city the greatest earthquake of the 20th century had begun. It was felt in Beijing, which is more than two hundred kilometres away. One-third of the nation felt it. A huge crack that was eight kilometres long and thirty metres wide cut across houses, roads and canals. Steam
28、burst from holes in the ground. Hard hills of rock became rivers of dirt. In fifteen terrible seconds a large city lay in ruins. The suffering of the people was extreme. Two-thirds of them died or were injured during the earthquake. Thousands of families were killed and many children were left witho
29、ut parents. The number of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000.But how could the survivors believe it was natural? Everywhere they looked nearly every thing was destroyed. All of the citys hospitals,75% of its factories and buildings and 90% of its homes were gone. Bricks cove
30、red the ground like red autumn leaves. No wind, however, could blow them away. Two dams fell and most of the bridges also fell or were not safe for travelling. The railway tracks were now useless pieces of steel. Tens of thousands of cows would never give milk again. Half a million pigs and millions
31、 of chickens were dead. Sand now filled the wells instead of water. People were shocked. Then, later that afternoon, another big quake which was almost as strong as the first one shook Tangshan. Some of the rescue workers and doctors were trapped under the ruins. More buildings fell down. Water, foo
32、d, and electricity were hard to get. People began to wonder how long the disaster would last.All hope was not lost. Soon after the quakes the army sent 150,000 soldiers to Tangshan to help the rescue workers. Hundreds of thousands of people were helped. The army organized teams to dig out those who
33、were trapped and to bury the dead. To the north of the city, most of the10,000 miners were rescued from the coal mines there. Workers built shelters for survivors whose homes had been destroyed. Fresh water was taken to the city by train, truck and plane. Slowly, the city began to breathe again.Book
34、1 Unit 5 Nelson Mandela-a modern hero-Reading ELIAS STORYMy name is Elias. I am a poor black worker in South Africa. The time when I first met Nelson Mandela was a very difficult period of my life. I was twelve years old. It was in 1952 and Mandela was the black lawyer to whom I went for advice. He
35、offered guidance to poor black people on their legal problems. He was generous with his time, for which I was grateful.I needed his help because I had very little education. I began school at six. The school where I studied for only two years was three kilometres away. I had to leave because my fami
36、ly could not continue to pay the school fees and the bus fare. I could not read or write well. After trying hard, I got a job in a gold mine. However, this was a time when one had got to have a passbook to live in Johannesburg. Sadly I did not have it because I was not born there, and I worried abou
37、t whether I would become out of work.The day when Nelson Mandela helped me was one of my happiest. He told me how to get the correct papers so I could stay in Johannesburg. I became more hopeful about my future. I never forgot how kind Mandela was, When he organized the ANC Youth League, I joined it
38、 as soon as I could. He said:“The last thirty years have seen the greatest number of laws stopping our rights and progress, until today we have reached a stage where we have almost no rights at all.“It was the truth. Black people could not vote or choose their leaders. They could not get the jobs th
39、ey wanted. The parts of town in which they had to live were decided by white people. The places outside the towns where they were sent to live were the poorest parts of South Africa. No one could grow food there. In fact as Nelson Mandela said:“. we were put into a position in which we had either to
40、 accept we were less important, or fight the government. We chose to attack the laws. We first broke the law in a way which was peaceful; when this was not allowed., only then did we decide to answer violence with violence.“As a matter of fact, I do not like violence . but in 1963 I helped him blow
41、up some government buildings. It was very dangerous because if I was caught I could be put in prison. But I was happy to help because I knew it would help us achieve our dream of making black and white people equal.Book2 Unit1 Cultural relicsIN SEARCH OF THE AMBER ROOMFrederick William I, the King o
42、f Prussia, could never have imagined that his greatest gift to the Russian people would have such an amazing history. This gift was the Amber Room, which was given this name because several tons of amber were used to make it. The amber which was selected had a beautiful yellow-brown colour like hone
43、y. The design of the room was in the fancy style popular in those days. It was also a treasure decorated with gold and jewels, which took the countrys best artists about ten years to make.In fact, the room was not made to be a gift. It was designed for the palace of Frederick I. However, the next Ki
44、ng of Prussia, Frederick William I, to whom the amber room belonged, decided not to keep it. In 1716 he gave it to Peter the Great. In return, the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers. So the Amber Room became part of the Czars winter palace in St Petersburg. About four metres long, the room s
45、erved as a small reception hall for important visitors.Later, Catherine II had the Amber Room moved to a palace outside St Petersburg where she spent her summers. She told her artists to add more details to it. In 1770 the room was completed the way she wanted. Almost six hundred candles lit the roo
46、m, and its mirrors and pictures shone like gold. Sadly, although the Amber Room was considered one of the wonders of the world, it is now missing.In September 1941, the Nazi army was near St Petersburg. This was a time when the two countries were at war. Before the Nazis could get to the summer pala
47、ce, the Russians were able to remove some furniture and small art objects from the Amber Room. However, some of the Nazis secretly stole the room itself. In less than two days 100,000 pieces were put inside twenty-seven wooden boxes. There is no doubt that the boxes were then put on a train for Koni
48、gsberg, which was at that time a German city on the Baltic Sea. After that, what happened to the Amber Room remains a mystery.Recently, the Russians and Germans have built a new Amber Room at the summer palace. By studying old photos of the former Amber Room, they have made the new one look like the
49、 old one. In 2003 it was ready for the people of St Petersburg when they celebrated the 300th birthday of their city.Book2 Unit 2 The Olympic GamesAN INTERVIEWPausanias, who was a Greek writer about 2,000 years ago, has come on a magical journey on March 18th 2007 to find out about the present-day Olympic Games. He is now interviewing Li Yan, a volunteer for the 2008 Olympic Games.P: My name is Pausanias. I lived in what you call “Ancient Greece” and I used to write about the Olympic Games a lon
