The young violin player Vanessa-Mae was the first musician to use dance and rock music in classical（古典的）music. Vanessa-Mae love pop music, and she was also a very good classical violinist, and she brought these kinds of music together.
Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore on October 27,1978.She moved to London with her family when she was four.A year later,she started to learn the violin.When she was eight,she went to Beijing to study the violin.When she was ten,she played with a very famous group of classical musicians.But Vanessa-Mae doesn’t only play the violin.She learnt the piano before she started to play the violin.
She likes lots of different kinds of music, from Beethoven to the Beatles, and she wants to play the music she likes. Not only has she played in classical concerts all over the world, but she has also played in pop concerts with pop stars.
A lot of people don’t like the way she uses modern rhythms（节奏）, noisy drums and guitars in traditional（传统的）music. But Vanessa-Mae has done one important thing: she has brought many new fans to classical music. For the first time, many young people began to listen to classical music.
Vanessa-Mae was a young woman.

The type of music Vanessa-Mae likes is .

listen to classical music because they like Vanessa-Mae.

was the first instrument（乐器）she learnt to play.

Mr. Whitcomb Judson was a really clever man. He invented a special train that was pushed along by air and in 1893 he invented something like a zip(拉链) that could be used to open and close clothes. It could be used on men’s trousers and on ladies’ dresses. He did not call his invention a ‘zip’ but everybody says that he was the ‘Father of the Zip’. Mr. Judson tried to sell his invention but no one wanted it because it did not work very well. A Canadian changed Mr. Judson’s invention and made it better. He made a zip that worked very well in 1913.This is the same zip we use today.
Mr. Whitcomb Judson was a _____ man.

Mr. Whitcomb Judson invented ______ in 1893.

A zip can be used to _______.

A _______ man changed Mr. Judson’s invention and made it better.

_______ was called “Father of Zip”.

Last Friday, a Tibetan(藏族的) postman became the first woman postal worker to give a speech at the World Postal Meeting in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. She was Nima Lamu, a postwoman of Yunling Post office, Yunnan Province.
She said, “I had to cross the Lancang River along a steel wire. My younger brother nearly died in the river before. I felt so afraid when I was asked for the first time to cross the river. But when I reached the other side, I found that I was flying.”
Her area is locked in (封闭) two snowy mountains and three big rivers. She said, “:What worries me most is the snakes on the way. Sometimes, I throw little stones toward them and I often tell my self ‘Keep going’. ”
Ten years ago, it took Nima five days to finish each week’s mail. She had to face snowstorms, floods, snakes and loneliness on her 350-kilometer journey. Nima said, “The situation has developed a lot these years. Now we have a bridge that was built across the Lancang River in 2006.”
Nima never dreamed she would become famous one day when she first look up her job, 12 years ago. Changes have been seen in recent years as more tourists visit Nima’s hometown. But one thing remains unchanged: she is still the carrier of the villagers’ hopes and dreams.
Nima was invited to the meeting in Bern because she was _________.

What happened to her brother according to Nima Lamu?

Which picture is TRUE about Nima’s crossing the river ten years ago?

What will Nima do if she finds a snake on the way?

What is RTUE about Nima?

Hello Sandy,
We have just returned form our holiday. We went with our friends，Edward Smith and his wife Tina, to the Yorkshire Moors. It is a beautiful natural park. There are lots of places to walk on the tops of the hills，miles of grassland with no people，just sheep and birds.
Edward had just come out of hospital and he could not walk as far as before. However, this meant that we walked in the mornings, and then stopped at a restaurant for lunch each day before returning to the place we lived in. Edward and I slept in front of the fire all afternoon, while the ladies went for another walk. Very pleasant!
I took lots of photos from the place we lived in, across the valley (山谷）below us, of the morning sunrise, and the mist(迷雾）in the valley. Also, in England, the old steam-powered trains are very popular. I took many photos of the train.
Yesterday we had the first snow of this winter. It is very early. We usually have snow in January. It rained all day, then snowed in the evening .Today we have bright sunshine! Both Jenny and I are well. I don’t know if I told you, in the last e-mail , that Jenny is now working in a hotel. Although she has to work hard, people there are nice, and she is enjoying the work.
Please write to us to tell us your news.
Yours, Victor
What can they see on the tops of the hills?

Why couldn’t Edward walk very far?

What’s the season now?

Where does Jenny work now?

Victor wrote to tell Sandy _____.

When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive.
After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels（地道）. I was amazed that each one knew exactly what to do. Each had its own job.
On the fifth day a tragedy（悲剧）happened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it over. All the tunnels fell down. Although the ants remained alive after their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was scared as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm.
My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not stand that their tunnels were gone.
Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more.
Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired（钦佩）for their hard work.
But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity（逆境）is a natural part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.
Giving up, I say, is not a good choice.
What did the writer’s family do for him when he was seven?

Which statement is WRONG according to the passage?

Among the following events, which one happened first?

What did the writer learn from the ant tragedy a few years later?

What is the best title for the passage?