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1 Chinese New Year
Chinese New
Year is the most important festival for Chinese
people all over
the world. It is also
called the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year.
The
exact date of the Spring Festival
on the Western calendar changes from year
to year. However, Chinese New Year
takes place between January 1 and
February 19.
On
the Chinese calendar every year has an animal's
name. These animals
are the rat, ox,
tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey,
rooster, dog
and pig. A Chinese legend
says that these twelve animals had a race. The
first
year was named after the rat, the
winner. The other eleven years were named
according to the order in which the
animals arrived in the race. The clever rat
jumped onto the ox's back, and then at
the end jumped over the ox's head to
arrive first!
The Chinese believe that a person born
in a particular year has some of the
characteristics of that animal.
lunar
月
(
亮
)
的
exact
确切的
calendar
日历
rat
鼠
ox
公
牛
rabbit
兔子
ram
公羊
rooster
公鸡
legend
传说
name after
按
....
命名
particular
特殊的
characteristic
特征
春
节
对于全世界的华人来说，中国的新年是最重要的节日。人们也称它为春节或农历新年。
公历
春节的确切日期每年都在变化。但是春
节一般都在
1
月
1
日
到
2
月
19
日
之间。
在农
历中，每年都有一个生肖。这些生肖是鼠、牛、虎、兔、龙
、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗和猪。
据传说，这十二个动物举行了一次赛跑，第一年就以获
胜者鼠命名，其他十一年就根据动物
们到达终点的顺序命名。聪明的鼠跳在牛背上，在最
后时刻跳过牛的头顶第一个到达终点！
中国人相信在某一年出生的人具有这一年生肖的一些特征。
2 A Teenager's Joke: Guidelines for
Doing Schoolwork
My school had a policy
about homework. Students should not spend more
than ninety minutes per night doing
homework. This is how I use the time for
my work.
Fifteen
minutes looking for assignment; Eleven minutes
calling a friend for the
assignment;
Twenty three minutes explaining why the teacher is
mean and
does not like teenagers; Eight
minutes in the bathroom; Ten minutes getting a
snack; Seven minutes checking the TV
Guide;
Six minutes telling
my parents that the teacher never explained the
assignment;
Ten
minutes sitting at the kitchen table waiting for
Mom or Dad to do the
assignment.
guideline
指导方针
policy
政策
per
每
assignment
作业
mean
低劣的
snack
小吃
TV guide
电视指南
有关青少年的一则笑话
——
做作业的指导方针
我的学校有一项针对作业的
政策。学生每天晚上做作业的时间不应该超过九十分钟。
以下就是我如何为完成作业而使用这九十分钟的。
花十五分钟找作业；花十一分钟打电话向同学问作业；
花二十三分
钟抱怨
老师为什么总是那么讨厌，为
什么不喜欢我们这些十几岁的孩子；
花八分钟在洗手间里；花十分钟找小吃；
花七分钟查看电视节目预告；花六分钟告诉父母，老师从没解
释过所布置的作业；
花十分钟坐在餐桌旁等妈妈或者爸爸来做作业。
3 The Toad and the Frog
A
toad saw a frog near the road. He was a fat old
frog. He sat and moaned
and groaned.
The toad said, “Do not moan
and groan, Mr. Frog. Hop like me. Hop down the
road.”
So the
frog and the toad went down the road to a big oak
tree.
“I am home,” said the
toad. “Come in and I will make tea.”
But Mr. Frog said, in a deep croak, “I
must not roam far from home. I will be off
to my home near the pond.”
toad
蟾蜍
,
癞蛤蟆
moan
呻吟
hop
跳跃
oak
橡树
croak
一种低而嘶哑的声音
癞蛤蟆和青蛙
一只癞蛤蟆在路边看到一只青蛙。那是只又胖又老的青蛙。他坐在那里呻吟叹息着。
癞蛤蟆说：
“
青蛙先生，不要呻吟叹息了。像我一样跳吧。沿着这条路跳。
”
所以青蛙和癞蛤蟆一起沿着小路跳到一棵大橡树下。
“
我到家了，
”
癞蛤蟆说，
“
进来吧，我来泡茶。
”
但青蛙用低沉的声音说：
“
我不能在离家远的地方闲逛，我要回我在池塘边上的家。
”
4.
A was an apple pie A
是一个苹果
(APPLE)
派
N nodded at it
N
对苹果派点头
(NODDED)
B bit it B
咬了
(BIT)
它一口
O
opened it O
打开了
(OPENED)
它
C cut it C
切开
(CUT)
它
P peeped in it
P
觊觎
(PEEPED)
它
D dealt
with it D
来分发
(DEALT)
它
Q quartered it
Q
把个苹果派分成了四份
E ate it E
吃了
(EAT)
它
(QUARTERED)
F
fought for it
F
为了它而与人打斗
(FOUGHT)
R
ran for it R
为了它跑
(RAN)
G got it G
得到了
(GOT)
它
S stole it
S
偷了它
(STOLE)
H had it H
拥有了
(HAD)
它
T
took it T
拿走了
(TOOK)
苹果派
I inspected it I
来检查
(INSPECTED)
它
U
upset it U
打翻了
(UPSET)
< br>它
J jumped for it
J
为得到了苹果派而欢蹦乱跳
V viewed it V
审视着
(
VIEWED)
它
W wanted it W
想得到
(WANTED)
它
(JUMPED)
K kept it K
保存
(KEPT)
起了苹果派
X
，
Y
，
Z and
ampersand all wished for a piece
L longed for it L
渴望
(LONGED)
得到苹果派
in hand.
M mourned for
it M
因没得到苹果派而伤心落泪
XYZ
和
&
都希望手上能有一块苹果派。
(MO
URNED)
bit bite
咬的过去时
dealt with deal with
处理的过去时
inspect
检查
long for
渴望
mourn
哀悼
nod
点头
peep
窥视
quarter
分成四份
upset upset
弄翻的过去时
view
观察
ampersand
记号名称
5 Homestay in the US
My name
is Jenny and I did a homestay in America. When I
first met my
host mother, Mary, she
gave me a big hug. I was really shocked because
I had never been hugged before, and I
wasn sure how to respond. By the
time I
left America, though, I came to enjoy hugging and
being hugged.
Shaking hands was also a
challenge. My homestay father, Peter, looked
at me straight in the eye and squeezed
my hand firmly.
Both Mary and Peter
wanted me to call them by their first names
because
they,
as
Americans,
like
informality.
By
using
first
names
only,
we
felt
friendlier towards each other.
homestay
家庭寄宿
host
东道主
hug
拥抱
shock
震惊
respond
回应
challenge
挑战
straight
直接地
squeeze
挤压
firmly
紧紧地
informality
随意
在美国家庭寄宿
< br>我叫珍妮，我在美国家庭寄宿。当我第一次见到我要寄宿那家的母亲玛丽时，她热情地拥抱
了我。我确实感到非常震惊因为我从来没有被拥抱过，我不知道该如何回应。然而到我要离
开美国时，我已经非常喜欢拥抱别人和被别人拥抱了。
握手也是个挑战。我寄宿那家的父亲彼特，直视着我的眼睛，
紧紧地握我的手。
玛丽和彼特都希
望我对他们直呼其名，因为美国人一般比较随意。通过直呼其名，我们互相
之间感到更加
亲切友好。
6 Brothers and Sisters
My sister is a year older than me and
we've been sharing a room since
I was 3
years old. We are very close, but we also fight
all the time.
Our fights are never
serious. I can't remember the cause of our fights
now, but they were always over small
things. Sometimes it was just over
a
particular word I used or maybe just because my
sister gave my teddy
bear a hug and I
was unhappy about it. We don't take our fights
very
seriously as if all the fights are
a game. I think it's perfectly okay
for
kids to fight with their brothers or sisters. Now
I'm a teenager,
and I even think that
they're sweet memories!
share
分享
serious
认真的
cause
原因
fight
打架
particular
特别的，特殊
的
teddy bear
玩具熊
teenage
青少年
perfectly
完全
兄
弟
姐
妹
我的姐
姐比我大一岁，从我三岁起我们就一直合用一个房间。我们非常亲密，但是我们也时
常打
架。我们打架从来不是认真的。我现在都记不起我们打架的原因，但肯定是因为一些小
事
。有时候，仅仅是因为我用的某个词，或者是因为姐姐抱了我的玩具熊，而我对此感到生
气。我们从来不把打架当真，就好像这只是场游戏。我觉得小孩子和兄弟姐妹们打打闹闹没
有什么。现在我已经十几岁了，但我觉得那都是我美好的回忆！
7 Thirty Days Hath September
（
Nursery
Rhyme
）
Thirty
days hath September,
April, June, and
November;
All the rest have thirty-
one,
Except for February alone,
It has twenty-eight days clear,
And twenty-nine on each Leap Year.
hath
（古英语）
=has
leap year
闰年
三十天的是九月（童谣一首）
三十天的是九月，四月，六月和十一月；其余的月份都是三十
一天，
除了二月，二月只有二十八天，
每个闰年二月有二十九天。
8
Two Dumplings
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