阅读理解

　　One morning more than thirty years ago, I entered the Track Kitchen, a restaurant where everyone from the humblest(卑微的)to the most powerful came for breakfast．I noticed an empty chair next to an elderly, unshaven man, who looked somewhat disheveled．He was wearing a worn-out hat and was alone．I asked if I might join him．He agreed quietly and I sat down to have my breakfast．

　　We cautiously began a conversation and spoke about a wide range of things．We never introduced ourselves．I was concerned that he might have no money and not be able to afford something to eat．So as I rose to go back to the counter and buy a second cup of coffee, I asked,

　　“May I get you something?”

　　“A coffee would be nice．”

　　Then I bought him a cup of coffee．We talked more, and he accepted another cup of coffee．Finally, I rose to leave, wished him well, and headed for the exit．At the door I met one of my friends．He asked,

　　“How did you get to know Mr．Galbreath?”

　　“Who?”

　　“The man you were sitting with．He is chairman of the Board of Churchill Downs．”

　　I could hardly believe it．I was buying, offering a free breakfast, and feeling pity for one of the world's richest and most powerful men!

　　My few minutes with Mr．Galbreath changed my life．Now I try to treat everyone with respect, no matter who I think they are, and to meet another human being with kindness and sincerity．

阅读理解

　　Breakfast is the most important meal of the day．It is also the most neglect(忽视)．Common reasons for not eating breakfast include having no time, not feeling hungry, traditional dislike and dieting．

　　Breakfast simply means “break the fast''．Your body spends at least 6 to 12 hours each night in a fasting state．In the morning your body needs energy for the day's work ahead．

　　A good breakfast should provide 1/3 of your total calorie(卡路里)needs for the day．On average, we eat 400 less calories for breakfast than for dinner．If breakfast doesn't appeal(吸引)to you in the morning, try eating a lighter dinner earlier in the evening or save half of your dinner for breakfast in the morning．

　　If you still aren't hungry in the morning, start with something small like juice or toast or have a nutritious(有营养的)mid-morning snack(小吃)later when you are hungry．

　　So, you say you are on a diet．Some people fear that eating breakfast will make them hungrier during the day and they will eat more．It is true that eating breakfast is likely to make you feel hungry throughout the day．That is because your body is working correctly．Although you may feel as if you are eating more all day long, in reality you are probably not．

　　Not eating breakfast can also cause you t overeat, since a fall in blood sugar often makes you feel very hungry later．To make matters worse, since your body is in a slow state, it will not be able to burn those extra calories very efficiently(有效)．If you feed your body healthy snacks and meals throughout the day, you are less likely to become hungry and stuff(填饱)yourself as soon as you begin to eat．

　　Since breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, choosing the right food is important．The best breakfast foods are fruits ,juice, lean meat and grain products such as bread, rice, noodles and cereals．

阅读理解

　　Some people don't mind being fat．Other people can keep slim(苗条)without any effort．But a lot of people do put on too much weight and don't like it．The question is, what can thy do about it?

　　Some believe exercise can be helpful．But the trouble is that it only makes you want to eat more．You might sweat out a couple of pounds playing tennis or climbing a mountain, but you put it all back on again with a big steak or bread and jam．

　　A helpful way is food choosing．But what sort of food should you choose?Some believe that the less they eat, the slimmer they will be．They don't eat anything until they become weak with hunger．Some stick to milk and bananas．You'll find you need a lot of bananas, and unless you live where they grow, they aren't cheap．Another says that if you eat things like hard-boiled eggs, and apples with their skins on which are hard for your stomach to digest(消化), the more you eat, the thinner you get．This is because you use up the fat in your body to get the energy to digest the food．

　　For most of us these methods are too extreme(极端的)．The simplest way is just to cut down on the carbohydrates(糖类)that means not eating bread, potatoes, cakes, sugar, rice, and so on and eating anything else you like．It's straight forward and often quite effective．

　　Still others like to be more scientific．They are calorie countries．They get a table, which tells them that, for example, 100 grams of roast let of lamb gives you 330 calories and a 50 gram helping of Yokshire pudding gives you 130 calories．

阅读理解

　　Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children．Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia．They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will learn a musical instrument or ballet or other classes which will give them a head start in life．The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is , the better it is．So the parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education．Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter．

　　However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap．

　　Parents can see that their children's skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others．What most parents fail to realize though, is that today's children lack(缺乏)self-respect and self-confidence．

　　The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents aren't teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident , happy and clever．

　　Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing housework．

　　Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life．Cooking demands patience and time．It's an enjoyable but difficult experiment．A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually to finish his job successfully．His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence．

　　Some old machines , such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him curious(好奇)and arouse his interest He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up．These activities aren't merely teaching a child to read a book , but rather to think, to use his mind．And that is more important．

阅读理解

　　Doctors have known for a long time that extremely loud noises can cause hearing damage or loss．The noise can be the sound of a jet airplane or machines in factories of loud music or other common sound at home and at work．A person only needs to hear the noise for little mire than one second to be affected．

　　An American scientist has found that using aspirin(阿斯匹林)increase the temporary(暂时的)hearing loss or damage from loud noise．He did an experiment using a number of students at a university who all had normal hearing．He gave them different amounts of aspirin for different periods of time, then he tested their hearing ability．He found that students who were given four grams of aspirin a day for two days suffered much greater temporary hearing loss than those who did not use aspirin．The hearing loss was about two times as great．

　　The scientist said millions of persons in the U．S．use much larger amounts of aspirin than were used in his experiment．He said these persons face a serious danger of suffering hearing loss from loud noise．

阅读理解

　　One night last February, a seventeen-year-old Duffy drove home along a winding road, he saw a strange light thrown against the tree．“I knew it wasn't the moon”, he said．“I drive this road all the time and I notice little things out of place．”

　　Duffy stopped his car and got out to examine．Below him far down in the deep valley lay a broken car with its headlights on．Thirty minutes earlier, a man had driven off the edge of the road, which has no guardrail．His car fell and rolled end over end, landing on its top more than two hundred feet below．

　　Duffy rushed to call for help, then returned and got down to reach the injured driver．Snow covered the valley and the temperature was below freezing．After struggling back up the cliff, Duffy took off his jacket and shirt and wrapped the injured man in time, along with the blankets from his car．

　　Life-saving deeds are starting to become usual action for Duffy, the oldest of seven children．When he was 12, he saved his ten-year-old brother from drowning．Two years ago, his three-year-old sister ate rat poison, and Duffy cleaned out her mouth, make her drink milk to protect her stomach and called doctors．

　　“We have tried to teach the children good values, and it looks like we have got some reward for it．” His father says．

阅读理解

　　“Little lies” sometimes come to easily to us that we don't even consider them to be lies．Read about these lies of everyday life：

　　1．Lying about your age or your kid's age to get a cheaper ticket．

　　2．Telling the host of a dinner party that the terrible food he prepared is wonderful．

　　3．Lying to your aunt about how much you love the gift she gave you-the one that you really hate．

　　4．Telling a friend with a terrible haircut that she looks great．

　　5．Lying to a friend about how much you want to see her again when you really don't

　　6．Telling the salesperson who calls when you're watching TV that you're very busy．

　　Are these serious lies?Probably not, but if you would lie about your age to a stranger, what's going to stop you from lying about something more serious later?If we tell a lie or act dishonestly and get what we want, that might make us feel good today．But what about tomorrow?The future results of our lies are uncertain．

　　Still, no one is saying that everyone can or should be completely honest all the time．More people lie, often for a good reason．Lies are told all the time and are part of our everyday social life．Many times people lie to protect the feelings of other people, and there's nothing wrong with that．Honesty is usually the best policy, but like any other policy, you have to make exceptions．

阅读理解

　　We are all busy talking about and using the Internet, but how many of us know the history of the Internet?

　　Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s．At that time, computers were large and expensive．Computer networks didn't work well．If one computer in the network broke down, then the whole network stopped．So a new network system had to be set up．It should be good enough to be used by many different computers．If part of the network was not working, information could be sent through another part．In this way, computer network system would keep on working all the time．

　　At first the Internet was only used by the government, but in the early 1970s, universities, hospitals and banks were allowed to use it, too．However, computers were still very expensive and the Internet was difficult to use．By the start of the 1990s, computers had become cheaper and easier to use．Scientists had also developed software that made “surfing” the Internet more convenient．

　　Today it is easy to get on-line and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day．Sending e-mail is more and more popular among students．

　　The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people's life．

阅读理解

　　EVENTS(赛事)

Bicycle tour and race

　　A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27(Sat．＆Sun．)．At 5∶30am, the riders will leave Tian'anmen Square and ride the first 35 kilometers as a training leg．Then the next 55 kilometers leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive part of the tour．The riders and their bikes will then be taken from Jixian to Changli．

　　The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to the seaside of Nandaibe, covering a distance of 20 kilometers．Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper．Sunday morning is free for play at the seaside．At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing．

　　Cost：200 Yuan

　　Telephone：4675027

Brazilian footballers

　　The Brazilian Football Club will play Beijing Guo'an Team at the Workers Stadium on August 26．The club has four national team players．Also coming is 1994 US World Cup star Romario ho has promised to play for at least 45 minutes．

　　Ticket prices：60,100,150 Yuan

　　Time/Date：4∶30 pm, August 26(Sat．)Telephone：5012372

Rock climbing

　　The Third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26－27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base．More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it．A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing．Free for spectators(观众)．

　　Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou．

　　Time/Dates：9－12 am, August 26 and 27

　　Telephone：7143177, 7144850, Wang Zhenghua

阅读理解

　　I attended a birthday party in 1991．My teacher was then 59 years old．But her fellow teacher said that we were celebrating her 39^th birthday!We were all surprised and puzzled．

　　After the party I was told by the fellow teacher that American women have a special saying about birthdays．If a woman is over 40, or even if she is 80, her birthday is always the 39^th．If she is in her thirties, her birthday will be the 29^th．And in her twenties, it's the 19^th．They usually have their “real” birthday when they are below 20．

　　This shows that American women, especially elderly women, are very sensitive(敏感的)about their ages．But my teacher always says, “We want to be younger,” so about the age of Western women, my advice is that if you don't know it, don't ask about it; if you really know it, don't mention it．