1、a chance to make a trip into space with my friend Li Yanping, an astronomer. We visited the moon in our spaceship! Before we leave, Li Yanping explained to me that the forece of the gravity would change three times on our journey and that the first change would be the most powerful. Then we were off
2、. As the rocket rose into the air, we were pushed back into our seats because we were trying to escape the pull of the earths gravity. It was so hard that we could not say anything to each other. Gradually the weight lessened and I was able to talk to him. “ Why is the spaceship not falling back to
3、the earth? On the earth if I fall from a tree I will fall to ground.” I asked. “ We are too far from the earth now to feel its pull, “ he explained, “ so we feel as if there is no gravity at all. When we get closer to the moon, we shall feel its gravity pulling us, but it will not be as strong a pul
4、l as the earths. “ I cheered up immediately and floated weightlessly around in our spaceship cabin watching the earth become smaller and the moon larger. When we got there, I wanted to explore immediately. “ Come on,” I said. “ If you are right, my mass will be less than on the earth because the moo
5、n is smaller and I will be able to move more freely. I might even grow taller if I stay here long enough. I shall certainly weigh less!” I laughed and climbed down the steps from the spaceship. But when I tried to step forward, I found I was carried twice as far as on the earth and fell over. “ Oh d
6、ear,” I cried, “ walking does need a bit of practice now that gravity has changed.” After a while I got the hang of it and we began to enjoy ourselves. Leaving the moons gravity was not as painful as leaving the earths. But returning to the earth was very frightening. We watched, amazed as fire brok
7、e out on the outside of the spaceship as the earths gravity increased. Again we were pushed back hard into our seats as we came back to land. “ That was very exhausting but very exciting too,” I said. “Now I know much more about gravity! Do you think we could bisit some stars next time?” “Of course,
8、” he smiled, “ which star would you like to go to?” Caught by a black hole The spaceship warned Li Yanping and me to be ready as we were approaching the “black hole”. We could see some faint lights around what looked like an empty space. Li Yanping said, “ That empty hole is like a mouth always need
9、ing to be fed. Those lights are thins that are being pulled into time by the gravity of the hole.” We watched with interest and amazement at the lights which seemed to be going fainter and fainter round the edge of the black hole. Just then the lights on our spaceship went our the and the computer s
10、topped working. What was happening? I tried to turn the spaceship away from the hole but it would not move. Would it eat us too? Suddenly the spaceship jumped and began to move round the edge of trhe hole too. The gravity of the “black hole” was pulling us into its “mouth”. As the spaceship moved ro
11、und the black hole, I felt rather sick. My mouth went dry and I closed my eyes. All the stories about what happened when you were caught by the gravity of a “black hole” seem to be true. But then the spaceship jumped again. This time it moved sideways and away from this edge of the “black hole”. Som
12、eone watching me would have seen the spaceship flying like a bird away from the “black hole”. But we felt nothing. At last we were able to look around us. Luckily the computer had started working again. We realized that we had discovered something new about “black hole”. If you go inside the edge of
13、 a “black hole”, it will “eat” you and there is no escape; but if you do not, you may have an opportunity to escape. How exciting! Unit 5 A trip on “ The True North” Li Daiyu and her cousin Liu Qian were on a trip to Canada to bisit their cousins in Montreal on the Atlantic coast. Rather than take t
14、he aeroplane all the way, they decided to fly to Vancouver and then take the train west to east across Canada. The though that they could cross the whole continent was exciting. Their friend, Danny Lin, was waiting at the airport. He was going to take them and their baggage to catch “The True North”
15、, the cross Canada train. On the way to the statiion, he chatted about their trip. “Youre going to see some great scenery. Going eastward, youll pass mountains and thousands of lakes and forests, as well as wide rivers and large cities. Some people have the idea that you can cross Canda in less than
16、 fice days, but they forget the fact that Canada is 5500 kilometers from coast to coast. Here in Vancouver, youre in Canadas warmest part. People say it is Canadas most beautiful city, surrounded by mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Skiing in the Rocky Mountains and sailing in the harbour make Vancou
17、ver one of Canadas most popular cities to live in. Its population is increasing rapidly. The coast north of Vancouver has some of the oldest and most beautiful forests in the world. It is so wet there that the trees are extremely tall, some measuring over 90 metres.” That afternoon aboard the train,
18、 the cousins settled down in their seats. Earlier that day, when they crossed the Rocky Mountains, they managed to catch sight of some mountain goats and even a grizzly bear and an eagle. Their next stop was Calgary, which is famous for the Calgary Stampede. Cowboys from all over the world come to c
19、ompete in the Stampede. Many of them have a gift for riding wild horses and can win thousands of dollars in prizes. After two days travel, the girls began to realize that Canada is quite empty. At school, they had learned that most Canadians live within a few hundred kilometres of the USA border, an
20、d Canadas population is only slightly over thirty million, but now they were amazed to see such an empty country. They went through a wheat-growing province and saw farms that covered thousands of acres. Afrer dinner, they were back in an urban area, the busy port city of Thunder Bay at the top of t
21、he Great Lakes. Because of the Great Lakes, they learned, Canada has more fresh water than any other country in the world. In fact, it has one-third of the worlds total fresh water, and much of it is in the Great Lakes. That night as they slept, the train rushed across the top of Lake Superior, thro
22、ugh the great forests and southward towads Toronto. “The True North” from Toronto to Montreal The next morning the bushes and maple trees outside their window were red, gold and orange, and there was frost on the ground, confirming that fall had arrived in Canada. Around noon they arrived in Toronto
23、, the biggest and most wealthy city in Canada. They were not leaving for Montreal until later, so they went on a tour of the city. They went up the tall CN Tower and looked across the lake. In the distance, they could see the Misty cloud that rose from the great Niagara Falls, which is on the south
24、side of the lake. The water flows into the Niagara River and over the falls on its way to the sea. They saw the covered stadium, home of several famous basketball teams. As they walked north from the harbour area, Li Daiyu said, “Lin Fang, one of my mothers old schoolmates, lives here. I should phon
25、e her from a telephone booth.” They met Lin Fei around dusk in downtown Chinatown, one of the three in Toronto. Over dinner at a restaurant called The Pink Pearl, the cousins chatted with Lin Fei, who had moved to Canada many years earlier. “We can get good Cantonese food here,” Lin Feitold them, “
26、because most of the Chinese people here come from South China, especially Hong Kong. Its too bad you cant go as far as Ottawa, Canadas capital. Its approximately four hundred kilometers northeast of Toronto, so it would take too long.” The train left late that night and arrived in Montreal at dawn t
27、he next morning. At the station, people everywhere were speaking French. There were sighs and ads in French, but some of them had English words in smaller letters. “We dont leave until this evening,” said Liu Qian. “Lets go downtown. Old Montreal is close to the water.” They spent the afternoon in l
28、ovely shops and visiting artists in their workplaces beside the water. As they sat in a Buffet restaurant looking over the broad St Lawrence River, a young man sat down with them. “Hello, my name is Henri. Im a student at the university nearby,” he said,” and I was wondering where you are from.” The
29、 girls told him they were on a trp across Canada and that they had only on day in Montreal. “Thats too bad,” he said. “Montreal is a city with wonderful restaurants and clubs. Most of us speak both English and French, but the city has French culture and traditions. We love good coffee, good bread an
30、d good music.” That night as the transfer was speeding along the St Lawrence River toward the Gulf of St Lawrence and down to the distant east coast, the cousins dreamed of French restaurants and red maple leaves. Iqaluit the frozen town The reporter, Beth Allen, arrived in a northern community call
31、ed Iqaluit in Nunavut. Nunavut was created in 1999 as a special area for Inuit people. Its name means “Our Land” in their language. It is in the farthest northeastern area of Canada, north or the Arctic Circle, and is very cold the average witer temperature in Nunavut is 35 degrees below zero. Beth
32、said, “ I knew it would be could in January, but not this cold! Maybe there is a dog sled that can take me into town.” The quiet man who had been on the plane with her said, “Ill take you into town, but I dont hace a dog sled. Most people only use the dogs for competitions, why are you visiting Iqal
33、uit?” Beth answered, “ Im writing a story for my newspaper about Iqaluit wed like to advertise it as a holiday place, but I think its too cold.” The man laughed. “My name is Simon and I am Inuit,” he said. “I think its too far north here for holidays but more and more tourists are coming. They like
34、ice fishing and photographing polar bears. I star as far away from polar bears as possible. I like my warm office and my warm house.” “Im business man. My grandfather would live in ice houses when he hunted in winter, but not so many people do that now. the old men used to make one in a few hours. T
35、hey used to live in skin tents in summer the tents were easy to move so the people could follow the animals.” A few minutes later they arrived in Iqaluit, a town with a population of 6000, on Simons snowmobile. It was two oclock in the afternoon, but it was already dark, and all the houses shone wit
36、h bright lights. Beth said, “ Why is it so dark? Its the middle of the day!” Simon replied, “Its dark in the day because we are so far north. You should come in June. The sun shines all night in the north then. Thats why its called The Land of the Midnight Sun.” There were people on the streets and
37、snowmobiles everywhere. There were even a few dog teams. 必修四 Unit 1 A STUDENT OF AFRICAN WILDLIFE It is 5:45 am and the sun is just rising over Gombe National park in east Africa.Following Janes way of studying chimps,our group are all going to visit them in the forest.Jane has studied these familie
38、s of chimps for many years and helped people understand how much they behave like humans. Watching a familyof chimps waking up is our first activity of the day. This means going back to the place where we left the family sleeping in a tree the night before.Everybody sits and waits in the shade of th
39、e trees while the family begins to wake up and move off.Then we follow as they wonder into the forest.Most of the time,chimps either feed or clean each other as a way of showing love in their family.Jane worns us that our grou is going tobe very tired and dirty me, she said. Do you always get up so
40、late ? Its one oclock!Lesson 3 Please send me a card 请给我寄一张明信片 Postcards always spoil my holidays. Last summer, I went to Italy. I visited museums and sat in public gardens. A friendly waiter taught me a few words of Italian. Then he lent me a book. I read a few lines, but I did not understand a wor
41、d. Every day I thought about postcards. My holidays passed quickly, but I did not send any cards to my friends. On the last day I made a big decision. I got up early and bought thirty-seven cards. I spent the whole day in my room, but I did not write a single card !Lesson 4 An exciting trip 激动人心的旅行
42、I have just received a letter from my brother, Tim. He is in Australia. He has been there for six months. Tim is an engineer. He is working for a big firm and he has already visited a great number of different places in Australia. He has just bought an Australian car and has gone to Alice Springs, a
43、 small town in the centre of Australia. He will soon visit Darwin. From there, he will fly to Perth. My brother has never been abroad before, so he is finding this trip very exciting.Lesson 5 No wrong numbers 无错号之虞 Mr James Scott has a garage in Silbury and now he has just bought another garage in P
44、inhurst. Pinhurst is only five miles from Silbury, but Mr Scott cannot get a telephone for his new garage, so he has just bought twelve pigeons. Yesterday, a pigeon carried the first message from Pinhurst to Silbury. The bird covered the distance in three minutes. Up to now, Mr Scott has sent a grea
45、t many requests for spare parts and other urgent messages from one garage to the other. In this way, he has begun his own private telephone service.Lesson 6 Percy Buttons 珀西巴顿斯 I have just moved to a house in Bridge Street. Yesterday a beggar knocked at my door. He asked me for a meal and a glass of
46、 beer. In return for this, the beggar stood on his head and sang songs. I gave him a meal. He ate the food and drank the beer. Then he put a piece of cheese in his pocket and went away. Later a neighbour told me about him. Everybody knows him. His name is Percy Buttons. He calls at every house in th
47、e street once a month and always asks for a meal and a glass of beer. Lesson 7 Too late 为时太晚 The plane was late and detectives were waiting at the airport all morning. They were expecting a valuable parcel of diamond from South Africa. A few hours earlier, someone had told the police that thieves wo
48、uld try to steal the diamonds. When the plane arrived, some of the detectives were waiting inside the main building while others were waiting on the airfield. Two men took the parcel off the plane and carried it into the Customs House. While two detectives were keeping guard at the door, two others
49、opened the parcel. To their surprise, the precious parcel was full of stones and sand! Lesson 8 The best and the worst 最好的和最差的 Joe Sanders has the most beautiful garden in our town. Nearly everybody enters for The Nicest Garden Competition each year, but Joe wins every time. Bill Friths garden is larger than Joes. Bill works harder than Joe and grows more flowers and vegetables, but Joes garden is more interesting. He has made neat paths and has built a wooden bridge over a pool. I like gardens too, but I do not like har
