What a Needle!（高二适用）

Everyone knows what a needle is. Of eourse there are many needles and needles. Needles for sewing maehines, needles for injection(注射), you name it. But few people think of the wonder a needle works in the hands of those who practise acupuncture（针灸疗法）。     

Jomestown（高二适用 ）

The development of Jamestown in Virginia during the second half of the seventeenth century, was closely related to the making and use of bricks. There are several practical reasons why bricks became important to the colony.     

Ship Accident（高二适用）

YANTAI: At least 150 passenger‘s and crew aboard a ship on the Yellow Sea were found dead and more than 140 remain missing in one of the country‘ s worst maritime (航海的) accidents on November 24, 1999 near the port city of Yantai in East China‘ s Shandong Province. Rescue workers reported late yesterday that only 36 survivors had been found.     

Keep Your Credit-card Safe（高二适用）

The Internet has led to a huge increase in credit-card(信用卡) fraud.Your card information could even be for sale in an illegal web site(非法网站).     

A Train Accident（高二适用）

At least 275 people were killed and 460 injured in Monday‘ s head-on train coUision(碰撞) in eastern India and rescue operations were continuing, the Press Trust of India said yesterday.     

The Water Cycle（高二适用）

Most of the earth is covered with water. About 70 per cent of the water on earth is in the oceans,but water also exists in rivers and lakes. It occurs as ice or water vapour in the air. All together, there are about 330 million cubic (立方体的) miles of water on earth.     

Pioneering Spacecraft Landing Safely（高二适用）

The first test flight of China‘s manned space programme went perfectly as the country‘s unmanned spacecrafi(飞船) fell safely down in Inner Mongolia on November 21, 1999 after the first 21-hour travel.     

Mother＇s Day（高二适用）

An American woman Anna Jarvis ws the first person to decide that mothers should have a holiday in their honour each year.Miss Jarvis started her campaign in 1906 in her home city Philadelphia.She wrote thousands of letters to congressmen(国会议员）,city officials,teachers and newspaper publishers,     

The Young Are Critical about Their Parents（高二适用）

It‘s natural for young people to be critical about their parents at times and to blame them for the misunderstanding between them. They have always complained(抱怨), more or less justly, that their parents areout of touch with modern ways, that they do not trust their children to deal with difficulties, that they talk too much about certain problems and that they have no sense of humor, at least in parents-children relationships.