外研版第三册第二单元所有课文

初中英语（新标准）八年级上册第二单元短文

八上M1 P4

Questions and answers

Many students ask for advice about improving their English. There are three basic questions.

The first question is about real English. Li Hao from Hubei wrote,” I enjoy watching English films and listen ing to real English songs. But it takes a long time. What do you think?”

This is a great way to learn English! Talk about the film or song with your friends, and guess the meaning of the new words. Just enjoy yourself!

The second question is about speaking. Sam, from Suzhou wrote,” Our school has a foreign teacher. But I …m shy and can?t speak to her. What should I do?”

When I visit China, lots of people in the street say,” Hello! How are you? Where are you from? Do you like China?” these are questions to s tart a conversation. Many people are shy when they speak English, so before you begin, take a deep breath and smile! Smiling always helps.

The third question is about vocabulary. Oliver, from Anhui Province wrote,” I write them down, but I forget them quic kly. What should I do?”

Try to remember eight or ten words a day. Write them on pieces of paper and place them in your bedroom. Say the words when you see them, and change them every day. And when you?re shopping, how about counting the English words, or saying the English names for everything you see?

八上M2 P12

Have you ever had…….a fantastic experience?

Wei Ming has been all over China by plane. Her father is an Air China captain, so they fly to different places for their holidays. “My favorite place is Mount Tai. But I also like the beaches in Sanya.” Is there anywhere she hasn?t visited? “I?ve never been to Shanghai!”

Han Li has been to San Francisco in the USA. His grandparents live there and he visit them every Spring Festival.” I like San Francisco very much because there?s a lot to see and do there. I …m at home in Chinatown!” says Han Li.

Yi Wen has tried western food in a hotel in Nanjing. “Have you ever had Italian food? It?s delicious! Pizza has always been my favorite food. But I don?t like san dwiches or ice cream—they?re too cold!”

Wang Ming has been to a Liu Huan concert in Beijing with more than 2,000 people.” He?s given concerts all over China and the tickets have always sold out. He?s written many songs! He?s the greatest Chinese musician… ever!” says Wang Ming.

He Meifeng went to a Beijing cinema to see The House of the Flying Daggers because she?s always liked Zhang Ziyi. At the end she got up, and ZhangZiyi was in the seat beside her,” I?ve always wanted to meet her. It was my “dream come true”!

八上M3 P20

Scientists think that there has been life on earth for millions of years.

However, we haven?t found life on other planets yet. Why not?

The Earth is a planet and it goes around the sun. Eight other planets also go around the sun. None of them has an environment with air, so people and things cannot grow. The sun and its planets are called the solar system. The solar system is a small part of our galaxy.

The stars we see at night are the suns in other solar systems. There are more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy, called the Milky Way, and our sun is only one of them.

But scientists have discovered many other galaxies in the universe. They are a long way away and their light has travelled for many years to reach us. It is hard to understand how large the universe is.

Scientists have sent lots of spacecraft to look at other planets in our solar system, and some spacecraft have gone beyond the solar system. However, no one has discovered any life in space yet.

But why has no one from other planets sent us a message? Have they tried to send information to us? With so many stars in the universe, are we alone, or is there life out there in space? We don?t know … yet.

八上M4 P28

Hope for the future

Liu Sanzi is an eight-year-old boy from a village in Hunan Province. His parents want him to drop out of school. It?s important for him to work on their farm because there are seven people in Liu?s family and they are very poor.

Li Yingming is 14 and from Zhangxian in Gansu province. He stopped going to school a few years ago. His parents have been ill and he has to look after them.

Many children like Liu Sanzi and Li Yinming can?t get an education because their families are po or. Now they can go to school with the help of Project Hope. In the last 15 years, this project has raised money and paid for the education of 2.5 million poor students in the countryside. People in China and abroad have given 2.2 billion yuan. With this money, Project Hope has built many schools and libraries. It has also trained teachers and it has sent students to high schools.

Last year Shen, a boy from Shanxi Province, went to a school with no electricity and only a few books. But this year he?s at a n ew school with big classrooms and lots of books. Project Hope paid for it.

Most people in China have heard of Project Hope and have given money. But 40 million children from poor families still need help. Because of Project Hope, thousands of children have better lives. Perhaps we should all ask: What can we do for Project Hope? How can we help?

八上M5 P36

Vienna is a beautiful old city on the river Danube. It?s the capital city of Austria and the centre of European classical music. From 1750 a lot of composers and musicians came to study and work in Vienna. The most famous family of musicians was the Strauss family.

There were two composers called Johann Strauss: a father and a son. The father, Johann Strauss the elder,

wrote and played music for a classical dance-----a waltz. His waltz made him all over the Europe.

The son, Johann Strauss the younger, was even more successful and popular than his father. He wrote more than 400 waltzes and his most famous one was The Blue Danube. He wrote it in 1867. Strauss and Mozart were two of the most important composers.

Mozart was born in Austria in 1756. Before he was six he played not only the piano, but also the violin and the organ. His family took him around Europe and he gave concerts in many cities. He wrote his first opera at the age of 12 and hundreds of beautiful pieces of music for the classical orchestra. But he died in 1791 when he was only 35. Some people say he was the greatest European composer.

八上M6 P44

Alice was getting very tired. She was sitting with her sister by the river and her sister was reading a book. Alice had nothing to do. Once or twice she looked into her sister?s book, it had no pictures and conversations in it. “And what is a book for,” thought Alice, “without pictures and conversations?”

So she was thinking of making a daisy chain when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran by her.

There was nothing strange about that. And she didn?t think it was strange when she heard the rabbit say, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I?ll be late!” but when the rabbit took a watch out of its pocket and looked at it, Alice got up. A rabbit with a pocket and a watch? She ran across the field after it. She saw it go down a large rabbit hole under the hedge.

Then Alice went down after it and never thought about how she was going to get out again.

八上M7 P58

Hi Lingling,

Thanks for your last message, it was great to hear from you. You sound great fun, and I can?t wait to meet you.

I hope you will recognise me fr om my photo when I arrive at the airport. I?m quite tall, with short fair hair, and I wear glasses. I?ll wear jeans and a T-shirt for the journey, but I?ll also carry my warm coat. I?ve got your photo—you look so pretty, so I?m sure we?ll find each other!

Thanks for telling me about what you like doing. You sound just like me! I spend a lot of time with the school orchestra, but I also like dance music—I love dancing! I enjoy sports as well, especially tennis. My brother is captain of the school tennis team—I?m very proud of him! And I work hard at school—I feel stupid when I get bad marks and I get angry with myself—I should work harder.

You asked me how I feel about coming to China. Well, at first I often feel a bit sad when I leave my mum and dad for a fe w days, and I?m quite shy when I?m with strangers. I feel nervous when I speak Chinese, but I?ll be fine after a few days. I?m always sorry when I do something wrong, so please help me do the right things when I?m with you in China! Oh, and I?m afraid of flying. But I?m very excited about coming to China!

See you next week!

Love Sally

八上M8 P66

Tour of London

Welcome to this short tour of London. In this square we are standing in the middle of London. Opposite is the National Gallery, a museum with lots of famous paintings. Go along the red street to Buckingham Palace. The Queen lives here.

Turn left and go to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Opposite you can see the London Eye. It takes you 135 metres above the River Thames. You can see most of London on a clear day.

When you are tired, the best way to see London is by boat. You can get the boat near Big Ben. As you go along the river, the London Eye is on your right.

Get off the boat at Tower Bridge. There you can see the Tower of London next to the bridge. The Tower of London is the city?s oldest palace. It is 900 years old.

Take the boat back along the river. Get off the boat and go past the station and walk along the street. Opposite is the old fruit and vegetable market. They don?t sell fruit and vegetables now. There are stores and restaurants, and lots of street musicians. Turn left into King?s Street, and go past the church. You?re now back where you started, at the square. Now you finish your tour.

八上M9 P74

The panda is one of the animals most in danger. There are about 1,000 pandas living in nature reserves today. Zoos and research centres look after about 160 pandas. Scientists are studying how they live and more baby pandas are born in the zoos.

Pandas live in the forests and mountains of Southwest China. They mainly live on bamboo, and each panda needs to eat a lot of bamboo every day. The area of bamboo is becoming smaller for many different reasons, so pandas have less and less land to live on. Pandas don?t have many babies, and baby pandas often die. The situation is becoming very serious.

Our government is working hard to save pandas. There are more than 30 nature reserves to protect pandas but these are not enough. The government has made a new plan to help pandas. The nature reserves will be bigger and the bamboo will grow better. Then the pandas will have enough food to eat and enough places to live in. Pandas born in the zoos may go back to live in the nature reserves.

Most people love pandas. The panda is one of the best-known animals in the world. It is the symbol for the World Wide Fund for Nature. The WWF works to protect all animals in danger, so the panda has become the symbol of all animals in danger. There is still a long way to go to save the panda. Think of other animals in danger such as tigers, whales, turtles and elephants—we need to save the panda, and we need to save them, too.

八上M10 P82

Lao She wrote Teahouse in 1957. The play shows the audience life in China between 1898 and 1945. It takes place in a teahouse in old Beijing and it tells us the story of Wang Lifa and his customers. It asks us to see the teahouse as the centre of the neighbourhood. Finally, it says goodbye to old Beijing and its people.

The story starts in 1898 during the Qing Dynasty. It continues in 1916, and finally, it brings the audience to the end of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945. After the war, Wang loses the teahouse and he dies.

Lao She was born in Beijing in 1899. His parents sent him to the Teacher?s School in Beijing and he learned to teach. From 1924 to 1929 he taught Chinese to the English in London. He wrote many plays, novels and short stories. He was named a “People?s Artist” and a “Great Master of Language”. He was one of the greatest Chinese writers of the 20th century.

In Lao She?s Teahouse today, waiters bring tea to the customers and sell them delicious Chinese food. If you like Beijing Opera, folk music, acrobatics or magic shows, you can enjoy them in the teahouse. Lao She?s Teahouse gives a wonderful welcome to everyone from China and from all over the world.

八上M11 P90

When?s the Best Time to Visit the USA?

The USA is a very big country to visit, so choose carefully the places to see and the time to go. Bring a good map because you may want to travel around.

New York and Washington D.C. are good places to visit in May or October. It?s not too hot then. In winter there?s a lot of snow.

The best plan is to arrive in New England in September. The weather starts to get cooler and the trees start to change colour. It?s a good idea to bring your camera because you may want to take photos of the autumn leaves. 4,000 kilometres away in Los Angeles, California, the weather is fine all year. It?s nice to see the sun in December! Bring your swimsuit because you might want to swim in the sea.

In the northwest, it isn?t very cold, but there?s a lot of rain, so bring an umbrella. It?s pleasant to visit Alaska in July and August but it might be cool in the evening. So remember to wear some warm clothes. But don?t come in winter. It?ll be dark all day and freezing cold.

In Texas and the southeast, there are storms from time to time in summer and fall. It?s usually very hot and sunny compared to many other places.

So when?s the best time to visit the USA? Any time you like!

八上M12 P98

Advice for Visitors: Traditional Life in England

When I went to England, I enjoyed my stay. But I noticed so many different traditions.

For example, you usually shake hands with people when you meet them for the first time. But after that, you can just say hello. You must say Mr and Mrs when you speak to older people, but you can use first names with your friends.

One day we visited some friends and had tea. Tea is not just a drink but a light meal at around 4 p.m. You can?t have tea—the meal—after 4:30. We ate sandwiches and a large fruit cake. You can only drink tea at a tea party, not coffee or juice. And you must drink tea with milk. You must pour the tea, then the milk—you can?t put the milk in first, then the tea.

In bus es or trains, the other passengers are very quiet, and you mustn?t talk too loudly. It?s very different

from China! In some trains you can?t even use your mobile phones! And you don?t often hear people shouting in the street.

I was very lucky—I even went to a wedding. It was very different from a Chinese wedding. For example, the man and the woman can?t see each other the night before the wedding. Then the woman mustn?t arrive at the church on time but a few minutes late. And at the party after the wedding, the woman throws her flowers over her shoulder. The girl who catches them will be next to get married! It was all very strange but it was great fun!