初中英語美文閱讀

1、 Andy's Hobbies Andy is always watching animal programs on TVWhen he was a child his favorite books were Gerald Durrel's animal booksHe also wrote down something about animals when he heard them especially the ones that were about loving animals He has always had petsHis first animal friends

2、 were pigsAnd then he tried his best to persuade his parents to get a dogFor some reasons they did not seem to believe Andy would walk the dog three times a day，no matter how Andy promised he'd do it He did his best to persuade them：he was good at drawing and left drawings of dogs all over the p

3、laceHe ran to the library，borrowed all the dog books he could find，and left them lying around as wellHis parents were quite used to his books lying around everywhere Then Andy's mother was told a friend's cat had kittens and they could go and get oneAt first Andy was a little disappointedAs

4、time went by，he learned to love the cat so much he has had cats ever since Cats let us know when it is time to change the sofaEither when the fabric starts to look like Einstein's hair that has been combed with cat paws，thanks to the generous donation of cat hair 安迪的愛好 安迪總是看電視節(jié)目上的動物頻道。當他還是個孩子的時候

5、，他最喜歡的書就是杰拉爾德·達雷爾寫的有關動物的書籍。每當他聽到一些關于動物的事情，尤其是那些有關愛護動物的故事，他都會記錄下來。 他一直愛養(yǎng)寵物，他的第一個動物朋友是豬。后來他盡自己的最大努力去說服他父母為他買一只狗。由于某些原因，無論安迪怎樣承諾，他們似乎并不相信安迪會每天出去遛狗三次。 他盡自己的最大努力說服他們：他擅長畫畫，到處都放著狗的素描。他跑到圖書館去借他能找到的所有關于狗的書籍，也把它們丟得到處都是。他的父母已經(jīng)習慣他把書丟得到處都是了。 后來安迪的母親得知一個朋友家的貓生了小貓，他們可以去抱一只回家。起初安迪感到有點失望，但自從有了貓之后，隨著時間的推移他學會給貓很

6、多愛護。貓讓我們知道什么時候該換沙發(fā)了，也就是當沙發(fā)織物開始看起來像用貓爪梳理過的愛因斯坦的頭發(fā)時，這其實多虧有了慷慨捐贈的貓毛。 Larry Schwarz's Hobbies Larry Schwarz has played with toys all his lifeAs a child，he often pulled his toys apart，and then glued them back togetherHe made toy rockets，cars，and buildings out of boxesAlthough he put his toys away lon

7、g enough to become a lawyer，he never lost his childhood passion for toysSchwarz dreamed up many toys while in schoolInstead of taking notes in class，he filled 26 notebooks with toy sketches! Still，he managed to get his lawyer degree Today，instead of working in a courtroom，Schwarz skateboards around

8、his Rumpus's headquarters in New York CityIn 1997，he started the Rumpus Toy company and invented all kind of crazy toys，like Gus Gutz，a doll with 12 spongy organs，and Sy Klops，a one-eyed dollEven the boxes are playfulPrinted instructions on Rumpus toy boxes allow kids to turn them into club hous

9、es，buses or airplanesHe loves to ride around in his Rumpus Road Rocket，a multi-colored school busHe visits hospitals and schools，bringing toys，happiness and adviceSays Schwarz，"If you believe in something strongly enough and think you can do it，you really should give it a try" 拉里·施瓦茨的

10、愛好 拉里·施瓦茨這一生都在玩玩具。他小時候就經(jīng)常把玩具拆開，然后再用膠水重新拼合。他用盒子制造玩具火箭、汽車和樓房。盡管為了成為一名律師，他不得不長時間把玩具放在一邊，但他從未喪失童年時對玩具的那種熱情。上學時施瓦茨夢想擁有很多玩具。他上課不做筆記，反而在 26 個筆記本上畫滿玩具草圖。不過，他還是設法取得了法律專業(yè)學位。 現(xiàn)在，施瓦茨不在法庭工作，而是滑著滑板在他位于紐約的拉姆普斯公司總部轉(zhuǎn)悠。1997 年，他創(chuàng)辦了拉姆普斯玩具公司，發(fā)明了各種各樣的瘋狂玩具，比如有 12 個海綿器官的玩偶格絲·古茨、獨眼玩偶賽·克洛普斯，甚至連包裝盒都可以玩。玩具盒上印著的說

11、明書可指導孩子們把盒子變成俱樂部會所、公共汽車或飛機。他喜歡乘坐一輛名為“拉姆普斯公路火箭”的彩色校車四處跑。他參觀醫(yī)院和學校，給大家?guī)ネ婢?、快樂和忠告。施瓦茨說：“如果你特別相信某件事，而且覺得自己可以做好的話，你真的應該試一試?！?Molly Makes a Change about Her Business Molly Boylan is one of the most successful businesswomen in Canada after setting up her cosmetic company Blazes in 1992Though she is very suc

12、cessful，she says that she finds it harder every year in balance her business with her family lifeShe sometimes feels that her two children know more about their baby-sitter than they do about her Molly employs around eighty people in her factory and warehouse，and ten others in her two new fashion st

13、ores，but her newest employee is the most important one for herAfter years of worrying about her business more than her family，she has decided to make Sally Pamonte new general manager in her companyMolly will still be involved in decision-making，and she's going to stay in touch with the people w

14、ho work for her，but Sally is going to look after day-to-day running of the business so that Molly can spend more time with the kids The new arrangement is going to start on Monday，and both of them are already excited about itSally says，"I'm very nervous，actually，but I'm sure Molly will

15、help me a lot in the early days，even though I hope she feels she can trust me not to make too many mistakes" Molly，on the other hand，seems quite relaxed about the whole thing"I know that Sally's going to be a very nice manager" she says，"She's only been here a couple of d

16、ays and she's already shown me how to work out a few problems we were havingThe best thing though is that I feel a hundred times happier than I've been in yearsI mean，I honestly can't remember the last time I felt as relaxed as this，and my kids are really excited about my being at home m

17、oreTo be honest，I wish I had made this decision years ago" 莫莉改變了公司的業(yè)務安排 1992 年莫莉·博伊蘭創(chuàng)辦了她的 Blazes 化妝品公司，自此她便成了加拿大最成功的女企業(yè)家之一。雖然她很成功，但她說她發(fā)現(xiàn)每年在事業(yè)與家庭之間很難取得平衡。有時她感到她自己的兩個孩子對保姆的了解比對她了解的還要多。 莫莉為她的工廠和倉庫雇用了大約八十人，為兩個新時裝店雇用了十人，但她最新的員工對她最為重要。她多年為家庭操心，為生意更操心之后，決定任命薩莉·帕蒙特為公司的新總經(jīng)理。莫莉仍參與決策，并與為她工作的人保持聯(lián)

18、系，但是薩莉要照料公司業(yè)務的日常運行，這樣莫莉能有更多的時間跟孩子們在一起。 新的工作安排將于星期一開始運作，他們倆都已經(jīng)很興奮。薩莉說，“我真的很緊張，但我確信在早期階段莫莉?qū)o我很多幫助，盡管我希望她可以相信我不會犯太多錯誤?！绷硪环矫?，莫莉?qū)φ麄€事件似乎很輕松?！拔抑浪_莉?qū)⒊蔀橐粋€非常好的經(jīng)理，”她說，“她來這里只有幾天時間，她已經(jīng)向我展示了如何解決我們遇到的一些問題。最棒的是，我覺得我比以前幸福了一百倍。我的意思是，我真的不記得上次我感到像這次這樣的輕松是什么時候了，我的孩子們對我有更多的時候待在家里真的感到格外興奮。老實說，我希望我在多年前就應該這做出這樣的決定。” Jon

19、9;s Working Situation Dull Axe Jon likes his job and he used to be quite good at itIn fact，ten years ago when he began working at IT，he was considered one of the best in the companyHowever，over the past few years Jon's performance at work has been slippingJon got more and more frustrated as his

20、friends progressed and he didn't Finally，one day Jon asked a friend for some advice"I don't understandI try so hard but I can't get up in the company" His friend looked serious and asked，"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" Jon looked at his friend as thou

21、gh he was crazy and said，"What are you talking about?" His friend replied，"When was the last time you took courses to upgrade your skills? You work in a competitive industryIf you don't update your skills，you will fall behind" Jon felt silly and laughed "I have spent all

22、 of my time trying to cut trees with a dull axeAll I needed to do was sharpen it!" 喬恩的工作現(xiàn)狀鈍了的斧頭 喬恩熱愛工作，他曾經(jīng)是這一行的高手。事實上，十年前他開始在 IT 行業(yè)工作時，他被認為是公司里的頂尖高手?？墒菐啄赀^去了，喬恩的工作表現(xiàn)往下滑落。看著朋友突飛猛進，而他自己一點長進也沒有，喬恩越來越感到沮喪。 有一天喬恩終于向一位朋友尋求忠告，“我不明白，我在公司里如此努力，卻無法升職?！?他的朋友表情嚴肅，問道，“你上次磨利你的斧頭是什么時候的事?” 喬恩看著朋友，好像他的朋友有點瘋了并說，“

23、你在說什么?” 朋友回答，“你上次什么時候去上課提高你的技術? 你在極具競爭性的行業(yè)里工作，如果不更新你的技術，你就會落后的?！?喬恩覺得自己很蠢，大笑，“原來我一直在拿一把鈍了的斧頭在砍樹，卻忘了需要磨利它!” The Meanest Mother I had the meanest mother in the whole worldWhile other kids ate candy for breakfast，I had to have porridge，eggs or toastWhen others had Cokes and candy for lunch，I had to eat

24、 a sandwichBut at least I wasn't alone when I was sadMy sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did My mother preferred to know where we were all the timeShe had to know who our friends were and where we were goingWe had to clean clothes and take a bath every dayThe other kids got

25、to wear the same clothes for daysWe could not lie in bed "sick" in order to miss school The worst is yet to comeWe had to be in bed by nine each night and get up at eight the next morningWe couldn't sleep till noon like our friendsSo while they slept，my mother was brave to break the Ch

26、ild Labour LawShe made us workWe had to wash dishes，make beds，and learn to cook and all sorts of things at homeI believe she lay awake thinking up all things for us to do My mother was a complete failure as a motherTwo of her children received higher educationNone of us have ever been arrested(taken

27、 away by the police) or divorcedShe forced us to grow up into educated and honest adultsI am trying to raise my three children this wayI am filled with pride when my children call me "mean"Why? Because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the world 最無情的母親 我有一個算得上世界

28、上最無情的母親。當其他小孩早餐可以吃糖的時候，我卻只能吃麥片、雞蛋或烤面包。別的孩子午餐可以喝可樂吃糖，我卻只能吃三明治。但至少并不是只有我這樣，我的姐姐、兩個哥哥與我一樣，都有同一個這樣無情的母親。 我母親一直喜歡了解我們的行蹤，我們和哪些朋友在一起，要去哪里。我們每天都得穿干凈的衣服，而且每天必須洗澡，而其他孩子一件衣服能穿上好幾天。我們不能躺在床上“生病”以逃避上學。 最糟糕的事還在后頭呢。每天晚上我們必須在 9 點之前睡覺，第二天早上 8 點必須起床。我們不能像其他朋友那樣睡到中午。當他們想睡到中午時，我母親就會勇敢地違反童工法。我母親讓我們干活：洗碗、整理床鋪、做飯以及各種各樣的家務

29、事。我認為我母親躺在床上不睡覺，一直在想著要求我們?nèi)プ龅哪切┦虑椤?作為母親，我的母親完全是一位不稱職的母親。但她的兩個孩子接受了高等教育，我們中沒有一個人被警察逮捕或離婚，她迫使我們長成有教養(yǎng)的、誠實的成年人。我想用這種教育方式培養(yǎng)我的三個孩子。我的孩子說我“無情”時我心中充滿了自豪。為什么呢? 因為現(xiàn)在我每天都在感謝上帝給了我世界上最無情的母親。 My Faithful Father My father used to work in the city and seldom stayed at homeBut he would come back help to harvest rice

30、every year One autumn，he promised to help our neighbor，who lost his arms in a traffic accident in 1999，to harvest his riceAfter Father harvested our own，his little rice picker brokeWhat's worse，he had to return to work the next day because his partner was ill in hospitalIt meant that Father woul

31、dn't be back in a few daysIt now seemed impossible to help out the neighbor Father told us that he wouldn't let the neighbor's rice rot in the fieldHe decided to harvest it by hand without a machine"If tonight's weather is clear，I think I can do it" added my fatherIn fact，h

32、e was rather tired after a day's harvest work After dinner，F(xiàn)ather had a short rest and made his way to the fieldA full moon was glowing in the sky and the weather was cold but clearHe spent the whole night keeping his word I would never forget the image：Father was cutting rice in the light of th

33、e harvest moonBehind him，row after row of rice stocks stood at attention，showing respect for a man who kept his word 信守諾言的爸爸 我的父親過去在城里工作，很少待在家里，但每年都會回來幫助收割水稻。 一個秋天，他答應幫我們的鄰居收割水稻，鄰居在 1999 年的一次交通事故中失去了雙臂。在爸爸收割完我們自己的水稻之后小割稻機壞了。更糟糕的是，爸爸第二天必須趕回去上班，因為他的搭檔生病住院了。這意味著爸爸在幾天內(nèi)不再回來，現(xiàn)在幫鄰居收割水稻似乎不可能了。 爸爸告訴我們，他不能讓鄰居

34、家的水稻爛在地里。他決定沒有機器就手工收割水稻，他又加上一句“如果今晚天氣晴朗，我想我能做到?！笔聦嵣?，他在一天的收割工作之后已經(jīng)是相當累了。 晚飯后，爸爸休息了片刻，然后就去了田地。天空一輪明月，天氣寒冷卻明亮，他用了一整夜時間幫鄰居收割水稻，實現(xiàn)了他的諾言。 我永遠不會忘記這樣的畫面：在滿月的月光下爸爸正在割水稻。在他身后，一排排的水稻稈立正站著，以示對一個信守承諾的人的尊重。 Unit Two Daily Routines My Weekends I don't like staying at home all alone on the weekendI'd like t

35、o go out even there's nothing special to do Yesterday was SundayI went to the bank in the downtown and then met my friendIt was already noon，so we had lunch together and then we went to a KTV and sang songsThere were just two of usAnd we sang all the timeWhen we got bored，we went to the shopping

36、 center and bought something she neededI felt tiredI didn't have a napI usually sleep for about 30 minutes or so on weekdaysAfter I got back home at around 5:30 pm，I started to think "did I really enjoy myself in this way?" The answer should be "NO"So I think maybe next time

37、I should stay at home，do something I really enjoy，like watching movies，doing some reading，or just doing cross-stitchingAnd I still could sleep at noonJust do the thing I like and can make me relaxedWhat about you? Do you always spend weekends at home or you think like I thought before that we should

38、 spend the weekend outside our house? I hope you enjoyed your last weekend For me，I prefer to stay at home rather than going out with my friendsYou know，compared with hanging out with others，I really tend to stay at home and surf on the InternetYes，nowadays，I have gotten interested in making money o

39、nline through various kinds of waysFor example，I often spend much time on myLot on the weekendEven if for something，such as shopping，I will still choose to go shopping online 我的周末 周末我不喜歡獨自一人待在家里。即使沒有什么特別的事情，我也想外出。 昨天是星期天，我去了市中心的銀行，然后遇到了我的朋友。那時已經(jīng)是中午了，所以我們一起吃了午飯，然后就去 KTV 唱歌。歌廳里只有我們兩個人，我們一直唱呀唱。當我們唱得無聊了

40、，就一起去購物中心買她需要的東西。我感到很疲倦，因為我沒有午睡，平常我通常會睡 30 分鐘左右。下午 5:30 左右回到家，之后我就開始想，“這樣我過得真的快樂嗎?”答案應該是“不”。于是我想，下一次也許我應該待在家里做一些我真正喜歡的事情，像看電影、閱讀或僅僅繡十字繡，而且我中午仍然可以睡覺。做我喜歡的事情，并讓自己放松一些。你呢? 你總是待在家里過周末，還是像我之前想的那樣，我們應該到外面去過周末? 我倒希望你上個周末過得很開心。 對我來說，我寧愿待在家里，也不想和我的朋友一起到外面去。你知道，比起和其他人一起在外面閑逛，我真的更傾向于待在家里，在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上沖浪。是的，現(xiàn)在我開始對在網(wǎng)上通過

41、各種方式賺錢很感興趣。例如，周末我經(jīng)?；ê芏鄷r間在 myLot 網(wǎng)站上。即使是做某些事情，比如購物，我還是會選擇在網(wǎng)上購物。 A Day of Working with My Dad This Thursday，across the US，kids are skipping school and going to work with their parentsThey'll be making copies，sending faxes and sweeping floorsThis is because April 28 is Take Our Sons and Daughters t

42、o Work Day all over the USThis holiday shows kids what it means to be a grown-up in the working world I still remember when this day started，I was very happyNot only did I have the chance to miss school，but I also got to sit in my dad's taxi all day long and we would go to a restaurant for lunch

43、 But after only 20 minutes of driving around the cityI was very boredI couldn't read my book in the car as I would get carsick and my dad didn't like to turn on the radioI got hot and uncomfortablePeople wouldn't get into his taxi because they thought he already had a passenger：me so not

44、hing happenedIt seemed years before we went out for lunchI actually started to miss school While the point of the day is to give kids a chance to experience real-life jobs and give them an idea of the possibilities for their futures，I got something completely different from the dayI learned to appre

45、ciate schoolWhere else do you get to play with your friends，do science experiments，read great books and write stories all in one day? Just as you'll have to learn to love your job later in life，learn to love school nowIf you don't already，try spending the day at work with your dad 同爸爸一起工作一天

46、這個周四，全美國的孩子們都不去上學，而是和父母一起去工作。他們將會去復印材料、發(fā)送傳真以及掃地。這是因為 4 月 28 日是全美國的“帶子女上班日”。這個節(jié)日向孩子展示，作為工作領域中的成年人意味著什么。 我仍舊記得，當這一天開始的時候我是多么高興。我不僅不用去上學，而且還可以一整天坐在爸爸的出租車里，還能去餐館吃午飯。 但是，在開車繞城僅僅 20 分鐘后我就感到厭煩了。我不能在車里看書，因為那樣會暈車；我爸爸又不喜歡打開收音機。我越來越熱，也越來越不舒服。人們不愿上爸爸的車，因為他們以為車里早已有了乘客也就是我，所以沒有什么生意。似乎過了很久很久我們才去吃午飯。我真的開始想念學校生活了。 盡

47、管“帶子女上班日”的目的是要給孩子們一個體驗真實工作的機會，以及給他們一個對未來的想法，我卻從那一天得到了完全不同的體會。我學會了重視學校生活。你還可以在其他什么地方能在一天內(nèi)和朋友玩耍、做科學實驗、讀很棒的書以及寫故事呢?正如在以后的生活中你必須學會熱愛工作一樣，現(xiàn)在學會熱愛學習吧。如果你還沒有這么做，嘗試和爸爸一起工作一天吧!How to Make Children Do Housework It is difficult for the parents of every family to teach their children to be responsible for housew

48、ork The Shatian School in Shanghai is making its students do housework for their parentsThe third graders must learn how to cook and clean；the sixth graders do the laundry，and the seventh and the eighth graders cook balanced meals with 15 yuan Many parents think it's a good way for children to t

49、ry housework，but they don't know how to do it at homeWith the following ideas，you can really get your children to help at home If you want to make your children think that they can do everything quite well，please don't always scold them but give them lots of praise at homeTalk more about wha

50、t he did right， not about what he didn't doIf your child finishes some difficult work，give him or her a Sunday trip or a ball game with dad as a reward 如何讓孩子做家務 對每個家庭的父母來說，教育孩子分擔一些家務勞動是很困難的。 上海沙田學校讓該校的學生為父母做家務。三年級學生必須學會如何做飯和打掃衛(wèi)生，六年級的學生必須學會洗衣服，七年級和八年級的學生必須學會用 15 元錢來做出營養(yǎng)均衡的飯菜。 許多父母認為試著讓孩子做家務是一種很好的

51、方式，但是他們不知道如何讓他們在家做家務。試試下面這些辦法吧，你真的可以讓你的孩子在家?guī)兔ψ黾覄铡?如果你們想要讓你的孩子們覺得他們能做好每件事，請不要總批評他們，而要多表揚他們。多談論他們做過的正確的事情，不要談論那些他們沒有做過的事情。如果你的孩子完成了一些困難的工作，給他她一次周日旅行或者讓他她和爸爸一起看球賽作為獎勵吧。 The First Day of School It is school time again，a new start of a new period You are probably feeling excited and a little sad that sum

52、mer vacation is overSome kids feel nervous or a little scared on the first day of school because of the new things，new teachers，and maybe even a new schoolLuckily，these new worries only stay for a little while On your first day，most teachers start the school year by introducing themselves and talkin

53、g about all the things you'll do that yearMaybe you'll have a chance to tell something about yourselves to the others of the classThe most important thing for you is to learn new rules and follow themAfter all，rules can make the school life betterBesides，the most exciting thing for you is to

54、 meet more new friends in a new placeThe first day of school doesn't sound bad，but there is some advice for you to make you a better person，such as developing good learning habits，making a good plan and taking your new schoolwork seriouslyThe last but not the least is to have fun in your new sch

55、ool As the saying goes：Good beginning is half done 開學第一天 又開學了，一個新學期的開始。 你可能感到興奮，并且有點兒難過，暑假結(jié)束了。在開學的第一天，有些孩子覺得緊張或有點兒害怕，因為多是新事物，新老師，甚至可能是新學校。幸運的是，這些新的煩惱僅僅是暫時的。 在開學的第一天，大多數(shù)老師開始介紹自己，談論你們在這一年里要做的所有事情。也許你有機會向班里其他人講述你的事情，對你來說，最重要的事就是學習新規(guī)則并且遵守它們。這些規(guī)則畢竟能使學校生活更美好。除此之外，對你來說，最興奮的事就是在一個新地方遇見更多的新朋友。開學第一天似乎不錯，但還有一些

56、建議使你變得更好，例如，培養(yǎng)良好的學習習慣，制定一個好計劃，認真做好你的新功課。最后但同樣重要的是，在你的新學校里玩得很開心。 正如諺語所說：良好的開端是成功的一半。School Lunches In the UK，most children have their lunches at school，but in some schools，parents can choose what their children eatThe children can have a school lunch a hot，cooked meal；or they can take a packed lunch

57、with them，which usually includes cold food like sandwiches Often parents know what their children wantCathy，a mother of three children，told us，"My children have packed lunches because they say they hate school lunchesSo I make three packed lunches every morning" However，another mother，Susa

58、n，made a different choiceShe said，"My daughters have always had school lunchesI think they probably get healthier food at school than a few sandwiches I made for them" But how healthy are school lunches? Kaz，a father，thought poorly of themHe said，"Fizzy drinks were offered and I think there were lots of chips" Jamie Oliver spent a year working in a school kitchenHe was worried about the unhealthy food which included burgers，pizzas and chipsSo he tried to cook healthy food such as good stews and curries for the children instead So Jamie improve