Leslie Nielsen's childhood was a difficult one,but he had one particular shining star in his life - his uncle,who was a well-known actor.The admiration and respect his uncle earned inspired Nielsen to make a career (职业) inacting .Even though he often felt he would be discovered to be a no-talent , he movedforward ,gaining a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse and making his first television appearance a few years later in 1948. However, becoming a full- time, successful actor would still be an uphill battle for another eight years until he landed a number of film roles that finally got him noticed.

But even then, what he had wasn't quite what he wanted. Nielsen always felt he should be doing comedy but his good looks and distinguishedvoice kept him busy in dramatic roles.It wasn't until 1980-32 years into his career-that he landed the role it would seem he was made

for in Airplane!That movie led him into the second half of his career whereh is comedic presence

alone could make a movie a financial success even when movie reviewers would not rate it highly.

Did Nielsenthen feel content in his career?Yes and no.He was thrilled to be doing the comedy

that he always felt he should do,but even during his last few years,he always had a sense of curiosity,wondering what new role or challenge might be just around the corner.He never stopped working, never retired.

Leslie Nielsen's devotion to acting is wonderfully inspiring.He built a hugely successful careerwith little more than plain old hard work and determination.He showed us that even a single desire, never given up on, can make for a remarkable life.

1. Why did Nielsen want to be an actor?

2. What do we know about Nielsen in the second half of his career?

3. What does Nielsen's career story tell us?

We live in a town with three beaches.There are two parks less than 10 minutes'walk from

home where neighborhoodchildren gather to play.However,what my children want to do after school is pick up a screen-any screen- and stare at it for hours.They are not alone.Today'schildren spend an averageof four and a half hours a day looking at screens,split between watching television and using the Internet.

In the past few years, an increasing number of people and organisations have begun coming up with plans to counter this trend.A couple of years ago film-maker David Bond realised that his children,then aged five and three,were attached to screens to the point where he was able to say"chocolate" into his three-year-old son's ear without getting a response. He realised that something needed to change, and, being a London media type, appointed himself"marketing director fro Nature".He documented his journey as he set about treating nature as a brand to

be marketed to young people.The result was Project Wild T hing,a film which chartsthe birth

of the World Network,a group of organisations with the common goal of getting children out into nature.

"Just five more minutes outdoors can make a difference,"David Bond says."There is a lot of really interesting evidence which seems to be suggesting that if children are inspired up to the age of seven,then being outdoors will be a habit for life."His own children have got into the habit of playing outside now: "We just send them out into the garden and tell them not to come back in for a while."

Summer is upon us. There is an amazing world out there, and it needs our children as much as they need it.Let us get them out and let them play.

4. What is the problem with the author's children?

5. How did David Bond advocate his idea?

6.Which of the following can replace the underlined word "charts" in paragraph 2?

7.What can be a suitable title for thetext?

If you ever get the impression that your dog can"tell"whether you look content or annoyed, you may be onto something. Dogs may indeed be able to distinguish between happy and angry human faces, according to a new study.

Researcherstrained a group of 11 dogs to distinguish between images(图像) of the same person making either a happy or an angry face. During the training stage, each dog was shown only the upper half or the lower half of the person's face. The researchers then tested the dogs' ability to distinguish between human facial expressions by showing them the other half of the person's face or images totally different from the ones used in training .The researchers found that the dogs were able to pick the angry or happy face by touching a picture of it with their noses more often than one would expectby randomchance.

The study showed the animalshad figured out how to apply what they learned about human faces during training to new faces in the testing stage." Wecan rule out that the dogs simply distinguish between the pictures based on a simple cue, such as the sight of teeth,"said study author Corsin Muller." Instead,our results suggest that the successful dogs realized that a smiling mouth means the same thingas smiling eyes,and the same rule applies to an angry mouth having the same meaning as angry eyes."

"With our study, we think we can now confidently conclude that at least some dogs can distinguish human facial expressions,"Muller told Live Science.

At this point,it is not clear why dogs seem to be equipped with the ability to recognize

different facial expressions in humans."To us, the most likely explanation appears to be that the basis lies in their living with humans, which gives them a lot of exposure to human facial expressions," and this exposurehas provided them with many chances to learn to distinguish between them,Muller said.

8.The new study focused on whether dogs can .

9. What can we learn about the study from paragraph 2?

10.What is the last paragraph mainly about?

You've got mail…and it's a postcard

Paulo Magalhaes,a 34-year-old Portuguese computer engineer, loves to open his mailbox and find a brightlycolored picture of Rome's Colosseum. Or Africa's Victoria Falls. Or China'sGreatWall. 11

"I often send postcards to family and friends."he says to China Daily,"but you can imagine that after a while, you never receive as many as you send, and you realize that not everyone is into it. 12 " Seekingother like-minded souls,however, Paulo started looking in a somewhat

unlikely place :online .Many would say the Internet is a place for people who have given up on the traditional postal service,but Paulo's hunch（直觉）paid off.

Today his hobby has developed into the website postcrossing.com,a social network that has grown to 575 217registered users in 214 countries and regions since he started it 10 years ago. 13 Runningthe website has almost turned intoa full-time job.

Languageis certainly a harrier for many people. For postcrossing to work worldwide, a common communication language is needed so that everyone can understand each other. As cool as it may be to receive a postcard written in Chinese,the concept doesn't work if one doesn't understand it. 14 So a commonlanguage is required and in postcrossing that's English since it's widely spoken.

"Many people in China have limited exposure to English. 15 That said,we know of many

postcrossing members,including Chinese,who have actually improved their English skills through their use of postcrossing,"Paulo says.

My mother is 92.Unless I have to be out of town,each week I take my mother to do her 16 andvisit the doctor,providing 17 and transportation.During the week,however,she likes

to go to a nearby store to 18 some small things she needs.

Last week she walked up to the store,but when she went to pay for her groceries,she was 19 about three dollars.The only 20 topayforthegroceries was to take off the 21 she coulddo without:a bottle of rubbing alcohol（医用酒精）and a bar of soup.By taking of these,she was able to 22 the new total to the amount of cash she had with her.

At this store,people 23 andthen go off to the side to 24 theirown groceries. My mother was putting her groceries into shopping bags when a 25 came up to her and said,"Here are the things that you 26 ." handingher the rubbing alcohol and the 27 .My mother,who is never speechless,was speechless.She 28 forthe woman's name and address so that she could 29 her.The woman told her it was her 30 .

My mother was so 31 byher gesture that she decided to go back to the store and give the cashier（收银员）a five-dollar bill to keep on hand 32the same happened to someone else if they didn't have enough 33 forall of their groceries.

So,whoever you are,thank you for the random act of 34that not only helped my mother out,but 35 too.

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