Most of the time, magicians give good shows, but every magician has given a show that was terrible or has tried to do a trick that didn‘t go right. Howard Thurston, a famous magician, made some 36 mistakes on the stage(舞台).
Thurston did a famous 37 trick with a girl. The girl climbed into a box. Then the box was pulled up above the stage. Thurston shouted, ―Iasia, garawallah, 38 !‖ The box opened – and the girl was gone. ―Wonderful! Wonderful!‖ One night, after the show, a man asked the magician, ―Please tell me 39 you learned your magic words?‖ Thurston answered, ―I‘ve traveled in India and often heard ?garawallah‘ in the streets there. I thought it was a good word for an Indian 40 .‖ The man smiled and said, ―I‘m from India. That word means ?Hey, bus‘!‖ Another mistake stayed in Thurston‘s show. In one trick, he cut off the 41 of two chickens and two ducks and put their bodies inside a magic box. Then he opened the box and found four living birds with heads on them. This is the way the trick was done. The birds‘ heads were tied under their wings. Then false heads were tied on the birds 42 they were brought on the stage. Thurston cut off these false heads and put the birds in the box. His helper was also in the box. He could not put new false heads on the birds 43 than he could untie the true heads. So after Thurston put the birds inside the box, his helper tied on false heads.
One night, the 44 made a mistake. He tied the chicken heads on the ducks and then tied the duck heads on the chickens. The birds came out of the box, so the magician had to say, ―Look! How magic my 45 are!‖ And the people laughed and laughed. 36. A. interest B. interesting C. interested 37. A. Indian B. Chinese C. European 38. A. come B. go C. appear 39. A. which B. where C. that 40. A. words B. trick C. magician 41. A. heads B. wings C. feet 42. A. after B. when C. before 43. A. slower B. faster C. easier 44. A. magician B. helper C. visitor 45. A. birds B. ducks C. tricks 【046】
At a hospital in Illinois, doctors and patients dress up as clowns and put on little plays to make each other laugh. A hospital in New York puts funny books in its library for patients. Can laughter make sick people feel better? Scientists think laughter can help sick people feel less pain and get better more quickly. This new idea is being taught to students in medical school.
Doctors have known for a long time that stress, loneliness, lack of friends and family can harm sick people. Now they are learning that laughter can help patients feel healthier. Some doctors are using this new research to make their patients feel better. At a California hospital, people who have cancer swap stories and clown around（说笑话） with a famous performer who has had cancer surgery（外科手术）. Laughter can be good medicine. 【047】
My Brother‘s in the Dryer!
Dustin Tarbell, 7, and his little brother David, 4 years old, were at their baby sitter‘s house. Suddenly, Dustin heard screams from the clothes dryer. The machine was on, and David was tumbling around inside!
Just before, Dustin and David were playing hide-and-seek with friends. There were no clothes in the dryer, and David got inside to hide. Then another child closed the door and turned the dryer on. Dustin pulled open the door of the dryer and reached inside. Usually a dryer stops when someone opens the door, but this machine was broken, and it kept turning as David screamed.
Dustin grabbed his brother‘s shirt. He tried to pull him out, but he couldn‘t. He felt his arms twist, but he hung on. Then Dustin heard his arms crack. He still didn‘t let go. Finally the dryer stopped, and Dustin pulled David out.
Dustin went to the hospital. He had two broken arms. But he smiled as he hugged his little brother. Kim and Robin Tarbell, the boys‘ parents, said they were very proud of their son Dustin. David said, ―Dustin‘s a superhero!‖
Later, the baby sitter tried to fix the dryer. He was a strong man. He tried to stop the dryer with his hands, but he couldn‘t stop it. Nobody could understand how a big, strong man couldn‘t stop the dryer, but a 7-year-old boy could. Everyone said, ―It‘s a miracle.‖ 【048】
Basketball is still a young game. It‘s over a hundred years old. In the winter of 1891, a certain college was having some trouble with its boy students. The weather was bad and the students had to stay indoors. As they couldn‘t play outdoors, they were unhappy, and some even got into fights from time to time.
Some of the teachers at the college asked Dr Naismith to invent a game so that the students might have something to play at. It was not easy to invent such a game because it had to be played indoors, and the court (院子) was not very large.
Dr Naismith thought for a few days and invented a kind of ball game. It was a fast, wonderful game with much moving and passing of the ball. (54) It was played between two teams. To make a score, the ball had to be thrown into the basket ten feet above the floor on the wall. At each end of the court there was such a basket. At first Dr Naismith wanted to throw the ball into a box. As he could not find boxes of the right size, he had to use fruit basket instead. That‘s why the game got its name. 【049】
When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence \look up each word in the dictionary, one at a time, what is your translation?It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.
Languages do not just have different sounds, they are different in many ways. It's important to master(掌握) the rules(规则) for word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can't understand the speaker's sentence easily.Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes the order is changed, the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. Let's see the difference between the two pairs of sentences: \
\
When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit(精神实质) of the language and use it as the English speaker does.
15. From the passage we know that _ when we are learning English. A. we shouldn't put every word into our own language B. we should look up every word in the dictionary C. we need to put every word into our own language D. we must read word by word
16. The writer thinks it is____in learning English. A. difficult to understand different sounds B. possible to remember the word order
C. important to master the rules in different ways D. easy to master the rules for word order 17. We can learn from the passage that_______.
A. the meaning of an English sentence always changes with the order of the words B. the order of words can never change the meaning of an English sentence C. sometimes different order of words has a different meaning
D. if the order of words is different, the meaning of the sentence must be different 18. \A. is the same as \B. is different from \C. means \D. means \
19. Which is the best title(标题) for this passage? A. Different Orders, Different Meanings B. How to Speak English
C. How to Put English into Our Own Language D. How to Learn English 【050】
Jack Smith got his school report from his class teacher，Mr Percy Brown. Mr Brown
Told Jack he was one of the best students in the class and he was never late for class.Jack was very happy to hear these words.
In math classes,he was always the first one to answer the teacher‘s questions.
But his science was not so good.His science teacher said that he was not hardworking and asked him to spend more time on it nect term.Jack thought it was right.He must catch up with others in science.
He liked foreign language very much.In English,his listening was better than reading.But his reading in French was much better.He was very good at remembering new words. Of all the subjects,history was the worst.His history teacher told him to work harder next
term.
He always helped his geography teacher in class,because he liked geography very much. Jack could dance very well.Summer vacation was coming.He had more leisure time,and he could do things he liked. 【051】
In The Air
Matt and his wife lived in the country. Matt was very stingy(吝啬) and hated spending money. One day a fair(集市) came to the nearby town.
―Let‘s go to the fair, Matt,‖ his wife said, ―We haven‘t been anywhere for a long time.‖ Matt thought about this for a while. He knew he would have to spend money at the fair. At last he said, ―All right, but I‘m not going to spend much money. We‘ll look at things, but we won‘t buy anything.‖
They went to the fair and looked at all the things to buy. There were many things Matt‘s wife wanted to buy ,but he would not let her spend any money. Then , in a nearby field, they saw a small airplane. ―Fun flight!‖ the notice said, ―$10 for 10 minutes.‖
Matt had never been in an airplane and he wanted to go on a fun flight. However, he didn‘t want to have to pay for his wife, as well.
―I‘ve only got $10,‖ he told the pilot. ( 飞行员). ―Can my wife come with me for free?‖ The pilot wasn‘t selling many tickets, so he said , ―I‘ll make a bargain with you. If your wife doesn‘t scream or shout, she can have a free flight.‖
Matt agreed, and got into the small airplane with his wife.
The pilot took off and made his airplane do all kinds of things. At one moment it was flying upside down.
When the plane landed , the pilot said, ―O.K. your wife didn‘t make a sound . She can have her ride free.‖
―Thank you,‖ Matt said. ―it wasn‘t easy for her, you know , especially (尤其 ) when she fell out.‖ 【052】
We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. but most mistakes are about people. \got that great job, did Jim, as a friend, really feel good about it? Or did he envy my luck?\\can make us feel bad.
But when we look back, it is too late.
Why do we go wrong about our friends, or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meanings. And if we do not really listen, we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, \你真幸运!) Is he really on your side? If he says, \人，家伙)!\There is a bit of envy in those words. What he may be saying is that he does not think you deserve your luck.
初中英语阅读100篇
