【正文】 off. They called it “Family Night”, a night for families to spend time together. Sports teams stopped their practices, and teachers did not give homework. On Family Night, families agreed to turn off their televisions. They also decided not to answer the telephone. Answering machines said, “Please call back tomorrow.” Many families ordered takeout pizza and other takeout food so that they wouldn’t spend time cooking. Popular activities included board games and card games. These games gave families a chance to spend time together. Children and parents weren’t so busy, and children didn’t spend so much time playing video games and watching television. On Family Night, families relaxed and spent the evening together. The town hopes to have many more “Family Nights”.1. Many American families are too busy.2. Children have many other activities besides homework.3. It took one night for Ridgewood to plan the special “Family Night”.4. Parents cooked a big dinner for the whole family on “Family Night”.5. More “Family Nights” are expected by the people in the town.(5) The Red Cross helps the children of different countries know each other better. Children in schools all over the world have their own Red Cross groups. These children write letters and send presents and pictures to one another. The American Red Cross also gives help and advice to the Red Cross societies of other countries. Through these activities the Red Cross hopes to bring about a more friendly, more peaceful world.1. The children of different countries can know each other better because the Red Cross helps them to do so.2. The Red Cross doesn39。t have many members in schools in Asia.3. The children in the Red Cross groups write letters and send presents and pictures to each爋ther because they just want to know each other.4. What the Red Cross does is to hope that the people all over the world will live in peace.5. The Red Cross is doing something good for the friendship of the people.(6) Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events love, sadness, good times and bad times. It tells reallife stories and sounds in the way people really talk. As life bees hard for us, it is good to hear music about ordinary people. Country music, sometimes called countrywestern music, es from two kinds of music. One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. The other is traditional cowboy music from the west. The singers usually play the guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars. At first city people said country music was low class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War II, thousands of Southerners went to the Northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South. They learned country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country. Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada, in small towns and among towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1200 radio stations broadcast country music twentyfour hours a day. English stars sing it in British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor Southerners is now popular all over the world.1. People like country music because it is about human feelings and events.2. Country music es from the Northeast and Midwest of America.3. City people thought country music was low class because it was sung by cowboys and poor southerners.4. Country music became popular during World War II.5. Today country music is sung by stars all in English.(7) For most Americans, life without a car is hard to imagine. However, society has realized the serious air pollution problem caused by cars. The polluted air bees poisonous(有毒的) to our health. One way to get rid of(擺脫) the polluted air is to build a car that does not pollute. That’s what several large panies have been trying to do. But to build a clean car is easier said than done. Progress is this field has been slow. Another way is to replace the car engine(發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)) with something. Now inventors are working on steam(蒸汽) cars as well as electric cars. Many car makers believe that it will take years to develop a useful model that pleases people. To prevent the world from being polluted by cars, we make some changes in the way we live. Americans, for example, have to reduce(減少) the number of their total cars. They should be encouraged to travel and go to work by bicycle. But this change does not e easily. A large number of workers might find themselves without jobs if a car factory is closed. Thus the problem of air pollution would bee less important than that of unemployment(失業(yè)). Although cars have led(引導(dǎo)) us to better lives, they have also brought us new problems. 1. A car is very important for most Americans. 2. Building a clean car is not difficult. 3. One way to get rid of the polluted air is to replace the car engine. 4. The writer thinks that the problem of air pollution is more important that that of unemployment. (8) Many years ago, there was a man. He had a cat and loved it very much. He decided to call it Sky. One day, a friend said to him, Let me tell you that there is something stronger than the sky. I mean the clouds, for they cover the sky. You are right. answered the man, And now I39。m going to give my cat the name ‘Cloud’”. Two days later, another man was having supper with him at his house. “Why do you call cat Cloud? The wind blows away the cloud without difficulty.” So the man changed its name again. It was then called Wind. But a week had not passed when his neighbor noticed this quite beaut