【正文】 e too pai nful for them . So they l eft Bri tai n, to whi ch they were never to return, and went back to the l ake. 必修三 Uni t 1 Festi vals and cel ebrati ons Festi val s and cel ebrati ons of al l ki nds have been hel d everywhere si nce ancient tim es. Most anci ent festi vals woul d cel ebrate the end of col d weather,pl anti ng i n spri ng and harvest i n autum n. Som etim es cel ebrati ons woul d be hel d after hunters had caught anim al s. At that tim e peopl e would starve i f food was di ffi cult to find, especi al l y duri ng the col d wi nter m onths. Today’s festi val s have many ori gi ns, some rel i gi ous, som e seasonal , and som e for speci al peopl e or events. Festi val s of the Dead Som e festi val s are hel d to honour the dead or sati sfy the ancestors, who m i ght return ei ther to hel p or to do harm . For the Japanese festi val Obon, peopl e shoul d go to cl ean graves and l i ght incense i n m em ory of thei r ancestors. They al so li ght l am ps and pl ay m usi c because they thi nk that thi s wi l lead the ancestors back to earth. In Mexi co, peopl e cel ebrate the Day of the Dead i n earl y Novem ver. On thi s im portant feast day, peopl e eat food i n the shape of skul l s and cakes with “bones” on them . They offer food, fl owers and gi fts to the dead. The Western holi day H al l oween also had i ts ori gi n i n ol d beli efs about the return of the spi ri ts of dead peopl e. It i s now a chil dren’s festival, when they can dress up an go to thei r nei ghbours’ hom es to ask for sweets. If the neighbours do not give any sweers, the chi ldren m ight pl ay a trick on them. Feti val s to H onour People Festi vals can also be hel d to honour famous people. The Dragon Boat Festival in China honours the famous anci ent poet, Qu Yuan. In the USA, Colum bus Day is in memory of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World. Indi a has a nati onal festival on October 2 to honour Mohandas Gandhi, the leader who hel ped gain India’s i ndependece from Britai n. Harvest Festi val s Harvest and Thanksgi vi ng festival can be very happy events. People are grateful because thei r food is gathered for the have di ed out m ore recentl y. Accordi ng to a UN report , som e 844 anim al s and plants have di sappeared i n the l ast 500 years. The dodo i s one of them. It li ved on the Isl and of Mauri ti us and was a very fri endl y anim al. Pl ease li sten to a story of the dodo and how i t di sappeared from the earth. (3) The return of the m il u deer My nam e i s Linhui. I li ke to tel l stori es about peopl e who work together. What is even beter i s when countri es hel p each other and buil d a good fri endshi p. An excel l ent exam pl e of thi s happened when Bri tai n and Chi na worked together to bri ng the Mi l u deer back to Chi na. The Mil u deer,a speci es wi th l arge horns, used to be m on i n China l ong ago. Li ke other deer they li ve together and eat grass and the soft parts of trees such as smal branches. Mi l u deer were often hunted for food or sport in the past. The ,Mi ng and Qi ng dynasti es di d not protect them and many were ki l ed. That i s how the Mil u deer di sappeared from Chi na. Luckil y before al of them were kil l ed, som e were taken to Bri tai n to i mprove the environm ent of the beautiful park whi ch bel onged to the Duke of Bedford. He l i ked them so m uch that he took them al l the way from Chi na to Bri tai n. The Mil u der l i ked the cool , wet weather i n Engl and and thei r num ber i ncreased year by year. As a resul t, when i n 1985 the governm ent of Chi na wanted to reintroduce the Mi lu deer, the Duke of Bedford was happy to hel p. The first deer came back to China to the N anhai zi Mi l u Park 20 kil om eters south of Beiji ng and the centre i n Dafeng, Ji ngsu Provi nce. The deer centai nl y seem hapy to be back i n Chi na because thei r num bers have grown rapi dl y. There are now so m any of them that a new park has been opened for them in H ebei Provi nce. At the m om ent the Mi lu deer l i ve in centres where they are bei ng wel protected and care for . It i s hoped that one day there wi l be enough ani mal s to l et them li ve i n the wil d agai n. So Bri tai n hel ped Chi na by bri ngi ng back an ani mal that had di sappeared from i ts hom el and. Thi s i s a god exam pl e of fri endshi p and understandi ng between these two countri es. Unit 5 The band that wasn’t H ave you ever wanted to be part of a band as a fam ous singer or m usi ci ans? Have you ever dreamed of playi ng i n front of thousands of peopl e at a concert, at whi ch everyone i s clappi ng and appreci ati ng your m usic? Do you si ng Karaoke and pretend you are a fam ous si nger li ke Song Zuyi ng or Li u H uan? To be honest, a lot of peopl e attach great im portance to bei ng ri ch and fam ous. But just now do peopl e form a band? Many m usici ans m eet and form a band because they li ke to wri te and pl ay thei r own m usi c. They m ay start as a group of hi ghschool students, for whom practi si ng their m usi c i n som eone’s house i s the fi rst step to fam e. Som etim es they m ay pl ay to passersby i n the street or subway so that they can earn som e extra m oney for them selves or to pay for thei r i nstrum ents. Later they m ay gi ve performances i n pubs or cl ubs, for whi ch they are pai d i n cash. O f course they hope to m ake records i n a studi o and sel m il li ons of copi es to be e m il li onai res! H owever, there was one band that started i n a di fferent way. It was cal l ed the Monkees and began as a TV show. The m usi cians were to pl ay jokes on each other as wel as pl ay m usi c, m ost of which was based l osely on the Beatl es. The TV ani zer had pl anned to fi nd four m usi ci ans who coul d act as wel l as si ng. They put an adverti sem ent i n a newspaper l oki ng for rock m usi cians, but they coul d onl y find one who was good enough. They had to use actors for the o