People with disabilities make up a large...

Brenda Bongos was a happy, artistic girl. She had one big ambition—to play the drums in a band. But one big problem lay in her way. To be good enough to play in a band, Brenda had to practice a lot, but she lived next-door to a lot of old people. Many of them are sick. She knew that the sound of beating drums would really get on their nerves. So, she had tried playing in the strangest places: a basement, a kitchen, and even in a shower. But there was always someone it would annoy.

One day, while watching a science documentary on TV, she heard that sound cannot travel in space, because there's no air. At that moment, Brenda Bongos decided to become a sort of musical astronaut.

With the help of a lot of time, books and work, Brenda built a space bubble. This was a big glass ball connected to a machine which sucked out all the air inside. All that would be left inside was a drum kit（成套设备） and a chair. Brenda got into the space suit she had made, entered the bubble, turned on the machine, and played those drums like a wild child.

It wasn't long before Brenda Bongos came very famous. Many people came to see her play in her space bubble. Shortly afterwards she came out of the bubble and started giving concerts. Her fame spread so much that the government suggested that she be part of a unique space journey. Finally, Brenda was a real musical astronaut, and had gone far beyond her first ambition of playing drums in a band.

Years later, when asked how she had achieved all this, she thought for a moment, and said: ''If those old people next – door hadn't mattered so much to me, I wouldn't have found a solution, and none of this would have ever happened.''

1.Why did Brenda try to play in the strangest places?

2.Brenda started to give concerts _______.

3.Brenda became famous because _______.

4.Which of the following can be used to describe Brenda?

5.It can be inferred from the text that: " _______".

Everybody has one of those days when everything goes wrong. This is what happened to Harry.

He got up one morning very late because he had forgotten to wind up his alarm clock. He tried to shave（刮脸）quickly and cut himself. When he got dressed he got blood all over his clean shirt, so he had to find another one. The only other shirt that was clean needed ironing（熨）, so he ironed it. While he was ironing it, there was a knock at the door. It was the man to read the electricity meter（表）. He showed him where the meter was, said good-bye and found that the iron had burnt a hole in his shirt. So he had to wear the one with the blood on it after all. By this time it was very late, so he decided he couldn’t go to work by bus. He telephoned for a taxi to take him to work. The taxi arrived and Harry got in and began to read the newspaper.

In another part of the town, a man had killed a woman with a knife and was seen to run away in a taxi. When Harry’s taxi stopped outside his office, a policeman happened to be standing there. He saw the blood on Harry’s shirt, and took him to the police station. He was kept till 3 o’clock in the afternoon before the police were sure that he was not the man they wanted. When he finally arrived at the office at about four, his boss took a look at him and told him to go away and find another job.

1.Harry had__________________________.

2.Put the following sentences into correct order according to the passage.

a. The man who read the electricity meter came.

b. Harry ironed his shirt.

c. Harry got blood all over his clean shirt.

d. There was a knock at the door.

e. Harry wore the shirt with blood on it.

3.Why did Harry wear the shirt with blood on it?

4.Harry was taken to the police station because         .

5.His boss told him to go away and find another job because           .

Recently, researchers in the US have carried out a study on laughing, one of the most natural characteristics of human behavior.

Jo-Anne Bachorowsky, a psychology professor at Vandebilt University, 36  a team of researchers who   37   a total of 11 short videos to 97 young adult volunteers in the US. They found that the participants produced a   38  of sounds when they laughed, 39  grunts(呼噜声) and snorts(哼声).

The researchers found that some of the   40   were dependent   41  gender(性别). Men laughed with grunts and snorts more often than women,   42  women’s   43   was more song-like.

They also found that people’s laughter could change,   44  who they were with at the time. Whether they were with a man or a woman and   45  person was a friend or a   46   both played a part in laughter.

The researchers found that women’s laughter was very high with a   47   pitch(音高) when they were with male strangers. And women taking   48   in the study laughed more often when they were with a male friend than when they were with a(n) 49   friend or a male stranger. But men laughed more freely with friends of either sex than with strangers of either sex.

Scientists believe that the   50   consumed in laughing 100 times is   51  to 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Another 52   of laughter is 53   it improves our mental health. Laughter reduces our levels of stress. It also helps us   54   serious illness.

  55  ,we think laughter can make us feel good.

— I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have used up all the money so quickly.

— __________. What’s done is done.

Many areas were stricken by the typhoon, and it was quite difficult to ______ the exact losses.