和平里学区阅读材料基础篇

1. The Gift of LifeThe bombs landed in the small village. Nobody knows what these bombs were supposed to hit during the terrible Vietnam War, but they landed in a small orphanage run by a missionary group.The missionaries and one or two children were killed, and several children were wounded, including one young girl, about 8 years old, who suffered wounds to her legs.A couple of hours later, medical help arrived. The medical help was a young American Navy doctor and an equally young Navy nurse. They quickly found one young girl to be very badly injured, and it was clear that without immediate action, she would die from loss of blood and shock.They saw that she had to have blood, but their limited supplies did not include plasma, so a matching blood type was required. A quick blood typing showed that neither American had the correct blood type. Several of the uninjured orphans did.The doctor spoke a little Vietnamese, and the nurse spoke a little high-school French. The children spoke no English but some French. Using what little common language they could find, together with a lot of sign language, they tried to explain to these frightened children that unless they could give some blood to their little friend she would certainly die. Then they asked if anyone would be willing to give blood to help.Their request was met with wide-eyed silence. Their little patient's life hung in the balance. Yet they could only get the blood if one of these frightened children would agree to give it. After several long moments, a little hand slowly went up, dropped back down, and a moment later went up again."Oh, thank you," the nurse said in French. "What is your name?""Heng," came the reply. Heng was quickly laid on a bed, his arm cleaned with alcohol, and the needle inserted into his arm. Through all of this Heng lay stiff and silent.After a moment, he let out a long sob, quickly covering his face with his free hand."Is it hurting, Heng?" the doctor asked.Heng shook his head silently, but after a few moments another sob escaped, and again he tried to cover up his crying. Again the doctor asked him if the needle in his arm was hurting, and again Heng shook his head.But now his occasional sob turned to a steady, silent crying, his eyes held tightly shut, his fist in his mouth trying to stop his sobs.The medical team now was very worried because the needle should not have been hurting their tiny patient. Something was obviously very wrong. At this point, a Vietnamese nurse arrived to help, and seeing the little one's tears, spoke rapidly in Vietnamese, listened to his reply, and quickly answered him again. Moving over to pathis head as she talked, her voice was gentle and kind.After a moment, the little boy stopped crying, opened his eyes, and looked questioningly at the Vietnamese nurse. When she nodded, a look of great relief spread over his face.Looking up, the Vietnamese nurse said quietly to the Americans, "He thought he was dying. He misunderstood you. He thought you had asked him to give all his blood so the little girl could live.""But why would he be willing to do that?" asked the Navy nurse. The Vietnamese nurse repeated the question to the little boy, who answered simply, "She's my friend."Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.(595 words)1.when and where did the story happen?2.Who hand the correct blood type? Who agreed to give blood?3.Why was the boy sobbing during the operation?4.How was the misunderstanding eliminated?5.What is the meaning of the story?2. The 'Vasa'From the seventeenth-century empire of Sweden, the story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea. For nearly three and a half centuries she lay at the bottom of Stockholm harbour until her discovery in 1956. This was the Vasa, royal flagship of the great imperial fleet.King Gustavus Adolphus, 'The Northern Hurricane', then at the height of his military success in the Thirty Years' War, had dictated her measurements and armament. Triple gun-decks mounted sixty-four bronze cannon. She was intended to play a leading role in the growing might of Sweden.As she was prepared for her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, Stockholm was in a ferment. From the Skeppsbron and surrounding islands the people watched this thing of beauty begin to spread her sails and catch the wind. They had laboured for three years to produce this floating work of art; she was more richly carved and ornamented than any previous ship. The high stern castle was a riot of carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs; and zoomorphic animal shapes ablaze with red and gold and blue, symbols of courage, power, and cruelty, were portrayed to stir the imaginations of the superstitious sailors of the day.Then the cannons of the anchored warships thundered a salute to which the Vasa fired in reply. As the emerged from her drifting cloud of gun smoke with the water churned to foam beneath her bow, her flags flying, pennants waving, sails feeling in the breeze, and the red and gold of her superstructure ablaze with colour, she presenteda more majestic spectacle than Stockholmers had ever seen before. All gun-ports were open and the muzzles peeped wickedly from them.As the wind freshened there came a sudden squall and the ship made a strange movement, listing to port. The Ordnance Officer ordered all the port cannon to be heaved to starboard to counteract the list, but the steepening angle of the decks increased. Then the sound of rumbling thunder reached the watchers on the shore, as cargo, ballast, ammunition and 400 people went sliding and crashing down to the port side of the steeply listing ship. The lower gun-ports were now below water and the inrush sealed the ship's fate. In that first glorious hour, the mighty Vasa, which was intended to rule the Baltic, sank with all flags flying-in the harbour of her birth.(415 words)1.Had the loss of the Vasa been known for centuries?2.Why did the Vasa list to one side?答案：1. 177中学2. 54中学1. Yes.2. Because the cannon made one side of the ship too heavy.。