question: The Greeks had long kept certain more or less formal relations with the people of Macedonia . The Macedonians from their side had kept themselves well informed about conditions in Greece.

Now it happened, just when Sparta and Athens had finished their disastrous war, that Macedonia was ruled by an extraordinarily clever man named Philip. He admired the Greek spirit but he looked down on the Greek lack of self-control in political affairs. It angered him to see a perfectly good people waste its men and money upon fruitless quarrels. So he settled the difficulty by making himself the master of all Greece and then he asked his new subjects to join him on a voyage which he meant to pay to Persia in return for the visit which Xerxes had paid the Greeks 150 years before.

Unfortunately Philip was murdered before he could start this well-prepared expedition . The task of avenging the destruction of Athens was left to Philip's son Alexander, the beloved pupil of Aristotle, wisest of all Greek teachers.

Alexander left Europe in the spring of 334 BC. Seven years later he reached India. In the meantime he had destroyed Phoenicia(,), the old rival of the Greek merchants. He had conquered Egypt and had been worshipped by the people of the Nile valley as the son and heir of the Pharaohs . He had defeated the last Persian king -- he had overthrown the Persian Empire, he had given orders to rebuild Babylon -- he had led his troops into the heart of the Himalayan mountains and had made the entire world a Macedonian province and dependency. Then he stopped and announced even more ambitious plans.

The newly formed Empire must be brought under the influence of the Greek mind. The people must be taught the Greek language -- they must live in cities built after a Greek model. The Alexandrian soldier now turned school-master. The military camps of yesterday became the peaceful centres of the newly imported Greek civilisation. Higher and higher did the flood of Greek manners and Greek customs rise, when suddenly Alexander was stricken with a fever and died in the old palace of King Hammurabi of Babylon in the year 323BC.

His Empire did not long survive him. A number of ambitious generals divided the territory among themselves. But they too remained faithful to the dream of a great world brotherhood of Greek and Asiatic ideas and knowledge. They maintained their independence until the Romans came.
1. Who was killed before beginning a journey?
2. How did he die?
3. Where was he ruler of?
4. How was he described?
5. What did he dislike about the Greek?
6. What did he look up to?
7. What were people and money wasted on?
8. What did he do about it?
9. What was the goal of his journey?
10. in return for what?
11. Who was to replace Philip after his death?
12. Who did he study under?
13. Did it take him 9 years to get to India?
14. How long?
15. What mountains did he travel into?
16. What was his bigger plan?
17. How did he die?
****
answer: 1. Philip
2. he was murdered
3. Macedonia
4. an extraordinarily clever man
5. their lack of self-control in political affairs
6. He admired the Greek spirit
7. fruitless quarrels
8. made himself the master of all Greece
9. visit Persia
10. Xerxes visit 150 years before
11. Philip's son Alexander
12. Aristotle
13. No
14. Seven years
15. Himalayan mountains
16. get the Empire to speak Greek and live in Greek cities
17. from a fever

question: I'm Tom. My best friends are John and Ann. We do many things together. John lives near my house and we are in the same class. He's fifteen years old and he's tall and slim. He has blond hair and blue eyes. He's polite and very clever. He's very good at math and he sometimes helps me with my homework. He usually wears jeans and a T-shirt. We also play basketball at a nearby park together and sometimes we play video games at my house after school. Our friend Ann isn't in our school. She's short and slim with straight brown hair and brown eyes. She's a little bit shy. We all have kung fu lesson every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. Ann is really good at kung fu. We call her the "kung fu kid". She sometimes plays basketball with us, too. She often wears a dress, a T-shirt and a baseball cap. The three of us have great fun together.
1. Who are Tom's friends?
2. Which of his friends goes to the same school as he does?
3. Is that friend short?
4. Does that buddy help Tom with something?
5. Which friend is short?
6. What is she talented in?
7. Does she practice with others?
8. Who?
9. When do they practice?
10. Does she play anything else with the boys?
11. What do Tom's friends both wear?
12. Does either have a nickname?
13. Try just Yes or No next time, please. :)
14. Which friend has blue eyes?
15. What is John good at?
16. And how old is he?
****
answer: 1. John and Ann
2. John
3. No
4. Yes, homework.
5. Ann
6. kung fu
7. Yes
8. Tom and John
9. Tuesday and Friday afternoon
10. basketball
11. T-shirt
12. Ann is known as the "kung fu kid"
13. Yes!
14. John
15. math
16. fifteen

question: One day Peng Xianzhe learned he would go to the Mashan School in Guizhou. The 16-year-old boy tried to imagine how serious the drought was for the students at that school. However, he realized it was more serious than he had imagined when he saw the sign "DON'T wash clothes with water,or you will be punished . " Because of drought, the school has been short of water for a long time. Each student has only one bottle of water every day for washing and drinking. The drought has made the poor students much poorer. Peng is a student from Beijing Chaoyang Foreign Language School. He took part in the school's Rain & Bow Project from April 2 to 10. The project idea came from Peng's principal . One day, she heard a sad story about Li Guoxian, a poor girl in the Mashan School,who stopped going to school because of drought. The principal started this project to help the school. In one day, 3,000 students made over 10,000 donations of water,books and clothes. Peng and other four students went to the Mashan School and gave the donations with five teachers. They visited poor families, made surveys and had classes at the school. Ding Zhentao,16,was worried about the school's poor learning environment. "The blackboards and playground are too _ to use,"Ding said. "Besides, there really aren't enough teachers. A teacher has to teach both history and English, and even the cook is a class teacher. " Although life isn't easy, students at the school have a positive attitude towards life and they are quite willing to learn. That's what moved 16-year-old Chen Shi most. "They sang their songs together as usual before class every afternoon. After class, the students asked us to tell them things about Beijing and our studies," Chen said. "You can see the passion in them. I believe it will make a difference. Their futures will be bright. " ,.
1. What was collected as donations?
2. How many were collected?
3. Who donated that much?
4. Why did they start collecting these donations?
5. Who started the students donating?
6. What school did they take the donations to?
7. What other problems did they have?
8. Why was it like that?
9. Where did they bring the donations from?
10. Did they speak to the students afterward?
****
answer:
1. water,books and clothes
2. 10,000
3. 3,000 students
4. a poor girl in the Mashan School stopped going to school because of drought
5. Peng's principal
6. the Mashan School
7. poor learning environment
8. there really aren't enough teachers
9. Beijing Chaoyang Foreign Language School
10. yes