deep. In winter the surface freezes over. It takes about an hour to climb from the end of the road to the top of the mountain. When you arrive you are rewarded not only with the sight of its clear waters, but also by the view of the other sixteen mountain peaks that surround Tianchi.
There are many stories told about Tianchi. The most well-known concerns three young women from heaven. They were bathing in Tainchi when a bird flew above them and dropped a small fruit onto the dress of the youngest girl. When she picked up the fruit to smell it, it flew into her mouth.Having swallowed the fruit, the girl became pregnant and later gave birth to a handsome boy. It is said that this boy, who had a great gift for languages and persuasion, is the father of the Manchu people. If you are lucky enough to visit the Lake of Heaven with your loved one, don't forget to drop a coin into the clear blue water to guarantee your love will be as deep and lasting as the lake itself.
选修7 Unit 1 Living well-Reading MARTY’S STORY
Hi, my name is Marry Fielding and I guess you could say that I am \in a million\muscle disease which makes me very weak, so I can't run or climb stairs as quickly as other people. In addition, sometimes I am very clumsy and drop things or bump into furniture. Unfortunately, the doctors don't know how to make me better, but I am very outgoing and have learned to adapt to my disability. My motto is: live One day at a time.
Until I was ten years old I was the same as everyone else. I used to climb trees, swim and play football. In fact, I used to dream about playing professional football and possibly representing my country in the World Cup. Then I started to get weaker and weaker, until I could only enjoy football from a bench at the stadium. In the end I went into hospital for medical tests. I stayed there for nearly three months. I think I had at least a billion tests, including one in which they cut out a piece of muscle from my leg and looked at it under a microscope. Even after all that, no one could give my disease a name and it is difficult to know what the future holds.
One problem is that I don't look any different from other people. So sometimes some children in my primary school would laugh, when I got out of breath after running a short way or had to stop and rest halfway up the stairs. Sometimes, too, I was too weak to go to school so my education suffered. Every time I returned
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after an absence, I felt stupid because I was behind the others.
My life is a lot easier at high school because my fellow students have accepted me. The few who cannot see the real person inside my body do not make me annoyed, and I just ignore them. All in all I have a good life. I am happy to have found many things I can do, like writing and computer programming. My ambition is to work for a firm that develops computer software when I grow up. Last year invented a computer football game and a big company has decided to buy it from me. I have a very busy life with no time to sit around feeling sorry for myself. As well as going to the movies and football matches with my friends, I spend a lot of time with my pets. I have two rabbits, a parrot, a tank full of fish and a tortoise. To look after my pets properly takes a lot of time but I find it worthwhile. I also have to do a lot of work, especially if I have been away for a while.
In many ways my disability has helped me grow stronger psychologically and become more independent. I have to work hard to live a normal life but it has been worth it. If I had a chance to say one thing to healthy children, it would be this: having a disability does not mean your life is not satisfying. So don't feel sorry for the disabled or make fun of them, and don't ignore them either. Just accept them for who they are, and give them encouragement to live as rich and full a life as you do.
Thank you for reading my story.
A LETTER TO AN ARCHITECT
Look at the pictures. Discuss the problems that people with walking difficulties might have in a cinema.
Ms L Sanders Alice Major Chief architect 64 Cambridge Street
Cinema Designs Bankstown 44 Hill Street Bankstown
24 September, 200__ Dear Ms Sanders,
I read in the newspaper today that you are to be the architect for the new Bankstown cinema.I hope you will not mind me writing to ask if you have thought
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about the needs of disabled customers. In particular I wonder if you have considered the following things:
1 Adequate access for wheelchairs. It would be handy to have lifts to all parts of the cinema. The buttons in the lifts should be easy for a person in a wheelchair to reach, and the doors be wide enough to enter. In some cinemas, the lifts are at the back of the cinema in cold, unattractive places. As disabled people have to use the lifts, this makes them feel they are not as important as other customers.
2 Earphones for people who have trouble hearing. It would help to fit sets of earphones to all seats, not just to some of them. This would allow hearing-impaired customers to enjoy the company of their hearing friends rather than having to sit in a special area.
3 Raised seating. People who are short cannot always see the screen. So I'd like to suggest that the seats at the back be placed higher than those at the front so that everyone can see the screen easily. Perhaps there could be a space at the end of each row for people in wheelchairs to sit next to their friends.
4 Toilets. For disabled customers it would be more convenient to place the toilets near the entrance to the cinema. It can be difficult if the only disabled toilet is in the basement a long way from where the film is showing. And if the doors could be opened outwards, disabled customers would be very happy.
5 Car parking. Of course, there are usually spaces specially reserved for disabled and elderly drivers. If they are close to the cinema entrance and/or exit, it is easier for disabled people to get to film in comfort.
Thank you for reading my letter. I hope my suggestions will meet with your approval. Disabled people should have the same opportunities as able-bodied people to enjoy the cinema and to do so with dignity.I am sure many people will praise your cinema if you design it with good access for disabled people. It will also
make the cinema owners happy if more people go as they will make higher profits! Yours sincerely, Alice Major
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选修7 Unit 2 Robots - Reading SATISFACTION GURANTEED
Larry Belmont worked for a company that made robots. Recently it had begun experimenting with a household robot. It was going to be tested out by Larry's wife, Claire.
Claire didn't want the robot in her house, especially as her husband would be absent for three weeks, but Larry persuaded her that the robot wouldn't harm her or allow her to be harmed. It would be a bonus. However, when she first saw the robot, she felt alarmed. His name was Tony and he seemed more like a human than a machine. He was tall and handsome with smooth hair and a deep voice although his facial expression never changed.
On the second morning Tony, wearing an apron, brought her breakfast and then asked her whether she needed help dressing. She felt embarrassed and quickly told him to go. It was disturbing and frightening that he looked so human.
One day, Claire mentioned that she didn't think she was clever. Tony said that she must feel very unhappy to say that. Claire thought it was ridiculous to be offered sympathy by a robot. But she began to trust him. She told him how she was overweight and this made her feel unhappy. Also she felt her home wasn't elegant enough for someone like Larry who wanted to improve his social position. She wasn't like Gladys Claffern, one of the richest and most powerful women around.
As a favour Tony promised to help Claire make herself smarter and her home more elegant. So Claire borrowed a pile of books from the library for him to read, or rather, scan. She looked at his fingers with wonder as they turned each page and suddenly reached for his hand. She was amazed by his fingernails and the softness and warmth of his skin. How absurd, she thought. He was just a machine. Tony gave Claire a new haircut and changed the makeup she wore. As he was not allowed to accompany her to the shops, he wrote out a list of items for her. Claire went into the city and bought curtains, cushions, a carpet and bedding. Then she went into a jewellery shop to buy a necklace. When the clerk at the counter was rude to her, she rang Tony up and told the clerk to speak to him. The clerk immediately changed his attitude. Claire thanked Tony, telling him that he was a \As she turned around, there stood Gladys Claffern. How awful to be discovered by her, Claire thought. By the amused and surprised look on her face, Claire knew that Gladys thought she was having an affair. After all, she knew Claire's husband's name was Larry, not Tony.
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When Claire got home, she wept with anger in her armchair. Gladys was everything Claire wanted to be. \can be like her,\Tony told her and suggested that she invite Gladys and her friends to the house the night before he was to leave and Larry was to return. By that time, Tony expected the house to be completely transformed.
Tony worked steadily on the improvements. Claire tried to help once but was too clumsy.She fell off a ladder and even though Tony was in the next room, he managed to catch her in time. He held her firmly in his arms and she felt the warmth of his body. She screamed, pushed him away and ran to her room for the rest of the day.
The night of the party arrived. The clock struck eight. The guests would be arriving soon and Claire told Tony to go into another room.At that moment, Tony folded his arms around her, bending his face close to hers. She cried out \then heard him declare that he didn't want to leave her the next day and that he felt more than just the desire to please her. Then the front door bell rang. Tony freed her and disappeared from sight. It was then that Claire realized that Tony had opened the curtains of the front window. Her guests had seen everything !
The women were impressed by Claire, the house and the delicious cuisine. Just before they left, Claire heard Gladys whispering to another woman that she had never seen anyone so handsome as Tony. What a sweet victory to be envied by those women! She might not be as beautiful as them, but none of them had such a handsome lover.
Then she remembered -Tony was just a machine. She shouted \me alone\and took Tony away.
The company was very pleased with Tony's report on his three weeks with Claire. Tony had protected a human being from harm. He had prevented Claire from harming herself through her own sense of failure. He had opened the curtains that night so that the other women would see him and Claire, knowing that there was no risk to Claire's marriage. But even though Tony had been so clever, he would have to be rebuilt -you cannot have women failing in love with machines.
A BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC ASIMOV
Isaac Asimov was an American scientist and writer who wrote around 480 books that included mystery stories, science and history books, and even books about the Holy Bible and Shakespeare. But he is best known for his science fiction stories.
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