英语专四写作

A Henpecked Husband and His Wife(11)

There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in his company every day.

One day, the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.

“You will never guess what happened to me to day, dear.” he said.

He waited for a few seconds and then added, “I won ten thousand dollars on the lottery!”

“That is wonderful! ” said his wife delightedly. But then she pulled a long face and added angrily, “But how could you afford to buy the ticket?”

1. henpecked 怕老婆的，妻管严的

2. lottery 彩票

a great lottery 虚无缥缈的事

3. pull a long face 拉下脸来

have a face to say that脸皮厚得竟能讲出这种话


A Young Man’s Promise(12)

One day, a young man was writing a letter to his girlfriend who lived just a few miles away in a nearby town. He was telling her how much he loved her and how wonderful he thought she was. The more he wrote the more poetic he became. Finally he said that in order to be with her, he would suffer the greatest difficulties, he would face the greatest dangers that anyone couldn’t imagine. In fact, to spend only one minute with her, he would swim across the widest river, he would enter the deepest forest, and he would fight against the fiercest animals with his bare hands.

He finished the letter, signed his name and then suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to mention something quite important. So, in a postscript below his name, he added:

“By the way, I’ll be over to see you on Wednesday night, if it doesn’t rain.”


A Kind Neighbor(13)

Mr. and Mrs. Jones’ apartment was full of luggage, packages, furniture and boxes. Both of them were very busy when they heard the doorbell ring. Mrs. Jones went to open it and she saw a middle-aged lady outside. The lady said she lived next door. Mrs. Jones invited her to come in and apologized because there was no place for her to sit. “Oh, that’s OK.” said the lady. “I just come to welcome to your new home. As you know, in some parts of this city, neighbors are not friendly at all. They are some apartment houses where people don’t know any of their neighbors, not even the ones next door. But in this building, everyone is very friendly with everyone else. We are a big happy family. I am sure you will be very happy here.” Mr. and Mrs. Jones said, “But madam, we are not new dwellers in this apartment. We’ve lived here for two years. We are moving out tomorrow.”


That Isn’t Our Fault(14)

Mr. and Mrs. Williams got married when he was twenty-three, and she was twenty. Twenty-five years later, they had a big party, a

nd a photographer came and took some photographs of them.

Then the photographer gave Mrs. Williams a card and said, “They’ll be ready next Wednesday. You can get them from studio.”

“No,” Mrs. Williams said, “please send them to us.”

The photographs arrived a week later, but Mrs. Williams was not happy when she saw them. She got into her car and drove to the photographer’s studio. She went inside and said angrily, “You took some photographs of me and my husband last week, but I’m not going to pay for them.”

“Oh, why not?” the photographer asked.

“Because my husband looks like a monkey,” Mrs. Williams said.

“Well,” the photographer answered, “that isn’t our fault. Why didn’t you think of that before you married him?”


A Guide's Answer(15)

In 1861, the Civil War started in the United States between the Northern and the Southern states. The war continued with great bitterness until 1865, when the Northerners were victorious. However, even today, many Southerners have not forgotten their defeat, or forgiven the Northerners.

A few years ago, a party of American tourists were going round one of the battlefields of the Civil War with a guide who came from one of the Southern states. At each place, the guide told the tourists stirring stories about how a few Southern soldiers had conquered powerful forces of Northerners there.

At last, one of the tourists, a lady who came from the North, stopped the guide and said to him, “ But surely that the Northern amp3y must have won at least one victory in the Civil War?”

“Not as long as I’m the guide here, madam,” answered the Southern guide.


A Qualified Pilot(16)

The captain of a small ship had to go along a rocky coast, but he was unfamiliar with it, so he tried to find a qualified pilot to guide him. He went ashore in one of the small ports, and a local fishemp3an pretended that he was a pilot because he needed some money. The captain took him on board and asked him where to steer the ship.

After half an hour, the captain began to suspect that the fishemp3an did not really know what he was doing and where he was going.

“Are you sure you are a qualified pilot?” he asked.

“Oh, yes,” answered the fishemp3an. “I know every rock on this part of the coast.”

Suddenly there was a terrible crash from under the ship. At once the fishemp3an added, “And that’s one of them.”


Living Things React(17)

You and all organisms live an environment. An environment is made up of everything that surrounds an organism. It can include the air, the water, the soil, and even other organisms.

An organism responds to changes in its environment. When an organism responds to a change, it reacts in certain ways. All living things respond in some way.

Have you ever noticed how plants and insects respond to light? Plants bend toward light. Insects fly toward light.

Living things also respond in other ways. T

he leaves on some trees respond to a change in season. In autumn, they change colors and then fall off the branches Animals also respond to a change in season. Squirrels save nuts for the winter. Bears sleep through the winter in a cave.

You respond to your environment in many ways, too. You may shiver if you are cold. What other ways do you respond to changes in your environment?


Flowering Plants(18)

What are the parts of a flower?

Flowers can have male parts and female parts. The female parts make eggs that become seeds. The male parts make pollen. Pollen is a powdery material that is needed by the eggs to make seeds. To make seeds, pollen and eggs must come together. The wind, insects, and birds bring pollen to eggs. Many animals love flowers’ bright colors. They also like a sugary liquid in flowers. This is called nectar. While they drink nectar, pollen rubs off on their bodies. As they move, some of this pollen gets delivered to the female flower parts.

Over time, the female parts turn into fruits that contain seeds. Animals often eat the fruits and the seeds pass through their bodies as waste. The animals do no know they are working for the plants by planting seeds as they travel to different places!

flowering 开花的 pollen 花粉 powdery 粉状的 nectar花蜜，甘露 rub 磨擦


Finding the Direction and Location(19)

How can you tell which direction? By day, look for the Sun. It is in the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon. At night, use the Big Dipper to help you find the North Star. It would be better to bring a compass because its needle always points north.

How do you know how far you have gone? You could count every step. Each step is about two feet. You’d better wear a pedometer which is a tool that counts steps. If you know where you started, which direction you are heading, and how far you have gone, you can use a good map to figure out exactly where you are.

Today there is a new way for travelers to figure out where they are. It is the GPS. It has 24 satellites that orbit the earth and constantly broadcast their positions. Someday you may carry a small receiver as you hike and use GPS to find out if you are there yet!

dipper北斗七星 compass 罗盘 pedometer 步数计 GPS= Global Position System全球定位系统 orbit 轨道，绕……轨道而行 receiver 接收器


Waves(20)

How does light get from the sun to the earth? How does music get from the stage to the audience? They move the same way-----in waves!

Light and sound are fomp3s of energy. All waves carry energy, but they may carry it differently. Light and sound travel through different kinds of matter. For example, light waves cannot move through walls, but sound waves can. That is why you can hear people talking in another room even though you cannot see them. The energy of some waves is destructive. An earthquake produces seismic waves.

Catch a wave. Ask a friend to stand a few feet away from

you. Stretch a spring between you. Shake the spring to transfer energy to it. What happens? The spring bounces up and down in waves. When the waves reach your friend, they bounce back to you!

Light waves travel 300,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second! They can also travel through a vacuum. That is why light from the sun and distant stars can travel through space to the earth!