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Who Was More Stupid?

誰更愚蠢?

One day， two rich men were talking when they were eating bread and drinking coffee at their country pub(酒吧). One of them said to the other one， “My driver is really stupid(愚蠢的). You don’t think so? Let me show you.”

So he called his driver， Banta， over and said， “Banta， here is a ten-dollar bill. Go to the car shop and buy me a Benz (奔馳).” Banta replied (回答)， “Yes， Sir! Right away!” and rushed off to the shop. The rich man turned to his friend and said， “See， I told you he was stupid.”

The other rich man said， “That’s nothing. I will show you something really stupid.” And he called his driver Santa over， “Santa， go home now to see if I’m at home.” Santa said， “Yes， Sir!Right away， Sir.” Then he ran away.

“See what I told you? He doesn’t even have enough brains to know that I cannot be at home if I am here.”

Later on， the two drivers met on the road. Banta said to Santa， “Eh， you know my boss is so stupid. He gave me 10 dollars and asked me to go to the car shop and buy him a Benz ... Doesn’t he know that today is Sunday? The shop is closed!” Santa replied， “You think he is stupid， huh? My boss is more stupid. He asked me to go home to see if he is at home ... He’s got a cell phone， right? He can just call home to ask!”

閱讀短文并回答下列問題。

1. Where were the two rich men?

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2. How much money did Banta’s boss give him to buy a Benz?

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3. What did Santa’s boss ask him to do?

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4. What did the two divers think of their bosses?

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5. Who was more stupid， Banta or Santa?

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Wonderful “Clocks”

奇妙的“鐘”

在這個五彩繽紛的世界上，有許多令人驚奇的事情。下面講的是一些生物的“報時器”，一起來看看吧！

★ Tree Clock

In South Africa， there is a kind of tree which has large leaves. The leaves turn over every two hours. So the people there regard(當作) it as their labor(勞動) time， and give the tree a name—labor time tree.

★ Insect Clock

In the thick forest of Africa， there is a kind of insect. The insect changes its color every other hour. People living there take it home. They regard the insect as a clock that can tell them time.

★ Bird Clock

In South America， a bird called Tina sings every 30 minutes. The error(誤差) time she begins singing each time is less than 15 seconds. So the villagers living there can get the time according to the bird’s singing.

★ Donkey Clock

In the Yellow Sea of China， there is an island. The donkey living on this island brays(嘶叫) every other hour. The error time he begins braying each time is less than 3 minutes. So the soldiers who are on duty exchange their posts according to the donkey’s braying.

★ Flower Clock

In Argentina (阿根廷)， there is a kind of wild flower. When the early summer comes， this kind of flower blooms (開花) at eight o’clock in the evening. The young men and women who fall in love will meet at this time. So people call this flower telling-loving-time flower.

閱讀短文并完成下列表格。

Fish Also Have Personalities

魚兒也有個性

我們常說“某人有個性”。可是一項研究表明魚兒也有自己的個性。我們一起來看看吧！

Do you know fish also have different personalities (個性)? Like human beings， their personalities change as they experience life’s highs and lows. Some fish are very confident when they face new things， but some are silent and fearful (恐懼的).

The scientists chose brave and shy rainbow trout (虹鱒魚). They arranged (安排) fights for the fish to test whether the fish changed their behaviors(行為) depending on what they would experience. The result showed that the winners seemed to be even braver when later they met new food， while the losers looked very careful.

The researchers found that fish also learn by watching others. After a brave fish watched a shy fish getting close to a mystery (神秘的) object (物體)， it would be much more nervous when it was given a new thing later.

We may think that shy fish that won a fight became more confident. But surprisingly(令人驚訝地)， shy fish that lost their fight also grew braver when meeting strange new food， a researcher said. It could be called “desperado effect (亡命徒效應)”.

閱讀短文并判斷正（T）誤（F）。

( )11. Fish will change their personalities like human beings.

( )12. All the fish are not confident when they meet new things.

( )13. The winners would be braver when later they met new food.

( )14. Fish could learn by watching others.

( )15. Shy fish that won a fight became less confident.

Keys: 1. They were at their country pub.2. Ten dollars.3. He asked Santa to go home and see whether he was at home.4. They were stupid.5. Both Banta and Santa were stupid.6. labor time7. Insect Clock8. Tina9. Donkey Clock10. telling-loving-time11~15 TFTTF