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Unit 1 Dr. Rob Boll and his family were enjoying their church's annual fund-raising dinner when a 76-year-old lady choked on a piece of turkey and lost consciousness. The old lady's family tried the Heimlich maneuver, but it did not work. Dr. Rob Boll rushed to the old lady's rescue. Although under his direction Steve Hoblin managed to pull out a piece of turkey, the old lady was still not breathing. Dr. Boll realized that his only chance was to perform an emergency tracheotomy. Though he was only a family doctor who had never done the operation before, seeing that the patient was in such a critical situation, he went ahead with the operation using a simple switchblade. Thanks to Dr. Boll's brave heart and calm mind, the operation succeeded. Dr. Boll was so amazed by this "miracle" that he attributed the success to divine intervention. Unit 3 With more and more kids logging on to the Internet, cyber-bullying has become a serious social problem. Cyber-bullying takes various forms, such as sending threatening messages, displaying private messages, and posting embarrassing videos and photos online. Researchers have pointed out that cyber-bullying can have an even more detrimental effect on the victim than conventional playground bullying. There are two main reasons for this: First, a sheer number of people can view something posted online. Secondly, the always-on feature of Internet culture makes it impossible for the victim to escape cyber-bullying. Anonymity is also to blame for widespread cyber-bullying, as it encourages people to act aggressively online. Anonymity amplifies the negative effect of cyber-bullying, as the victim has no idea who the bully is. In the meanwhile, it tempts bullies to new levels of cruelty because they do not see how miserable their victims are. To protect kids from cyber-bullying, legislative actions must be taken, but more importantly, the whole society should get involved. Unit 4 Near Sleepy Hollow is a village called Tarry Town, in which there was a teacher named Ichabod Crane. He was tall and thin, just like a crane. He fell in love with Katrina, the only daughter of a rich Dutch farmer, a blooming lass of fresh eighteen. Ichabod Crane's rival was a strong young man named Brom Van Brunt, a hero to all the young ladies. It was rumored that in the valley a headless horseman could be seen at night looking for his lost head. One night, on his way home after enjoying the big party at Katrina's house, Ichabod Crane found himself confronted with the headless horseman. He could not escape from this spectre, for all his efforts. Then, to his great horror, he saw the headless horseman pick up his head and throw it with a powerful force. The head hit him in the face and knocked him off his horse. The next day people found his horse, his hat, and a broken pumpkin. Ichabod disappeared once and for all, and Katrina married Brom. Whenever Ichabod or the pumpkin was mentioned, Brom would smile or laugh. Unit5 Of all the theories concerned with the origin and evolution of the universe, the Big Bang model is the best known. This model originated from Hubble's Law, which was formed by Edwin Hubble in 1929, holding that the universe is expanding in every direction. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that, if the universe is currently growing, then the universe was smaller in the past. Along this line of reasoning, there must have been a time when the universe was an extremely small point. Out of this point the universe exploded into existence. The expansion of the universe lends strong support to the Big Bang theory. Another major line of evidence is the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB). The Big Bang model predicts that once the universe had reached 300,000 years old, photons could move about freely. The CMB, this "first light" in the universe, is a strong indication of the Big Bang. The third major evidence is that the amounts of elements observed all agree at least roughly with those predicted by the Big Bang theory. The last is that the Big Bang theory comprehensively lays down a framework for the eventual evolution of the universe. Unit7 One day I had a tiny accident: I broke my key in the lock when trying to unlock the door to go to work. So I called a locksmith, who came immediately. To my surprise, he insisted on being paid cash in advance, which I was incapable of providing, and declaring professional ethics, then left me alone! Thinking I could resort to other solutions, I called some twenty locksmith shops, but they all flatly refused me as I had been put on their blacklist. Then I called the janitor, my girlfriend, and my colleagues, who all turned me down for various reasons. In desperation, I shouted from the tenth floor of my building and even threw typed messages down onto the street, but nothing came of it. What was worse, my telephone was cut off for nonpayment and then they cut off my gas, electricity, and water. So I was trapped alone indoors and had to survive on my own by catching rain water, breeding insects and spiders, etc. Year after year, I have become used to this new lifestyle and feel relatively happy. Unit8 In the story, the narrator wanted accident insurance not for traveling by rail, but for lying at home in bed, which went contrary to common sense — there always exists the likelihood of losing one's life in traveling by air, by train, or in any vehicle. This is because the narrator found that the peril lay not in traveling, but in staying at home. The narrator compares the danger of traveling in a vehicle, especially by train, with that of lying in bed. Availing himself of considerable hard statistics he shows the reader that chances are greatest for human beings to die in bed. Therefore, the narrator suggests it would be wise of us to stay away from home unless we have to, unless we have bought ourselves a package of insurance tickets and sit up nights without going to bed. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/f362602775c66137ee06eff9aef8941ea76e4be8.html